Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/93

* VERDUN. 67 VERGIL. the Rhiup, iiicliuling Neustria and Aquitaine, with weslc'iii liuryundy and the Spanish March. VERE, vfi'rA. A town of the Netherlands. See Caaii'vere. VERE, Sir Aubrey de, and Auorey Thomas DE. Two Irisli poet.s. See De Veke. VERESHTCHAGIN", vo'rosh-cliti'afin, Vas- sii.i ( I.S12- 11104 ) . ARussianniilitarypainter.born at Tchen'[)ovets, Government of Nof>ord_, Octo- ber 20, 1842. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Academy, and later removed to Paris, where in lH(i4 he bcf;an his work with Chrome at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In 1807 lie joined the expedition against Samarkand, and after a sojourn in Paris went in 18G9 to Siberia. After liis return ho S])ent two years in Munich. His travels dur- ing the subserpient four years took him to China and India, but in 1877 he quitted Paris, windier he had gone to live, to join the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish War. He was present at the attack on the Shipka Pass and the siege of Plevna, and acted as secretary to General Skobe- letr in the peace negotiations of San Stefano. From this time he abandoned the art of war to become its severest denoimcer. Striving to teach his detestation of war by depicting its horrors, he has restrained his art from no extravagance of emphasis or realism of subject. From the technical side, his pictures are crude in color, and filled with figures that contribute a multi- tude of facts to the history of the sidiject: but as paintings they are lacking in artistic signifi- cance. Among his works dealing with war are '■The Pyramid of Skulls;" "Forgotten;" "The Road After Plevna;" "Skobeleff in the Shipka Pass;" "The Emir of Samarkand Visiting the Trophies." His war pictures are arranged in cycles, among which, besides those mentioued, are an Indian series, executed during a stay in that country; a splendid series representing Napoleon's campaign in Russia, and another on the Siianish-American War from studies made in t uba. He held repeated exhibitions in the Inited States, and a number of his works are in private possession here. He is best repre- sented in the Tretyakoff C'ollection, Moscow, which possesses the Indian and Central Asiatic sub- jects, and his best known battle-pieces. V'eresh- tchagin was also a writer of note. Selections from his memoirs have been published in English under the title Vereshtchai/in, Painter, Soldier, Traveler (New York, 1888) ; as has also been his 'Napoleon I. ill I'ussia (London, 1899). VERGA, ver'ga, Giqv.^nnt (1840—). An Italian novelist and dramatist, born in Catania, Sicily. His earliest eil'orts, tSlorin. di und peecatrice (180.5) and I Carbonari dellii moritafina (180.5), had little merit, but Eva. (5th ed., 1880) and Storia di una capinera (1809), psj'chologica! studies of deep insight, established his reputation. Eros (1875) and II marito di Elena (1SS2) showed him advancing on a new path, and before long in Medda (1874) and the Yita dei cariipi (1880), a series of masterly sketches, dealing with the passions and priva- tions of the Sicilian peasantry, he struck his true vein, abandoning for good his earlier ro- manticism to become a realist. Two of these sketches he has since dramatized, f.n liipa and Carnlleria rtintieana. The latter work has been rendered doubly famous by the acting of Eleanora Duse and the music of Mascagni. Among Ver- ga's latest and strongest novels are / Matavoylia (188J) and Maestro Don Oeaualdo (1889), form- ing the opening volumes of a series of Sicilian stories, under tile general title of / Vinti. With his fellow-townsnian Capuana, Vcrga stands at the head of the Italian veristi and his manner has often been compared to that of Zola. VERGENNES, ver'zhen', Ciiakles Gk.wieb, Count de (1717-87). A French statesman, born at Dijon. After serving for nearly a quarter of a century in various diplomatic capacities, first as Minister to Treves, then as Ambassador to Turkey, and finally as Ambassadeu- to Sweden, he was made Minister of Foreign Affairs by Louis XVI. in 1774. He arranged an alliance with the Swiss Confederation; and the negotia- tions that bi'ought France into alliance with the new United States of America were conducted by liim. Largely as a result of negotiations con- ducted by him, also, Spain joined in the war against Great Britain in 1779. VERGIL, ver'jil, Polydore ( 1470?-1555 ?). An English ecclesiastic and historian, of Italian origin. He was born at L'rbino, Italy. He studied at Bologna and Padua; at the latter place became secretary to the Duke of tlrhino. and there wrote Prorerhiorum LiheUus and De Inren- torihus Rcrinn, two bonks which went through several editions and translations, and estab- lished his fame. He received the appointment of chamberlain to Pope Alexander VI. About 1501 he was sent to England as collector of Peter's pence (of which office he was the last holder). He became naturalized, and with the exception of three visits to the Continent, remained in England almost to the end of his life. He re- ceived successively the rectorship of Cliurch- Langton, the archdeaconry of Wells, and pre-. bends in the cathedrals of Hereford, Lincoln, and Saint Paul's, London. On a charge of libeling Wolsey he was imprisoned in 1515, but was soon released. After a residence of nearly ^^^J years in England, he returned to end his days in his native land, with permission to hold his arch- deaconry, as also his Hereford prebend. His principal work, written at the instigation of Henry VII., is Polydori Vergilii Vrhinatis Anpliece Historicce Libri XXVI. (1534), which comprises a hi.story of England from the earliest times to the end of the reign of Henry Vll.; it went through numerous editions, and in 1844- 40 an Old English translation of the first eight books was edited and publislied for the Camden Society. His De Inrentoribiis Rerum, translated by John Langley and edited by W. A. Hammond, with an "Account of the Author and His Works," was published for the Agathynian Clul) of New York in 1808. VERGIL, PuBLius Vebgilit^s Maro ( n.c. 70- 19). One of the most celebrated of Roman poets. The orthography Vergilius is established beyond question by the evidence of inscriptions, as well as by the earlier manuscripts and the Greek transliterations Oi;6p7(Xios and liepyCKtot, and is now generally employed. Virgilius appears for the first time in the fifth century, and became current during the Middle Ages. It was due to popular etymology, which connected the name with rirpa, 'wand,' on account of the association of Vergil with magic rites, and perhaps also with