[Varus, Publius Quintilius], Roman consul, appointed by Augustus governor of Germany; being attacked by Arminius and overpowered with loss of three Roman legions under his command, he committed suicide; when the news of the disaster reached Rome Augustus was overwhelmed with grief, and in a paroxysm of despair called upon the dead man to restore him his legions.
[Vasari, Giorgio], Italian painter and architect, born in Arezzo; was the author of biographies of Italian artists, and it is on these, with the criticism they contain, that his title to fame rests (1511-1574).
[Vassar College], a college 2 m. E. of Poughkeepsie, New York, founded by Matthew Vassar, a wealthy brewer, in 1861 for the higher education of women.
[Vathec], an Oriental potentate and libertine, guilty of all sorts of crimes, and hero of a novel of the name by [William Beckford] (q. v.).
[Vatican, The], the palace of the Pope in Rome and one of the largest in the world; contains a valuable collection of works of art, and is one of the chief attractions in the city; it is a storehouse of literary treasures as well and documents of interest bearing on the history of the Middle Ages.
[Vatican Council], a Church council attended by 764 ecclesiastics under the auspices of Pius IX., which assembled on December 8, 1869, and by a majority of nearly 481 decreed the doctrine of Papal Infallibility.
[Vauban, Sebastien le Prestre de], marshal of France in the reign of Louis XIV.; military engineering was his great forte, and as such he "conducted 53 sieges, was present at 104 battles, erected 33 fortresses, and restored the works of 300 old ones"; he was originally in the service of Spain, and was enlisted in the French service by Cardinal Mazarin; he was a political economist as well as engineer, but his animadversions only procured for him the royal disfavour (1633-1707).
[Vaucluse] (valley shut in) (235), department in the SE. of France; chief industries agriculture, silk-weaving, pottery, &c., and with a village of the name, 19 m. E. of Avignon, famous for its fountain and as the retreat of Petrarch for 16 years.
[Vaud] (247), a canton in the W. of Switzerland, between Jura and the Bernese Alps; is well cultivated, yields wines, and its inhabitants Protestants; the capital is Lausanne.
[Vaudeville], a light, lively song with topical allusions; also a dramatic poem interspersed with comic songs of the kind and dances.