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 24:8 VALETTE in May, 1873. (For the commerce and his- tory of the city, see MALTA, and VALETTE.) VALETTE, Jean Parlsot de La, a grand mas- ter of the knights of Malta, born in 1494, died in Malta, Aug. 21, 1568. He belonged to an eminent family of Toulouse, passed through every grade of his order to lieutenant general, and was in 1557 unanimously chosen grand master as successor of Claude de la Langle. The assistance which he rendered in the wars against the Turks, and the rapid growth of the order under his administration, induced Soly- man the Magnificent to fit out an expedition for the reduction of Malta; and on May 18, 1565, 180 Turkish vessels of war, with 30,000 troops on board, cast anchor in the gulf of Mugiarro. La Valette had constructed new fortifications at the N. E. extremity of the peninsula now occupied by the city of Valetta, but his garrison consisted of only 700 knights and 8,500 soldiers, including the inhabitants who had been armed for the occasion; yet with these he withstood one of the most ter- rific sieges on record until Sept. 8, when, on the arrival of the viceroy of Naples with 8,000 men for his assistance, the Turks took to their ships. They disembarked again, but were de- feated with great slaughter and fled in disor- der. Their loss during the siege is said to have been 30,000 (they had several times been reenforced) ; while the knights, on the depar- ture of the Turkish fleet, had barely 600 left of all their combatants. La Valette rebuilt the fortifications, and founded the town of Valetta, to which he removed the residence of the knights from Citta Vecchia. VALHALLA. See MYTHOLOGY, vol. xii., p. 120. VALLA, Lorenzo, an Italian scholar, born in Borne about 1410, died there or in Naples about 1460. He was ordained a priest in 1431, taught rhetoric in Pavia and other cities, and in 1435 went to Naples, where he gained the friendship of Alfonso I., and accompanied him in his wars and voyages. In 1443 he returned to Rome, where he incurred the hostility of the cardinals and Pope Eugenius IV. by attacking the authenticity of the instrument known as the "donation of Constantino," upon which the popes in great part based their claims to temporal sovereignty. Valla fled to Naples and opened a school, but became involved in theological controversies, and only escaped the inquisition through the protection of the king. He was subsequently received in Rome by Pope Nicholas V., to whom he presented a portion of the Homeric poems translated for the first time into Latin, and his translation of Thucy- dides, for which he received 500 crowns and the offices of apostolical secretary and canon of St. John Lateran. His works, including Elegantm Linguae, Latin, in six books, were collected in 3 vols. fol. (Basel, 1543). See Vahlen's Lorenzo Valla (Vienna, 1864) VALLADOLID. I. A N. W. province of Spain, m Old Castile (by some included in the king- dom of Leon), bordering on Leon, Palencia, VALLE

Burgos, Segovia, Avila, Salamanca, and Za- mora ; area, 3,043 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 242,- 384. The surface, though elevated, is gener- ally level, and the soil is sandy. The principal rivers are the Douro and its affluents the Du- raton, Eresma, and Pisuerga. The province produces grain, red and white wines, flax, hemp, madder, and timber. There are excellent pas- tures, and numerous horses, cattle, sheep, and mules are raised. Paper, earthenware, and various fabrics of hemp and flax are manu- factured. II. A city, capital of the province, in an extensive plain on the left bank of the Pisuerga, at the terminus of the canal of Cas- tile, 100 m. N. W. of Madrid ; pop. about 50,- 000. It is irregularly built, but contains some fine streets and squares. The cathedral, begun by Philip II., has never been completed ; it has a Doric facade, with an arch over the prin- cipal entrance 50 ft. by 24. There are many other churches, convents, and nunneries, of which the churches of Santa Maria la Antigua, San Martin, and San Benito are fine specimens of architecture. The university, for students of law and of medicine, was founded by Al- fonso XI. in 1346. There are several colleges, a museum containing the statues, pictures, and other works of art which were removed from the suppressed convents, a royal palace, a thea- tre, a lyceum, and a public library. Silks, lace, paper, woollens, and earthenware are manu- factured, and there is a large trade in corn. Valladolid was called Belad-Walid by tho Moors, from whom it was taken by Ordoflo II. of Leon in 920. It was the capital of Castile and of Spain from the beginning of the 15th century till 1560, when Philip II. removed tho court to Madrid. Columbus died in Valladolid. VALLADOLID, a city of Mexico. See Mo- RELIA. VALLADOLID, a town of Mexico, capital of a department of the same name in the state of Yucatan, 90 m. E. S. E. of Merida ; pop. about 15,000. The streets are well laid out and clean, and the houses arc generally one story high with flat roofs. There are several churches, a town house, and an aqueduct. The climate is healthful, and the town is much resorted to by invalids. Cotton is manufactured. VALLADOLID, a town of Honduras. See Co- MAYAOUA. VALLAIRI, Tommaso, an Italian philologist, born at Chiusa di Cuneo, Jan. 23, 1805. He early became professor of rhetoric in the uni- versity of Turin, and afterward of Greek and Latin eloquence ; and he ranks as one of the best Latinists of Italy. His works include His- toria Critica Literarum (1849; 7th ed., 1868); Trinumus (1855); Menachmi (1859); Novelle (4th ed., 1868) ; editions of Ausonius Popma's De Different iis Verborum (1852), and of the Aulularia (1853) and Miles Gloriosus (1854) of Plautus; Latin-Italian dictionaries; and books on history and literature. VALLE, Pletro della, an Italian traveller, sur- named II Pellegrino, born in Rome, April 2,