Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/229

Rh V I B V I C 209 ably Theophile s, and is not included in his works, the standard modern edition of which is that of Alleaume in the Bibliotheque Elzevirienne (Paris, 2 vols., 1856). These works may surprise the reader who only knows Theophile s mishaps and ill-fame ; for, though varied enough, they contain in the certainly authentic part of them nothing discreditable. Besides Pyrame et Thisbe, the chief in point of bulk is a paraphrase, half verse half prose, after the odd fashion of the time, of the Ph&do. There are numerous French and Latin letters, a vigorous Apologia rebutting the accusations against him, a promising fragment of coinic prose narrative, and a large col lection of occasional verses, odes, elegies, stanzas, &c. These latter, besides being very unequal, are distinguished by the faults of taste and the inelegance of language which marked the first quarter of the century. But there are occasionally bursts of real poetry ; and on the whole Theophile is the superior of all his contemporaries between Regnier and Corneille. In addition to Alleaume s edi tion, a delightful article in Gautier s Grotesques should be con sulted respecting him. YIBORG, or WIBORG (Finnish, Viipuri), capital of a province or Ian of the same name in Finland, is situated at the head of the Bay of Viborg in the Gulf of Finland, at the mouth of the Saima Canal and on the railway which connects St Petersburg with Helsingfors. The Saima Canal (37 miles long), a fine engineering work, connects with the sea Lake Saima the principal lake of Finland, 249 feet above sea-level and a series of others, including Puruvesi, Orivesi, Hoytiiinen, and Kallavesi, all of which are navigated by steamers, as far north as Idensalnii in 03 30 N. lat. Viborg is thus the seaport of Karelia and eastern Savolaks, with the towns of Vilmanstrand (1289 inhabitants in 1880), St Michel (1432), Nyslott (1424), Kuopio (6834), and Idensalmi, with their numerous saw mills and iron-works. Viborg stands most picturesquely on the glaciated and dome-shaped granite hills surround ing the bay, which is protected at its entrance by the naval station of Bjorko and at its head by several forts. The castle of Viborg, built in 1293 by Marshal Torkel Knutson, was the first centre for the spread of Christianity in Karelia, and for establishing the power of Sweden ; it is now used as a prison. Its lofty and elegant tower has fallen into decay. The court-house (1839), the town-house, the gymnasium (1641 ; with an excellent library), and the museum are among the principal buildings of the city. There are also a school of navigation and several primary schools, both public and private, a literary and an agricul tural society, and several benevolent institutions. The population, 14,668 in 1880 and 15,800 in 1884, consists of three elements, Finnish, Swedish, and Russian (see FINLAND). There is a strong Russian garrison. Several industrial establishments, including a foundry for the con struction of steam-engines, an iron -work, and several candle-works, match-factories, and saw-mills, have risen of late at Viborg and in its neighbourhood; but the place owes its chief importance to its export trade, in which timber is the chief item. The coasting trade is also considerable. The environs are most picturesque and are visited by many tourists in the summer. The park of Monrepos (Old Viborg), in a bay dotted with dome-shaped islands, is specially attractive. The scenery of the Saima Canal and of the Finnish lakes with the grand as of Pungaharju ; the Imatra rapids, by which the Vuoksen dis charges the water of Lake Saima into Lake Ladoga, with the castle of Kexholm at its mouth ; Serdobol and Valamo monastery on Lake Ladoga all visited from Viborg attract many tourists from St Petersburg and from other parts of Finland. VICAR, in ecclesiastical law, is, in the words of Black- .;tone, &quot; a curate, deputy, or vicegerent of the appropriator, and therefore called vicarius or vicar.&quot; When a benefice had become appropriated before the dissolution of the religious houses to a spiritual corporation, usually with the authority of a licence from the Chancery, the vicar was the person appointed by the appropriators for the cure of souls in the parish. He was at first generally a member of the corporation. After the dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII. these appropriated benefices became as indeed they had been in the church in general up to the Lateran council of 1179 vested in lay impropriators, J but the legal position of the vicar remained the same. He was not a parson in the proper sense of the word (in fact parson and vicar are often distinguished in old statutes), and his stipend was at the discretion of the impropriator. Where he had the enjoyment of tithes, they were in most cases, apart from prescription, the small as distinguished from the great tithes, that is, such as the impropriator found it most difficult to collect. There was, however, no consistent rule in the matter : what were rectorial tithes in some parishes might be vicarial in others. The position of the vicar, at first so insecure and uncertain, was gradu ally ameliorated by legislation. 15 Ric. II. c. 6 provided for the sufficient endowment of the vicarage. 4 Hen. IV. c. 12 repeated this provision, and in addition enacted that the vicar should be a secular priest, not removable at the caprice of the appropriators, and canonically instituted and inducted. Among numerous other Acts may be noticed 29 Car. II. c. 8, making perpetual temporary augmentations of vicarages, and 3 Geo. IV. c. 72, enabling them to be in certain cases converted into rectories. In Scotland vicarage teinds were the subject of many Acts of the Scottish parliament. Until they became a fixed burden on the land they were payable out of minor and accidental products, were established by usage, and lost by negative prescription. 27 and 28 Vic. c. 33 provided for the commutation of those vicarage teinds of fish which had not up to then been commuted. Perpetual Curate. Where a benefice was appropriated ad mcnsam monachorum or was from any other cause without the services of a regular vicar, it did not fall within the statutes relating to vicars, and was served by a temporary curate, generally a regular ecclesi astic belonging to the appropriating corporation. After the dis solution the curate in charge became perpetual, inasmuch as he could not be removed except by the bishop. By 2 and 3 Viet. c. 49 every church or chapel augmented by the governors of Queen Anne s Bounty and having a district is a perpetual curacy ; so, as a rule, are new churches built under the Church Building Acts. By 31 and 32 Viet. c. 117 the incumbent of every parish or new parish for ecclesiastical purposes, not being a rector, is to be styled the vicar, and his benefice is to be designated a vicarage. This Act only confers a more honourable name upon the perpetual curate ; it does not in any way alter his legal position. Vicar-general is the deputy of the archbishop of Canterbury or York. In his court the bishops of the province are confirmed. How far he has any contentious jurisdiction appears uncertain. In the confirmation of Dr Hampdeii as bishop of Hereford in 1848 the vicar-general of Canterbury refused to hear objections to the confirmation by the dean and chapter of Hereford, and the Court of Queen s Bench was equally divided as to whether such refusal was good in law. Vicar-choral is a clerk in orders wlio assists at cathedral services. See further APVOWSON, BENEFICE, PARISH, PARSON, QUEEN ANNE S BOUNTY, TITHES. VICENTE, GIL (c. 1470-c. 1536), Portuguese dramatist, with an honourable position also in the history of Spanish literature, was born, most probably in Lisbon, about the year 1470. He was of good family, and, after studying law at the then university of Lisbon, became attached to the royal court, in what capacity is unknown. In June 1502 he produced and took the leading part in the performance of his first piece, a kind of dramatic pastoral, after the manner of Juan de la Encina, on occasion of the birth of an heir to the throne (John III.). So successful was this appearance that he soon became the recognized provider of such entertainments at court, during the reign both of Emmanuel and of John. Of his domestic history nothing is known, except that he married a lady named Branca Bezerra, by whom he had a son and a daughter. His out ward circumstances, especially in his later years, if some apparently personal allusions in his works are to be literally interpreted, do not seem to have been prosperous. Almost the only personal incident that has come down to us is his successful remonstrance with the clergy of Santarem in 1 Appropriation is the term for the possession of a benefice by a spiritual corporation, impropriation for its possession by a layman. XXIV. 27