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VER at Knole (1730); a series of historical prints, 1740, &c. Vertue was fond of antiquities, and he made many journeys to collect notes and drawings of old portraits, views, monuments, &c. On the revival of the Society of Antiquaries in 1717, he was elected a member, and appointed engraver to the society. He engraved for many years the prints of the Oxford Almanac, and was the first to commence the views of buildings, &c., which have given so marked a character to that publication. He likewise gave much attention to the study of coins, and his admiration of the works of Thomas Simon led him to publish, in 1753, engravings and descriptions of all the medals, coins, and great seals of Thomas Simon, and his brother Abraham. But the undertaking to which, next to his profession, he devoted the most time and industry, was the collecting of materials for a "History of the English School of Painting," and a "History of Engraving in England." Between the year 1713 and his death in 1756, according to Walpole, Vertue visited and made catalogues of every collection, attended sales, searched the national and parochial registers, and copied every paper he could find relative to art; put himself in communication with artists and amateurs; and read and translated whatever bore on his subject. He left forty volumes of materials, but the actual writing of his work was scarcely touched. Horace Walpole bought these collections of Vertue's widow, and from them compiled his well-known Anecdotes of Painting, and Catalogue of Engravers, frankly stating on the title-pages that they were "digested from the MSS. of Mr. George Vertue," and in the books themselves making the fullest acknowledgments of Vertue's share in the work. The permanent historical value of the work is due to Vertue's industry and honesty; its popularity must be ascribed to Walpole's lively style. Vertue died July 24, 1756, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster abbey, where there is a monument to his memory.—J. T—e.  VERUS,, Roman emperor, was the son of Lucius Ceionius Commodus, who had been chosen by Hadrian as his successor. At the desire of Hadrian, Verus was adopted by Antoninus Pius along with Marcus Aurelius, and on the accession of the last-named prince Verus became his colleague in the empire in 161. Soon after he proceeded to the East to conduct the war against the Parthians, which was brought to a successful issue by his generals. Verus, however, remained idle at Antioch, and took little part in the conduct of affairs. On his return to Rome he celebrated a magnificent triumph, and assumed, along with Aurelius, the titles of Parthicus, Armeniacus, and Medicus. Verus died in Italy in 169.—G.  VESALIUS,, the most celebrated anatomist of the sixteenth century, was born at Brussels in 1514. Medicine appears to have been the family profession; his father was apothecary to the Emperor Maximilian, and he had an uncle, Everardus, who was a physician and a commentator on Rhazes. His general education was obtained at Louvain, and his medical at Cologne, Montpelier, and Paris. Whilst a pupil his zeal in the study of anatomy attracted the notice of Guntherus, who in 1536 made him his principal assistant. In the same year Vesalius discovered the origin of the spermatic bloodvessels. He returned to Louvain, where he taught anatomy; but desirous of furthering his own studies, he joined the army of the emperor, who was then at war with France. In 1538 he went to Bologna, and the following year to Padua, where he was shortly after appointed professor of anatomy. In 1539 he published his "Epistola docens venam axillarem dextri cubiti in dolore secandam." Vesalius taught at Padua for nearly four years. He then, in 1543, accepted a professorship at Bologna, and not long afterwards was induced to take the anatomical chair at Pisa, with an annual stipend of eight hundred crowns. His career as a teacher of anatomy was cut short by a call to attend the Emperor Charles V., as his physician. He quitted Pisa in 1544, and for some years resided at the imperial court, and afterwards at the court of Philip II. of Spain. In his "Anatomicarum Gabrielis Fallopii observationum examen," written at Madrid in 1561, he states that he cannot even get a skull to examine; and it is remarked by Haller that he added scarcely anything to his anatomical knowledge after leaving Pisa. He obtained, however, a high reputation as a practical physician. It was in 1563 or 1564 that Vesalius undertook the pilgrimage to Jerusalem which led to his death. The reason for the pilgrimage is not satisfactorily known. The most common account is, that having been summoned to make a post-mortem examination of a Spanish gentleman, he observed on opening the pericardium some movement in the heart; that the fact became known to the relatives of the deceased, who accused Vesalius before the inquisition; and that to avert a worse punishment Philip II. procured an injunction of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in expiation. There appears, however, to be no proof of this story, unless its currency soon after the anatomist's death be admitted as evidence. Whilst Vesalius was at Jerusalem in 1564 he received from the Venetian senate an invitation to succeed Fallopius in the chair of anatomy. He accepted the invitation, but in the voyage to Italy he was wrecked on the isle of Zante. There he died, according to some accounts, of starvation, but probably from hardship and exposure. He had a half-brother, Francis, who also devoted himself to the study of anatomy, with the view, it is said, of defending his brother's reputation and memory, but his life was early cut short. Whilst at Padua, in 1539, Vesalius published some anatomical plates, and for the four following years his time was chiefly spent in the production of his great work on human anatomy. For this purpose he associated with himself the first artists of the day; amongst others, Titian is said to have employed his pencil in illustrating the book. In 1542 an abridgment of the work appeared under the title of "Suorum librorum de corporis humani fabrica epitome," Basle, folio. The whole appeared in the following year, entitled "De Corporis Humani Fabrica, libri septem," Basle, folio, 1543. Another edition was published by the author in 1555, and after his death it was frequently reproduced. It would not be easy to overrate the importance to anatomical science of Vesalius' work. His power of observation, industry, and acuteness, were only equalled by his boldness and freedom from reverence for antiquated error. He attacked the errors of Galen and others of the ancients with vigour, but always adduced anatomical evidence of the truth of his own assertions. The established teaching did not, however, want defenders. Vesalius was attacked by Sylvius—who called him "Vesanus"—Piccolomini, Driander, Putæus, Eustachius, and Fallopius. To their strictures he replied in his treatise, "De Radicis Chinæ usu epistola," published in 1546, and in his "Examination of the Anatomical Observations of Fallopius," published in 1561. Besides his anatomical works, some Consilia in the collections of Montanus, Garetius, Ingrassias, and Scholzius, have been attributed to Vesalius. A work entitled Chirurgia Magna, published under his name by Borgarucci, is probably only a compilation.—F. C. W.  VESLING,, physician, was born at Minden in Westphalia in 1598. He studied at Padua, and then visited Egypt and the Holy Land. At Jerusalem he was made a knight of the Holy sepulchre. He returned to Padua in 1632, where he was appointed to the first chair of anatomy, lecturing also on surgery and botany. In 1638 he became superintendent of the botanical garden. Whilst occupying this post he travelled to Candia and various parts of the Levant, for the purpose of collecting plants. He died at Padua in 1649, aged fifty-one. He wrote "Syntagma Anatomicum publicis dissectionibus diligenter aptatum," Patav., 1641; a posthumous work, "De Pullitione Ægyptiorum, et aliæ observationes anatomicæ et epistolæ medicæ posthumæ," Hafn, 1664; "De Plantis Ægypti Observationes et Notæ ad P. Alpinum," Patav., 1638; and "Catalogus Plantarum Horti Patavini," Patav., 1642-44.—F. C. W.  VESPASIANUS,, Emperor of Rome, was a native of the Sabine territory, and was born on 17th November,. 9. In early life he was tribunus militum in Thrace, and quæstor in Crete and Cyrene. He also filled the offices of ædile and prætor. He married Flavia Domitilla, who bore him two sons. In the reign of Claudius, he served in the army in Germany as legatus legionis, and afterwards in Britain. In. 51 he was consul, and also proconsul of Africa under Nero. In. 66 he went into the East with a powerful army against the Jews. While prosecuting the Jewish war he became emperor,. 69. In consequence of his elevation he left the conduct of the war to his son Titus, and ordered Mucianus, governor of Syria, to march against Vitellius. The latter was defeated and put to death at Cremona. At Alexandria, where Vespasian went to cut off the supplies of grain from that place, so that Vitellius might be compelled to surrender, he incurred the dislike of the inhabitants by increased taxation. At Rome Mucianus acted as Vespasian's deputy with full powers; and Domitian the emperor's second son, then 