von 
turninus, Proculus, and Bonosus, and also of the three em¬ 
perors Cams, Numerianus, and Carinus. These are extant, 
and are contained in the “ Historise Augustse Scriptores.” 
Among the best of these is Vopiscus, who excelled in learn¬ 
ing, and also in chronological arrangement. He is said to 
have given credit to the wonderful works of Apollonius Tya- 
neus, whose'life he had an intention of writing. 
VORA'CIOUS, adj. [yorax, Lat.] Greedy to eat ; 
ravenous; edacious.—So voracious is this humour grown, 
that it draws in every thing to feed it. Gov. of the Tongue , 
—Rapacious; greedy. 
VORA'CIOUSLY, adv. Greedily; ravenously. — He 
[Dr. Johnson] was voraciously fond of good eating. 
Boswell. 
VORA'CIQUSNESS, or Vora'city, s. [ voracite , Fr.; 
voracitas, Latin.] Greediness; ravine; ravenousness.— 
Creatures by their voracity pernicious, have commonly 
fewer young. Derham .—Distinguishing himself by vora¬ 
ciousness of appetite. Taller. 
VORA'GINOUS, adj. [voraginosus, Latin.] Full of 
gulfs. Scott. 
VORARLBERG, h mountainous district of the Austrian 
states, bordering on Switzerland, the lake of Constance and 
Bavaria. Its area is about 940 square miles; its population 
85,000. The chief town is Bregenz. 
VORAU, a town of the Austrian states, in Styria; 61 
miles south-by-west of Vienna. 
VORCHHEIM, a town of Bavaria, on the Regnitz; 20 
miles north of Nuremberg. Population 2300. 
VORDEN, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of 
Gelderland, with 2500 inhabitants; 15 miles east-by-south 
of Zutphen. 
VORDEN, a town of Germany, in Hanover; 15 miles 
north-by-east of Osnabruck. 
VORDENBERG, a town of the Austrian states, in Upper 
Styria; 4 miles north of Leoben. 
VORDINGBORG, a sea-port of Denmark, in the island 
of Zealand, situated on a bay opposite to Falster; 52 miles 
south-south-west of Copenhagen. 
VORDONI, a small town of the Morea, situated on the 
river Vasilipotamo (Eurotus); 7 miles south-by-east of 
Misitra. ' 
VOREPPE, a town of France, department of the Isere, 
on the small river Roise; 9 miles north-west of Grenoble. 
Population 2100. 
VOREY, a town of France, department of the Upper 
Loire, with 1600 inhabitants; 11 miles north-east of Le 
Puy. 
VORINGEN, a town of Germany; 7 miles north of 
Sigmaringen. 
VORONEZ, a river of European Russia, which rises in 
the government of Tambov, and joins the Don a little 
below. 
VORONEZ, a province or government in the interior of 
European Russia, bounded on the east by the country of the 
Don Cossacks, and lying between lat. 48. and 54. N. Its 
area, equal to that of Scotland, is 31,000 square miles; but 
its population hardly amounts to. 800,000. 
VORONEZ, the capital of the above government, on the 
river Voronez; 292 miles south of Moscow. Population be¬ 
tween 12,000 and 15,000. 
VORONOVKA, a small town of European Russia, in the 
government of Kiev. 
VOROSPUTAK, a village of Transylvania, in the county 
of Weissenburg. 
VOROSVAGAS, or Cerwenica, a large village of Hun¬ 
gary, county of Saros. 
VORSCHUTZ, a large village of Germany, in Hesse 
Cassel, near Gudensberg. 
VORSFELDE, a town of Germany, in the duchy of 
Brunswick, with 1000 inhabitants; 21 miles north-east of 
Brunswick. 
VORSKLA, a river of European Russia, in the Ukraine, 
which falls into the Dnieper. 
Voi.. XXIV. No. 1652. 
VOS 501 
VORST, a town of Prussian Westphalia, in the govern¬ 
ment of Cleves. 
VORSTIUS, Conrad (Von Dem Vorst), an eminent 
Arminian divine, born at Cologne in 1569. Having been 
entered at the college of St. Lawrence in Cologne in 1587, 
he left it without taking a degree, because his conscience 
would not allow his swearing adherence to the decrees of the 
council of Trent. At this time the circumstances of his fa¬ 
mily rendered it expedient for him to turn his attention to 
trade, for which he qualified himself by learning arithmetic 
and the French and Italian languages. He is known as the 
author of several theological writings, chiefly relating to the 
controversy between the Roman Catholics and his Protestant 
antagonists. His son, William Henry Vorstius, published 
some works in rabbinical literature. Bayle. 
VO'RTEX, s. In the plural vortices. [Latin.] Any 
thing whirled round.—Nothing else could impel it, unless 
the etherial matter be supposed to be carried about the sun, 
like a vortex, or whirlpool, as a vehicle to convey it and the 
rest of the planets, Bentley. 
VO'RTICAL, adj. Having a whirling motion.—If three 
equal round vessels be filled, the one with cold water, the 
other with oil, the third with molten pitch, and the liquors 
be stirred about alike, to give them a vortical motion ; the 
pitch, by its tenacity, will lose its motion quickly; the oil, 
being less tenacious, will keep it longer; and the water, being 
still less tenacious, will keep it longest, but yet will lose it in 
a short time. Newton. 
VORTICF.LLA, in the Linnsean system of Zoology, a 
genus of Vermes Infusoria, the characters of which are, that 
the body is naked and contractile, with a rotatory or whirl¬ 
ing motion. Gmelin enumerates fifty-one species. 
VOS (Martin de), an eminent Flemish painter, son of 
Peter de Vos, who was himself an artist and member of the 
academy at Antwerp. He was born at Antwerp'in 1520. 
His father initiated him in the art, but he afterwards studied 
under F. Floris until he was twenty-three, and then pursued 
the cultivation of his mind in Italy. The residence he made 
at Venice introduced him to the acquaintance of Tintoretto, 
who not only instructed him in the principles of his prac¬ 
tice, but employed him to paint landscapes in his pictures. 
Hence De Vos became an admirable colourist, and gained 
considerable reputation and employment. He painted por¬ 
traits of the family of the Medici, and some historical pic¬ 
tures for them; and after an absence of eight years, returned 
to Flanders. His celebrity accompanied him, and procured 
him several commissions to paint pictures for churches at 
Antwerp, and at other places in the Netherlands. In por¬ 
traiture also he was much employed, and he certainly ad¬ 
vanced beyond his contemporaries, in the nature and truth 
which he gave to his productions. His principal works in 
the cathedral of Antwerp, are the Marriage of Cana; the 
Incredulity of Thomas; the Miracle of the Loaves; and the 
Resurrection; and a fine picture of his of the Last Supper 
is in the church of St. James. He became a member of the 
academy at Antwerp in 1559, and died, at the age of 84, 
in 1604. He had a brother, Peter de Vos, who also painted 
history, but whose works are not much kuown; a nephew 
also of his was a painter, William de Vos, who had consi¬ 
derable talents, and gained much employment and repu¬ 
tation. 
VOS (Paul de), another painter of that name, but of a 
different family, was born at Alost in 1600. His works of 
animals and birds are very much in the style of Snyders, and 
are deservedly esteemed. There are many of them in the 
royal collection in Spain. 
VOS (Simon de), born at Antwerp in 1643, was a pupil 
of Rubens, and became eminent as a painter both of history 
and portraits. Some of his paintings in the churches of 
Antwerp have been mistaken for the production of his great 
master. Sir Joshua Reynolds speaks highly of his picture 
of St. Norbert receiving the Sacrament, in the church of St. 
Michael, in which he says, “ a great number of portraits 
are introduced extremely well painted,” and afterwards com- 
5 K mends 
