Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/374

 354 VIGO VILLANI in Paris, Sept. 18, 1868. He studied in Paris for a time, till bis legitimist mother, fearing the ascendancy of Napoleon over her son's 'imagination, had him educated at her chateau by a private tutor. In 1816 he became a sub- lieutenant in the royal guard, and in 1823 a captain. In 1827, subsequent to his marriage at Paris with Lydia Bunbury, an English lady, he retired from service. He had been known since 1822 as a poet of superior genius, though his popularity with the romantic school and the masses of readers dated only from his his- torical romance Cinq-Mars, ou line conjuration sous Louis XIII. (2 vols., Paris, 1826), which had many editions and translations. He achieved a still more brilliant though not last- ing success by his drama Chatterton, first per- formed in 1835 at the Theatre Francais. His relation with Mrae. Dorval, the celebrated ac- tress, who excelled as Kitty Bell in this play, and other irregularities of his life, caused great unhappiness to his wife. In 1845 he was elected to the academy. His earliest poetical works, Helena, La filU de Jephte, La femme adultere, &c., were included in his Poemes (1822). filoa, ou la sveur des anges, Le deluge, Mom, and Dolorida, included in his Poemes antiques et modernes (1824-'6), are his finest and most original productions. In 1832 ap- peared his prose work Stello, and in 1835 Ser- vitude et grandeur militaire. He also trans- lated " Othello," and wrote La marechale d'Ancre, a play entirely eclipsed by G'hatter- ton. Ratisbonne edited his posthumous Les destinees (1864). A new edition of De Vigny's complete works appeared in 8 vols. (1863-'6). VIGO, a W. county of Indiana, bordering on Illinois, and drained by the Wabash river ; area, 400 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 33,549. The surface is level or undulating and diversified with forests and prairies, arid the soil is very fertile. Bituminous coal, limestone, and free- stone abound. It is intersected by the Wabash and Erie canal, and by several railroads meet- ing at Terre Haute. The chief productions in 1870 were 354,132 bushels of wheat, 832,372 of Indian corn, 96,179 of oats, 144,319 of pota- toes, 316,076 Ibs. of butter, 56,637 of wool, and 13,950 tons of hay. There were 7,206 horses, 4,767 milch cows, 6,688 other cattle, 19,009 sheep, and 23,118 swine. The num- ber of manufactories was 213 ; capital in- vested, $1,279,555 ; value of products, $4,102,- 154. The chief establishments were 5 for the manufacture of carriages and wagons, 2 of cars, 10 of bricks, 19 of cooperage, 2 of hubs and wagon material, 5 of iron, 4 of machinery, 2 of woollens, 10 flour mills, 1 distillery, 6 breweries, and 16 saw mills. Capital, Terre Haute. VIGO, a seaport town of Spain, in the prov- ince and 15 m. S. of the city of Pontevedra, beautifully situated in a fertile region on the 8. shore of the bay of Vigo ; pop. about 8,000. It has old walls and suburbs, steep streets, ex- tensive lazarettos, a harbor accessible to small craft, and a roadstead sheltered by hills and protected by fortified castles, where the Eng- lish and French steamers to South America anchor. The annual imports, chiefly grain and oil, amount to about 20,000,000 reals, and the exports, including wine, fish, &c., to 7,000,000. The English, under Sir Francis Drake, repeat- edly ravaged the place toward the close of the 16th century. On Oct. 28, 1702, the allied Eng- lish and Dutch squadron destroyed the Spanish galleon fleet and French convoys off Vigo; and the English captured the town in 1719. VILAYET, the designation of the chief ad- ministrative divisions or provinces of the Ot- toman empire, each under the authority of a governor general (tali) and a council. The vilayets are divided into livas or sanjaks, under governors appointed by the Porte, but receiv- ing their instructions through the governors general, and these into cazas or districts. Some of the Turkish provinces were until re- cently governed by pashas, and hence also called pashalica; but this name has been re- placed by the term vilayet or its equivalent eyalet (government), which two terms are used more or less indiscriminately. VILLAFRANCA, a town of Italy, in Venetia, on the Tartaro, 9 m. S. W. of Verona; pop. about 7,000. It has several churches and schools and the remains of a vast castellated structure. The chief branch of trade and in- dustry is silk. Since the close of the last cen- tury the vicinity of Villafranca has repeatedly been the scene of battles. Charles Albert was defeated, July 25, 1848, by Radetzky, at the neighboring Custozza, and La Marmora on June 24, 1866, by the Austrians. But Villa- franca is most memorable on account of the preliminary treaty concluded there July 11, 1859, personally between the emperors Napo- leon III. and Francis Joseph, the main stipula- tion of which was the cession of Lorabardy by the latter to Victor Emanuel of Sardinia. (See ITALY, vol. ix., p. 453.) This treaty was ratified by the definitive peace of Zurich, Nov. 10, 1859. VILLANI, Giovanni, an Italian historian, born in Florence about 1280, died there in 1348. He was the son of a wealthy nobleman, and gathered in Rome and other places materials for his htoru fiorentine (Venice and Florence, 1537-'54; edited by Baccio Valori, Florence, 1587; last ed., 7 vols., Milan, 1848). Villani was regarded as a master of pure Tuscan, and the Delia Crusca academy considered his style, as presented in Valori's edition, an authority on the language. Villani is trustworthy only in regard to European and Florentine events which he witnessed himself. He brought the narrative down nearly to the time of his death ; his brother Matteo continued it to the end of 1363, and Matteo's son Filippo to that of 1865. It was written in the interest of the Guelph party, to which Villani belonged, and he held various offices and also participated in Floren- tine wars and diplomatic negotiations. Mas-