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VAL of the Jesuits. From Rome, whither he had gone about this matter, he returned to France in 1608, and in the following year preached during Advent and Lent at Paris. On the 27th May of the same year he took the oaths to Henry IV., and became his predicateur ordinaire, or, as we should say, chaplain in ordinary. The king was about to appoint him to the bishopric of Toul, when the dagger of Ravaillac suddenly put an end to his hopes of preferment. Valladier delivered the oraison funébre over the grave of Henry. He died, in 1621, abbé of St. Arnoul. He was author of "Labyrinthe Royal de l'Hercule Gaulois, triomphant sur le sujet des fortunes, batailles, trophées, triomphes, mariages et autres faits héroiques de Henry IV., represénté á l'entreé triomphante de la Reine en la cité d'Avignon;" "Speculum Sapientiæ Matronalis ex Vita Sancta Franciscæ Romanæ Fundatricis Sororum Turris Speculorum, Panegyricus;" "Variorum Poëmatum Liber;" &c., &c.—R. M., A.  VALLADOLID,, sometimes called , a doctor of Paris, and confessor to Juan II., king of Castile, was born at Valladolid, and entered the order of St. Dominic some time before the close of the fourteenth century. After spending several years in the schools of Paris he returned to Spain, and made himself conspicuous as a zealous preacher. According to an author cited by Fontana, he was provincial of his order in Spain, and inquisitor-general of the faith before the year 1409. After this he again went to Paris, to take his degrees; and in the year 1412 or 1413 he succeeded Jean Capreolus as lecturer on the Master of the Sentences at the college of St. Jacques. On his return to his native country he obtained the confidence of Queen Catherine, and was also appointed confessor to the young king, Juan II. By that prince he was sent in the capacity of ambassador to the council of Constance, where he demanded the execution of the capitulation of Narbonne (see Acts of Council, by Vander Hardt). He eagerly watched over the interests of the church; and it is said that he took part in the discussion of every matter that came up after the 18th of June, 1417. Martin V., who was elected pope at this council, gave him substantial tokens of his regard, and publicly testified the value he put upon his talents and services in a brief or pastoral letter. Valladolid was several times provincial of his order. At the chapter-general held at Bologna, at which he was present, he was pressed to accept the generalship, but he declined the honour, and named Father Barthelemi Texier, who was ultimately chosen. He was still living in 1436, but the year of his death is not known. His works, which were principally historical, have never been printed. Echard says he wrote an abridged history of the lives of Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, and other doctors and illustrious men belonging to the Dominican order.—R. M., A.  VALLANCEY,, an English engineer officer, was born in the early part of the eighteenth century; and through the friendship of the marquis of Townshend, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, was appointed to superintend the survey of that kingdom. He died in old age about the beginning of this century. He was the author of a "Grammar and Dictionary of the Irish Language," 4to, 1773 and 1781; and of an essay on the ancient history of the British isles, 8vo, 1786.—J. T.  * VALLAURI,, an eminent Italian scholar and author, was born at Chiusa di Cuneo in Piedmont, on the 23rd of January, 1805. In 1838 he was appointed assistant professor of Greek and Latin literature in the university of Turin, and titular professor in 1843. His histories of the Poetry, of the Literary Society, and of the Universities of Piedmont, appeared in 1841, 1844, and 1846 respectively. In 1849 was published at Turin his valuable work, entitled "Historia critica litterarum Latinarum," which was followed by a cheap edition of the classic Roman historians in twenty-eight volumes, 1850-54. Vallauri has also written on the history of the house of Savoy.—R. M., A.  VALLE,, surnamed (the Pilgrim), traveller and author, born at Rome of a distinguished family, 2nd April, 1586; died in the same city, 20th April, 1652. Having written verses, borne arms, been disappointed in love, and assumed the name and garb of a pilgrim, he embarked from Venice in June, 1614, not to revisit his native city till May, 1627. Meanwhile he spent one full year in Constantinople; visited Cairo and Aleppo; married at Bagdad a young Maronite christian, Maani Gioerida, the fame of whose beauty had reached him on the road; with her was well received at the court of Shah Abbas; and, sojourning in Persia six years, visited in the royal suite Ispahan, the Caspian provinces, and Azerbijan, and endeavoured to promote the welfare of his fellow christians in Persia. In December, 1621, the beautiful Maani died; Pietro caused her corpse to be embalmed, and with the dead now for a companion, went to India, where he remained till the close of 1624; then by Muscat and Basrah, through the desert to Aleppo, by Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Naples, returned home, to lay his wife's remains with the dust of his ancestors in the church of Araceli, gracing her funeral with due pomp and an oration pronounced by himself; and shortly after to espouse a young Georgian who had accompanied him and his first wife in their travels. He has left a very readable account of his curious and varied experiences in countries which in his day had not lost the charm of the marvellous.—C. G. R.  VALLEMONT, (his original name was Pierre Le Lorrain), a voluminous French writer, was born at Ponteaudemer, and was baptized in the church of Saint-Ouen on the 13th of September, 1649. Very little is known of the history of his life. He was ordained priest, and towards the end of his days returned to his native place, where he died. He was buried in the same church in which he had been baptized, on the 30th December, 1721. From the book entitled Apologie des cérémonies de l'Eglise, we learn that he had lived some time at Rouen, and that while there his conduct on some particular occasion (but no details are given) had called for the interference of the authorities. His most important works are entitled as follows—"Description de l'aimant, qui l'est formé à la pointe du clocher neuf de Notre-Dame de Chartres—avec pluseurs expériences curieuses sur l'aimant et sur d'autres matières de physique, par L. L. de Vallemont, docteur en theologie," Paris, 1692; "La Physique occulte, ou traitè de la baguette divinatoire, et son utilité pour la decouverte de sources d'eau, des minières," &c., Paris, 1693; "Les elemens de l'histoire, ou ce qu'il faut scavoir de chronologic, de geographie, de blason, de l'Histoire universelle, des monarchies anciennes et des monarchies nouvelles, avant que de lire l'histoire particuliere," Paris, 1696; "La sphere du monde, selon l'hypothèse de Copernic, démontrée et comparée aux systêmes de Ptolomée et de Ticobrahe," Paris, 1701; "Curiosites de la nature et de l'art sur la vegétation, ou l'agriculture et le jardinage dans leur perfection," Paris, 1705; "Dissertation sur une médaille singulière d'Alexandre le Grand, par laquelle on justifie l'Histoire de Quinte-Curce."—R. M., A.  VALLIERE, , Duchess de la, was born in Touraine in 1644. She was brought up at the court of Gaston, duke of Orleans; and on the marriage of that prince to Henrietta of England, was appointed lady of honour to the duchess. In 1661 Fouque, the well-known minister of finance, paid his addresses to her; but they were indignantly rejected, as her beauty and fascinating manners had already attracted the attention of the king. Their intimacy, which commenced about this time, was at first carried on in secret. She bore four children to Louis, of whom two survived—Mademoiselle de Blois and the count of Vermandois; the latter of whom was legitimated in 1667, and a duchy was at the same time conferred upon his mother. It is admitted that the duchess did not abuse her influence with the king for bad or selfish ends, but it was not to be expected that she could permanently retain the affection of the fickle and profligate monarch. His regard for her having gradually withdrawn through the intrigues of Madame de Montespan, the duchess in 1674 entered the convent of the Carmelites at Chaillot, and took the veil in the following year. She seems to have enjoyed amid the austerities of this retreat a degree of contentment, if not of happiness, to which she had previously been a stranger. In the lapse of years, when Madame de Montespan had been set aside in her turn, she might be seen at the Carmelites, seeking religious counsel of the poor penitent whom she had tormented and displaced. The duchess died in 1710. A Life of Madame de la Valliere, Duchess and Carmelite, 12mo, was published by Q. de Roissy in 1823.—Her nephew,, Duke de la Valliere, born in 1708, was a celebrated bibliopole, and held the office of grand falconer to the crown. He died in 1780, leaving one daughter, the duchess of Châtillon. He possessed a very extensive library, was fond of the company of men of letters, and carried on a regular correspondence with Voltaire.—J. T.  VALLISNERI,, an Italian naturalist and physician, was born 3rd May, 1661, at the castle of Tresilico, of which his father was governor. He received his general education <section end="484Zcontin" />