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 310 VEEE consequence of which, the commander of the citadel (Beauregard) shot himself, and subse- quently many of the former were executed by the republican authorities. In the war of 1870 Verdun surrendered after a siege of about a month, Nov. 8. Many officers and much artil- lery and war material fell into the hands of the Germans. Verdun was substituted for Belfort as a pledge to the Germans until the final payment of the war indemnity in 1873. VERB, I. Sir Aubrey de, an Irish poet, born Aug. 20, 1788, died July 5, 1846. He succeed- ed to the baronetcy and family estates, in Lim- erick and Tipperary counties, in 1818. He published two dramatic poems, "Julian the Apostate" (1822) and "The Duke of Mercia" (1823), and "A Song of Faith, and other Poems" (1842). II. Aubrey Thomas de, an Irish author, third son of the preceding, born at Ourra Chase, county Limerick, Jan. 10, 1814. He was educated at Trinity college, Dublin. He has published " The Waldenses, and other Poems " (1842) ; " The Search after Proserpine, and other Poems" (1843); "English Misrule and Irish Misdeeds" (1848); "Picturesque Sketches of Greece and Turkey " (2 vols., 1850) ; "Poems, Miscellaneous and Sacred" (1856); " May Carols " (1857) ; " The Sisters, and other Poems" (1861) ; "The Infant Bridal, and oth- er Poems" (1864); "The Church Settlement of Ireland" (1866); "Irish Odes, and other Poems" (1869); "The Legends of St. Pa- trick" (1872); and "Alexander the Great, a Dramatic Poem" (1874). VERGEiVNES, a city of Addison co., Vermont, on Otter creek, 7 m. from its mouth in Lake Champlain, and on the Rutland division of the Central Vermont railroad, 21 m. S. of Burling- ton ; pop. in 1870, 1,570. Its area is only 480 by 400 rods, not quite 2 sq. m. The falls of Otter creek afford a large amount of hydraulic power, which is partially improved. The manufactures include curtain rolls, doors, sash, and blinds, furniture, guns, hubs, spokes, &c., pumps, leather, and nails. There are three churches, a graded school, a weekly newspaper, and a national bank. The state reform school for boys is situated here. The harbor is an excellent one, affording a sufficient depth of water for the largest vessels. In the war of 1812 Com. McDonough's fleet was fitted out here. The city was settled in 1766, and in- corporated in 1788. VERGEMES, Charles Gravler, count de, a French statesman, born in Dijon, Dec. 28, 1717, died in Versailles, Feb. 13, 1787. He early accom- panied his relative M. de Chavigny on diplo- matic missions, and was minister at Treves from 1750 to 1755, and afterward at Constan- tinople till 1768, when the prime minister Choi- seul, dissatisfied with his failure to instigate a Turcp-Russian war, recalled him on the ground of his having married a Greek woman of low degree; but after Choiseul's removal he was restored to the service in 1771 as minister to Sweden, and in 1774 he became minister of for- VERGNIAUD eign affairs on the recommendation of Count de Maurepas. He was very friendly to the American patriots, and the treaties of com- merce (Dec. 8, 1777) and of alliance (Feb. 6, 1778) with the American colonies, as well as the preliminary (Nov. 30, 1782) and the final treaty of peace with Great Britain (Sept. 3, 1783), were all concluded under his administra- tion. In the mean time he had brought about the treaty of Teschen (May 13, 1779), ending the war of the Bavarian succession. At home, he contributed to the downfall of Necker, and in 1783 became president of the royal council of finance, and later of tjie new committee of finance ; and in the same year he promoted the appointment of Calonne as comptroller gen- eral of that department. Louis XVI. lost in him one of his most judicious advisers at the most critical period of his reign. He wrote various memoirs, but the Memoire historique et politique sur la Louuiane (Paris, 1802), at- tributed to him, is of doubtful authorship. VERGIL, Polydore, an English historian, born in Urbino, Italy, about 1470, died in his native country in 1555. Being in holy orders, he was sent to England in 1501 by Pope Alexan- der VI. as collector of the tax called Peter's pence, which office he was the last to hold. He was made rector of Church-Langton in Leicestershire, archdeacon of Wells (1507), and a prebendary successively in the cathedrals of Hereford and Lincoln, and in St. Paul's, Lon- don (1513). When he had been nearly 50 years in England, ho returned to Italy with a present of 300 crowns, and leave to hold his archdea- conry of Wells and his prebend at Hereford during life. His principal work is his Histo- ria Anglica (fol., 1534), a history of England from the earliest time to the end of the reign of Henry VII. Two portions of an old Eng- lish version of ithave been printed by the Cam- den society (4to, 1844-'6). He also published a collection of Adagio, or proverbs (1498) ; a work De Rerum fnventoribus (1499; transla- tion by John Langley, with W. A. Hammond's " Account of the Author and his Works," Aga- thynian club, New York, 1868) ; three books of dialogues against divination, entitled De Pro- digiis (Basel, 1531) ; and treatises De Patientia, De Vita Perfecta, and De Mendacii*. Some passages in his De Rerum Irwentoribus were placed on the Index at Rome. VERGMUD, Pierre Vleturaien, a French revo- lutionist, born in Limoges, May 31, 1759, exe- cuted in Paris, Oct. 31, 1793. He was admitted to the bar in Bordeaux in 1781, where he gained great distinction. He warmly supported the revolution of 1789, and in 1791 was elected to the legislative assembly, of which he became vice president (Oct. 16) and president (Oct. 31). He advocated severe measures against the emi- grants, acted generally in opposition to the monarchy, promoted the proclamation of the republic in 1792, and was elected to the nation- al convention. On the trial of the king he supported the proposition to allow an appeal