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 VERONA maggiore from its size, dates from the 8th century, and has remarkable monuments. The interior of San Giorgio Maggiore was embel- lished by Sammicheli, and contains paintings by Paul Veronese and other masters. Close to Sta. Maria Antica are the tombs of the Scala family. Verona is emphatically a city of pal- aces ; several, such as the Canossa, Pompei, and Maffei (now Tresa) palaces, are among Sam- micheli's masterpieces. The palace of the resi- dent bishop (vescomdo) was principally restored in the 14th century. Castel Vecchio and the adjoining bridge were built by Cangrande II. The picture gallery has been removed from the Consiglio to the Pompei alia Victoria palace in the via di Porto at the Campo Marzio, facing the Adige ; it contains large collections, chiefly paintings by Veronese masters. The most im- posing Roman antiquity in Verona is the ruined amphitheatre, contemporary with the Colos- seum of Rome, built of marble, originally 513 ft. long, 410 ft. broad, with a length of arena of 248^ ft., and 100 ft. high, and accommoda- ting 22,000 spectators. Part of it is intact ; the interior is used as a circus, and the arcades for shops. Among numerous other Roman relics are fragments of a theatre and the Porta de' Borsari and Arco de' Leoni. Verona has as- sociations with Dante, Petrarch, and Shake- speare's "Romeo and Juliet." The tomb of Juliet has long been destroyed, though one is still shown for the gratification of tourists. The city has a lyceum, a gymnasium, a theo- logical seminary, a technical institute, an acad- emy of painting and sculpture, a city library, an agricultural academy, a society for bee cul- ture, and a private institution for indigent girls, who excel in silk and gold embroideries and artificial flowers. Among the many art col- lections, the Maffei is rich in inscriptions, stat- ues, and vases. Silk, woollen, linen, and other goods are made. There is an active trade in these, and in grain, oil, and sumach, which has much increased since the opening in 1867 of the Brenner railway, which makes Verona the centre of mercantile communication with Ger- many, as it formerly was of military movements in N. E. Italy. Verona was originally an im- portant town in Gallia Transpadana, and it became a flourishing Roman colony with the surname of Augusta. In A. D. 312 it was con- quered by Constantine the Great in his march from Gaul, and in 489, on the defeat of Odoa- cer, it was taken by Theodoric the Great, who often held his court at Verona. Charlemagne captured it in 774, and it afterward became a free city. The Scala family obtained supreme power in 1260, and were overthrown in 1387 by Giovanni Galeazzo Visconti of Milan. Can- grande, Dante's friend, was the most celebra- ted ruler of the former house. (See SCALA, and CANE I. DELLA SCALA.) In the beginning of the 15th century it was annexed to Venice. The French took Verona in 1796, and ceded it in 1797 to Austria, but again held it from 1805 to 1814, when it was recovered by Austria. VERRAZZANO 323 The congress of Verona (October to Decem- ber, 1822), over which Metternich presided with Gentz for his secretary, aimed at the ter- mination of the disturbed condition of Spain and Turkey and of revolutionary agitation in Europe, and its principal result was the French intervention in Spain in the following year. In 1866 Verona was incorporated with the king- dom of Italy. See Maffei's Verona illmtrata (Verona, 1731-'2; new ed., 8 vols., 1792-3); Rouzani's Le antichita de Verona (1833) ; and G. da Persico's Descrizione di Verona e della sua provincia (1838). VERONESE, Paul. See CAGLIAEI. YERPLANCK, Gnlian Crotnmelin, an American author, born in New York, Aug. 6, 1786, died there, March 18, 1870. He graduated at Co- lumbia college in 1801, studied law, and passed several years in European travel. In 1820 he became a member of the New York legislature, and not long afterward professor of the evi- dences of Christianity in the general Protes- tant Episcopal seminary in New York. From 1825 to 1888 he was a member of congress, and afterward several times of the state sen- ate. He published " The State Triumvirate, a Political Tale," "Bucktail Bards," and "The Epistles of Brevet Major Pindar Puff" (1819), political pamphlets chiefly aimed at De Witt Clinton ; " Essays on the Nature and Uses of the Various Evidences of Revealed Religion " (1824) ; nearly half of the annual in prose and verse called "The Talisman" (3 vols., 1827- '30) ; " Discourses and Addresses on Subjects of American History, Arts, and Literature" (1833); an edition of Shakespeare (3 vols., 1844 '7) ; and several college orations, the best known of which is " The American Scholar," delivered at Union college in 1836. He pre- pared also for 15 years nearly all the annual reports of the commissioners of emigration, of which board he was president. VERRAZZANO, Giovanni da (called also VEBRA- ZANI), a Florentine navigator, born about 1485, executed at Puerto del Pico, Spain, in Novem- ber, 1527. He was of a good family of the Val di Greve near Florence, and went to France, where he found employment as a navigator. References in French annals make it possible that he visited the northern coast of America as early as 1508. He soon became famous as a corsair against the Spaniards and Portuguese, made valuable captures in 1621, and in 1522 captured the treasure ship in which Cortes was sending to Charles V. the rich spoils of Mex- ico, valued at more than $1,500,000. His next depredation on the Portuguese roused Spain and Portugal against him, and he was finally captured in September or October, 1527, taken to Spain, and executed by the emperor's or- ders. In 1556 Ramusio published in his collec- tion of voyages a letter which he ascribed to Verrazzano, purporting to have been written at Dieppe, July 8, 1524, and giving to Francis I. an account of a voyage to the coast of North America and its exploration from lat.