Vato, the wind-spirit.
Even Zoroaster imagined there was an evil spirit called Vato, that could excite violent storms of wind.--T. Rowe [i.e., Dr. Pegge], Gentleman’s Magazine, January, 1763.
Vaudeville (Father of The), Oliver Basselin (fifteenth century).
Vaughan, the bogie of Bromyard exorcised by nine priests. Nine candles were lighted in the ceremony, and all but one burnt out. The priests consigned Nicholas Vaughan to the Red Sea; and casting the remaining candle into the river Frome, threw a huge stone over it, and forbade the bogie to leave the Red Sea till that candle re-appeared to human sight. The stone is still called “Vaughan’s Stone.”
Vaugirard (The deputies of). The usher announced to Charles VIII. of France, “The deputies of Vaugirard.” “How many?” asked the king. “Only one, may it please your highness.”
V. D. M. I. Æ., Verbum Dei manet in æternum (“the Word of God endureth for ever”). This was the inscription of the Lutheran bishops, in the diet of Spires. Philip of Hessen said the initials stood for Verbum diaboli manet in episcopis (“the word of the devil abideth in the [Lutheran] bishops”).
Veal (Mrs.), an imaginary person, whom Defoe feigned to have appeared, the day after her death, to Mrs. Bargrave, of Canterbury, on September 8, 1705[1705].
Defoe’s conduct in regard to the well-known imposture, Mrs. Veal’s ghost, would justify us in believing him to be, like Gil Bias, “tant soi peu fripon.”--Encyc. Brit., Art. “Romance.”
Veal’s Apparition (Mrs.). It is said that Mrs. Veal, the day after her death, appeared to Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, September 8, 1705. This cock-and-bull story was affixed by Daniel Defoe to Drelincourt’s book of Consolations against the Fears of Death, and such is the matter-of-fact style of the narrative that most readers thought the fiction was a fact.
Vec´chio (Peter), a teacher of music and Latin; reputed to be a wizard.--Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances (1620).