[Vinegar Bible], an edition of the Bible printed at Oxford, in which the page containing the "Parable of the Vineyard" in Luke xx. was headed "Parable of the Vinegar."
[Vinegar Hill], a hill (385 ft.) near Enniscorthy, co. Wexford, Ireland, where General Lake defeated the Irish rebels on June 21, 1798, to the utter annihilation then and after of almost every man of them.
[Vinet, Alexandre Rodolphe], a Protestant theologian, born near Lausanne, where he studied and ultimately became professor of Practical Theology; was a zealous defender of the liberty of conscience and of the freedom of the Church from State connection and control; he was a littérateur as well as an able and eloquent divine (1797-1847).
[Viotti, Giovanni Battista], celebrated violinist, born in Piedmont (1753-1824).
[Virchow, Rudolf], eminent pathologist, born in Pomerania; is distinguished as a politician as well as a man of science, and is in the former regard a strenuous Liberal; his services not only in the interests of medicine but of science generally and its social applications have been very great; b. 1821.
[Virgil], great Latin poet, born near Mantua, author in succession of the "Eclogues," the "Georgics," and the "Æneid"; studied at Cremona and Milan, and at 16 was sent to Rome to study rhetoric and philosophy, lost a property he had in Cremona during the civil war, but recommended himself to Pollio, the governor, who introduced him to Augustus, and he went to settle in Rome; here, in 37 B.C., he published his "Eclogues," a collection of 10 pastorals, and gained the patronage of Mæcenas, under whose favour he was able to retire to a villa at Naples, where in seven years he, in 30 B.C., produced the "Georgics," in four books, on the art of husbandry, after which he devoted himself to his great work the "Æneid," or the story of Æneas of Troy, an epic in 12 books, connecting the hero with the foundation of Rome, and especially with the Julian family, and which was finished in 19 B.C.; on his deathbed he expressed a wish that it should be burned, and left instructions to that effect in his will; he was one of the purest-minded poets perhaps that ever lived (70-19 B.C.).
[Virgin Islands] (45), a group of islands in the West Indies, few of them of any size, belonging partly to Denmark, Britain, and Spain.
[Virgin Queen], appellation popularly given to Queen Elizabeth.
[Virginia] (1,655), one of the United States of America, a State somewhat larger than Scotland, between Maryland and North Carolina, so named by its founder Sir Walter Raleigh in honour of Queen Elizabeth; is divided from West Virginia by the Appalachians; it is well watered; the soil, which is fertile, yields the finest cotton and tobacco, and minerals, particularly coal and iron, are abundant; the largest city is Richmond, with flour-mills.
[Virginia, West] (762), formed originally one State with the preceding, but separated in 1861 to join the Federal cause; is nearly the same in size and resources; is a great mining region, and is rich in coal and iron; its largest city is Wheeling, on the Ohio.