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LEFT voss 257 VOWEL his greatest work (1606) ; "The Greek Historians" (1624) ; "The Latin His- torians" (1627); "Aristarchus; or, On the Art of Grammar" (1635); "Of Er- rors of Speech and Latino-Barbarous Terms" (1640) ; "Heathen Theology" (1642) ; "The Times of the Ancient Poets" (1654) ; "Etymology of the Latin Language" (1662). The "Correspond- ence of Vossius with Eminent Men" was published in 1691. He died in Amster- dam, March 19, 1649. VOSS, JOHANN HEINRICH. a Ger- man poet; boi-n in Sommersdorf, Ger- many, Feb. 20, 1751. He received a scanty school education, acted for a time as private tutor in a family, and in 1772 went to Gottingen, whei-e he studied the classical and modern languages, and was one of the founders of the Gottingen Dichterbund, or Poet's Union. In 1775 he retired to Wandsbeck, in order to edit the "Almanac of the Muses," which he published till 1800. In 1778 he be- came rector of a school at Otterndorf, in Hanover, and in 1782 went as rector to Eutin. In 1805 he became professor at Heidelberg. Between 1785 and 1802 he published several volumes of original poems, the best of which is the idyl, "Luise." Among his translations that of Homer's works is undoubtedly the greatest, being the classical German ver- sion of these great epics. A translation of Shakespeare, which he undertook with his sons, was published in nine volumes in 1829. He died in Heidelberg, March 29, 1826. VOSS, JULIUS VON, a German story- writer; born in Brandenburg, Germany, Aug. 24, 1768. His rapidity of liter- ary production was almost without a parallel. His best story is "The Schild- burger" (The Fooltownite: 1823). He wrote a great many comedies, farces, and satirical parodies. In "The Strah- lau Haul of Fish" (1822, a popular piece with songs, in the Berlin patois) he gives the first example of the Berlinese farce. He died in Berlin, Nov. 1, 1832. VOSS, RICHARD, a German poet; called the "Tired Man"; born in Neu- grape in Pomerania, Prussia, Sept. 2, 1851. Among his dramatic compositions are: "Savonarola"; "Magda"; "The Pa- trician Dame"* "Luigia Sanfelice"; "Fa- ther Modestus'^; "Woe to the Vanquish- ed"; "Eve"; "Betwixt Two Hearts"; "At Sedan." In narrative verse he wrote: "A Hill Asylum"; "Roman Village Tales"; "Messalina." Among his novels are : "Life Tragedy of an Actress" ; "The New Romans"; "Children of the South"; "Villa Falconieri"; "Amata"; "The Sabine"; etc. He excels in description of Italian lowly life. VOTAW, CLYDE WEBER, an Amer- ican educator; born in Wheaton, 111., Feb. 6, 1864; was graduated at Amherst College in 1888; at Yale Divinity School in 1891, and in jwst-graduate work at the University of Chicago in 1896; was reader and instructor in Biblical litera- ture at the latter institution in 1892- 1896, instructor of New Testament liter- ature in 1896-1900; and was then made Professor of Biblical Greek. His publi- cations include "Inductive Studies in the Founding of the Christian Church"; "Use of the Infinitive in Biblical Greek"; "The Primitive Era of Christianity"; "The Transition from Judaism to Christi- anity," etc. VOTING MACHINE. See BALLOT. VOW, a kind of promissory oath made to God, or to some false deity, to do or to forego something for the promotion of His glory, or to perform some act, or to dedicate to the deity something of value, on the fulfillment of certain con- ditions, or in the event of the vower re- ceiving something specially desired, as recovery from illness, deliverance from danger, success in an enterprise, or the like. A vow may take the form of a solemn promise to follow out some line of conduct, or to consecrate or devote one's self, wholly or in part, for a longer or shorter time, to some act or service, or to maintain fidelity and constancy. Vows are of two kinds, simple and sol- emn, the difference between them being that the latter are instituted as such, and accepted as irrevocable by the Church, and they constitute one of the marks of a religious order as distin- guished from a congregation. Simple and solemn vows differ also in their ef- fects. A simple vow makes marriage unlawful, and deprive^ the person who has made it of a right to use any prop- erty he may possess; a solemn vow makes marriage invalid, and takes away all dominion over property. Solemn and certain simple vows, as those of chastity and of greater pilgrimage, can only be dis- pensed by the Pope, or by a superior spe- cially delegated for the purpose; but most of the simple vows can be dispensed by the bishop of the diocese in which the person who has made che vow resides. VOWEL, a sound uttered by simply opening the mouth or vocal organs; a sound produced by the vibration of the vocal chords. The pitch or tone of a vowel is determined by the vocal chords, but its quality depends on the configuration of the mouth or buccal tube. A, i, and u are by philologists called the primitive vowels, and from them all the various vowel sounds in the Aryan languages