Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/495

VAS a hard unpitying nature, devoured with avarice and ambition, and reckless of the sufferings and oppressions of the people. But his cruelty and exactions at length wrought his ruin, at the same time that they occasioned the deliverance of the country; for the brave Portuguese, wearied out with supplying the expenses of a war which did not concern them, and groaning under the intolerable tyranny of Vasconcellos, resolved to free themselves from the thraldom of Spain. The duke of Braganza, who was married to Leonora de Guzman, was the nearest heir to the crown of Portugal. Olivares, aware of the discontent and designs of the Portuguese, invited Braganza to the court of Madrid, hoping that while he possessed such a hostage the country would remain quiet. Leonora, whose courage and activity were greatly superior to those of the duke, instantly perceived the snare, but advised him to accept the invitation, and to delay his journey a few days under pretence of preparing for travelling in a suitable manner. She in the meantime communicated with the Portuguese nobles, who agreed that on the day appointed for the journey to Madrid, Vasconcellos should be put to death, the vice-queen dethroned, and Braganza crowned. The design was necessarily made known to a multitude of persons, yet the secret was so faithfully kept that Vasconcellos was perfectly ignorant of his danger, till he was awakened early in the morning (1st December, 1640), by the signal shot that all was ready. The wretched secretary was dragged out of a closet where he had concealed himself under a heap of papers, murdered, and thrown from the window to the populace below, who manifested their extreme gladness by a vociferous and continued shouting. On the 15th of the same month the duke of Braganza was crowned in the capital by the name of Juan IV.—R. M., A.  VASCONCELLOS,, a Portuguese Jesuit of the seventeenth century. The greater part of his life was spent in Brazil. He died in 1670, in the seventy-second year of his age. His interesting work, written in Portuguese, and entitled "Chronica da Companhia de Jesus da estado Brasil," was published at Lisbon in 1663. He also wrote Lives of Juan Almeyda and Joseph Anchieta.—R. M., A.  VASCOSAN,, a celebrated French printer, was born at Amiens, but when we have not been able to ascertain, nor when he died either. He married Catherine, one of the daughters of Josse Badius, and so became connected with Robert Etienne or Stephen, who had married another daughter of the same family. Vascosan excelled most of the printers of his time in all the higher qualities of their art. He took care to publish only the best authors, and his types and paper were all of the finest description. Even yet it is quite a pleasure to read the ancient authors in his beautiful editions, of which one very noticeable feature is the fine large margins. Vascosan was himself an excellent scholar, so that his editions of the classics had a double chance of being well revised and corrected. Some critics of the printing art have affirmed that he and his brother-in-law, Robert Stephen, were the two best printers France has produced. His editions of Quintilian, of Plutarch's Lives, and of the minor works of the same author, are counted among his best, and are now very rarely seen.—R. M., A.  VASÉE, ), was a native of Bruges, and was born about the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century. He had already acquired a name for learning, when he was invited to Spain by Nicolas Clenard, and Ferdinand, son of the great Christopher, Columbus. He was graciously received at the court of Isabella at Medina Coeli, whence he went first to Seville and then to Salamanca. From Salamanca he removed to Portugal, at the solicitation of the Cardinal Henry, brother of King Juan. He taught for some time in Braga and Evora, but he subsequently returned to Salamanca, where he died in the beginning of October, 1562. He was author of "Chronicon Hispaniæ, de rebus Hispaniæ memorabilibus," Salamanca, 1552, and Cologne, 1577; "Rerum atque verborum index ex chiliadibus adagiorum Erasmi, Coimbra," 1549. A great number of the letters of Nicholas Clenard (Hanover, 1606) are addressed to Vasée.—R. M., A.  VASGNES,, a theological author, was a native of Spain, and died at Alcala on the 23rd September, 1604. He entered the Society of the Jesuits in 1569. A collected edition of his works, which are principally on theological and ecclesiastical subjects, was published in ten folio volumes at Lyons in 1620. (See M. Du Pin, Tables de la Bibliotheque.)—R. M., A.  VASSEUR,, a French doctor of theology and author, was born at Vîmes, near Abbeville, in the latter half of the sixteenth century. He was educated at Douai, Tournai, and Orleans. He afterwards went to Paris, at the solicitation of Jean Filesac, where he was for some time engaged in teaching philosophy and the belles lettres. In 1613 he was made dean of chapter in the cathedral of Noyon. Vasseur enjoyed the friendship and esteem of Nicolas Bourbon, Pierre Valens, Grangier, Cardinal du Perron, and of many other of the learned and eminent men of his day. The date of his death is not known, but he was still living in 1633. He was author of "Franciæ Reges " Paris, 1602; "Les devises des Empereurs Remains, tant Italiens, que Grecs et Allemans, depuis Jules César jusqu'a Rodolphe II., a présent regnant, avec les expositions d'icelles en quatrains, à Monseigneur le Dauphin," Paris, 1608, a very curious and interesting book; "Antithèses, ou Contrepointes du ciel et de la terre," Paris, 1608; "Le Bocage de Jossigny," Paris, 1608; "L'Entrée et sortie de l'homme au monde, ou la recherche de la terre promise, divisée en deux livres," Paris, 1612; "Annales de l'église Cathedral de Noyon," Paris, 1633, &c.—R. M., A.  VATABLUS or GASTELBLED,, an eminent French divine, was born at Gamache, a village in the diocese of Amiens, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and became royal professor of Hebrew at Paris. He was the author of the observations on the Hebrew Bible which were appended to Leo Juda's version of the Bible published in Paris in 1545, and afterwards reprinted in Spain. He translated Aristotle's Parva Naturalia, and assisted Clement Marot in his poetical version of the Psalms. He died in 1547.—F.  VATER,, a distinguished philologist, was born at Altenburg in 1771. He became a professor in the university of Jena in 1798, and the next year was transferred to the chair of oriental languages at Halle. In 1810 he removed to Königsberg as professor of history, but he returned to Halle in 1820, and resumed his professorship, which he held till his death in March, 1826. His works are various—a "Universal Chronological History;" an edition and continuation of the Mithridates of Adelung; an edition of the Greek New Testament, &c. They are distinguished by acuteness and learning.—J. E. <section end="495H" /> <section begin="495I" />* VATKE,, a German protestant theologian, was born at Behndorf, near Magdeburg, on the 14th March, 1806. He studied at Halle, Berlin, and Göttingen, and in 1837 was appointed professor of theology in the university of Berlin. His two most important works are—"Die Religion des Alten Testaments," Berlin, 1835; "Die menschliche Freheit in ihrem Verhaeltniss zur Sünde und zur goeltlichen Gnade" (Human liberty considered in relation to sin and divine grace), Berlin, 1841.—R. M., A. <section end="495I" /> <section begin="495Zcontin" />VATTEL,, an eminent writer on international law, was born at Conset in the principality of Neufchâtel in 1714. He was of good family, and was at first educated for the church at Basle and Geneva. But the clerical profession had little attraction for young Vattel, whose mind was much more bent on worldly advancement than on the duties of the pastoral office. Accordingly, giving up his ecclesiastical studies, he went to Berlin in 1741, in the hope that at the court of Frederick II. he might realize the object of his ambition. He found himself, however, prevented by circumstances from entering the diplomatic service of Prussia; and being led to visit Dresden in 1743, he became attached to the Saxon court in 1744-45. The following year he was sent to the republic of Berne as the ambassador of the king of Poland, who was also elector of Saxony. While there he devoted his leisure time to literary pursuits. The very year of his appointment he published a collection of essays on various subjects, which exhibit a refined mind and cultivated taste; and in 1757 there appeared from his pen another series of miscellanies in prose and verse. During the intervening period, he was likewise occupied with preparing his great work on the law of nations, which was published at Neufchâtel in 1758. Having been recalled about the latter date to Dresden, he was appointed to a situation in the diplomatic bureau, and subsequently raised to the rank of privy counsellor. Devoting himself to his duties so assiduously that he seriously injured his health, he was compelled in 1766 to try change of air, and revisited his native country. Unduly trusting to the improvement thereby produced, and without giving time for a perfect convalescence, he hastened to resume his former work. The consequences proved fatal. No relief was obtained from a second visit to Neufchâtel; and on the 28th December, 1767, <section end="495Zcontin" />