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Rh ian monk, going afterward to Europe on a mission of his order. While in Spain he wrote " Semana santa " (Lisbon, 1631, and Madrid, 1632 and 1633), and " Judices," another religious work (1636). Pie returned to America in 1638, as bishop of Santiago, Chili, and during the earthquake of May, 1647, al- though severely injured by the fall of his cathedral, he was transported to the public square, where he consoled the panic-stricken population during the night. He assisted the sufferers and rebuilt the cathedral out of his own resources. In 1651 he was promoted archbishop of Arequipa, in Peru. He was the author of " Gobierno eclesiastico pacifico " (Arequipa, 1650), and " Primera parte de las his- torias sagradas" (Madrid, 1670).

VILLARS, Charles, French surgeon, b. in Ba- yonne about 1760; d. in Mexico in 1814. He was a marine surgeon, served in Santo Domingo and several of the West Indies, afterward practised medicine with success in Porto Rico, and about 1800 began a journey through the West Indies and South America to popularize vaccination, visit- ing also Central America and Mexico, and meeting everywhere with great success. It may be said that he introduced vaccination where it was alto- gether unknown or distrusted. He wrote " Traite et art de la vaccination" (Havana, 1804); " Me- moire sur les proprietes antisyphilitiques de cer- taines solanees de l'Amerique du Sud, ' addressed to the Paris academy of sciences in 1808; and "Traite du quina" (1814).

VILLASENOR Y SANCHEZ, José Antonio (veel-yah-sain'-yor), Mexican geographer, b. in Mexico about 1700 ; d. there about 1760. He studied in the College of San Ildefonso, and was employed successively as chief clerk of the comp- troller of taxes and as comptroller of the quick- silver revenue. Later he was appointed cosmog- rapher of New Spain, and as such commissioned in 1742, by the viceroy, Count de Fuenelara, to write a descriptive history and geography that had been ordered by King Philip V. He is the author of " Observacion del Cometa, que aparecio en el hemisferio de Mexico en Febrero y Marzo " (Mexico, 1742) ; " Teatro Mexicano ; descripcion general de los Reinos y Provincial de laNueva Espafia" (1746); " Matematico Computo de los Astros " (1756) ; and of a geographic map of the Jesuit province of New Spain, from Honduras to California, designed in 1751, and engraved and published in Rome (1754).

VILLAVERDE, Cirilo (veel-yah-vair'-day), Cu- ban author, b. in San Diego de Nunez in 1812. In 1823 his parents took him to Havana, where he was graduated in law in 1832, but he devoted him- self to teaching and literature. On account of his liberal ideas in politics, and being implicated in a conspiracy to overthrow the Spanish government, he was arrested in 1849 and condemned to death, but escaped and fled to the United States. He fixed his residence in New York, where he pub- lished for some time a newspaper in aid of the revolutionary party of Cuba. Subsequently he was also the editor of literary magazines. In early life he had published in the papers short sketches of Cuban life and customs, and brief romantic narratives, and afterward he wrote the novels " El espeton de oro," '' Los dos amores," and " La joven de la flecha de oro " (Havana, 1837) ; " El Guajiro " (1840) ; " El Penitente"; *• La peineta calada": "La tejedora de sombreros M (1840-'5) ; and " Cecilia Valdes " (New York, 1881). The last is his master- piece, a genuine Cuban novel, which has been de- servedly praised by the most competent critics in Spain and Spanish America. Some of his works have been translated into German and French.

VILLEFRANCHE, Charles Pierre de (veal- frahnsh), historian, b. in Mobile, Ala., in 1756; d. in Havana, Cuba, in 1809. He was of French de- scent,, received his education partly in New Or- leans and in Havana, finished his studies at the University of Seville, and entered the colonial ad- ministration in 1778. He held posts successively in Venezuela, Cuba, Porto Rico, Jamaica, and Louisiana, but, having become nearly blind, he was retired on a pension and settled in Havana, devoting his time to historical researches and to classifying the notes and documents that he had collected in the colonial offices where he had been employed. He published several valuable works, among them " Historiadores primitivos de las In- dias Occidentales " (Havana, 1797), which corrected and completed Barcia's history (Madrid, 1749), and for which Villefranche received a present from the secretary of state, and " Historia de la fundacion de la ciudad de Santiago de Cuba " (1804).

VILLEGAIGNON, or VILLEGAGNON, Nicolas Durand (veel-gan-yong), Chevalier de, French naval officer, b. in the castle of Villegaignon, Seine et Marne, in 1510 ; d. in Beauvais, near Nemours. 9 Jan., 1571. In 1531 he entered the Order of Saint John, of which his uncle, the Marquis Villiers de l'lsle-Adam, was grand-master. He served against the Turks, Algiers, and Tripoli, and was made vice-admiral of Brittany. It has been asserted that he was then converted to the Reformed faith ; but this is denied. In 1555 he obtained through Admiral Gaspard de Coligny the privilege of founding a French colony in Brazil as an asylum for the persecuted Huguenots, while he persuaded the king that the Spanish forces would thus be divided. On 12 July, 1555, he sailed from Havre with two ships, carrying a nearly equal number of Protestant and Roman Catholic emigrants, several young volunteers of noble families, and four Roman Catholic priests. On 13 Nov. he anchored in the Bay of Rio de Janeiro and took possession of an island near the shore, which he named Coligny island. He built a fort and opened negotiations with the Indians, who continued friendly to the last. A convoy of emigrants arrived on 10 March, 1557, among them four Protestant ministers, and Jean de Lory. Religious controversies began, and Villegaignon finally forbade the Protestants to celebrate divine service according to John Calvin's teachings. Some of them re-embarked on 4 Jan., 1558, and Villegaignon, fearing for his safety, transported the remaining Protestants to remote parts of the Brazilian coast. The colony being thus reduced to about 200 men, he sailed for France early in 1559 for the purpose of collecting re-enforcements, and take the command of a fleet that had been promised by Coligny, with which he intended to capture the Spanish treasure-vessels and destroy the Portuguese settlements along the Brazilian coast. But the French Protestants refused their support, charging him with treason to their cause, and named him the "Cain of America." His former relations with them procured him likewise a cool reception at court, and he retired to his commandery. Villegaignon's colony subsisted for a few years longer, but, being abandoned by the government, the French were finally expelled, 20 Jan., 1567, by Men de Saa (g. v.). Villegaignon was reputed one of the most skilful navigators of the 16th century, and he acquired distinction also as a historian and in his theological controversies with Calvin about his interference in religious matters in South America. His works include " Caroli V. imp. expeditio in Africam et Algieram " (Paris, 1542); " De bello melitensi et