VITALIS, ST., a martyr of the 1st century, who was stoned to death, is represented as buried in a pit with stones on his head.

VITELLIUS, AULUS, Roman emperor; reigned only eight months and some days of the year 69; was notorious for his excesses, and was murdered after being dragged through the streets of Rome.

VITRUVIUS, POLLIO, Roman architect and engineer; wrote on architecture, lived in the days of Augustus.

VITTORIA (127), the capital of Alava, a Basque province in the North of Spain, famous as the scene of one of Wellington’s victories in June 1813; has a fine old 12th-century cathedral and extensive manufactures; it is one of the most prosperous towns in Spain.

VIVES, LUDOVICUS, a humanist, born at Valencia, studied in Paris; wrote against scholasticism, taught at Oxford, and was imprisoned for opposing Henry VIII.’s divorce; died at Bruges (1492-1540).

VIVIAN, an enchantress in Arthurian legend.  See MERLIN.

VLADIMIR (12), capital of a government in the centre of Russia, 120 m.  NE. of Moscow; once practically the capital of the country, with many remains of its ancient grandeur.

VLADIMIR I. THE GREAT OR ST., grand-duke of Russia; converted to Christianity through his wife Anna Romanovna, laid the foundation of the Russian empire; has been canonised by the Russian Church; d. 1015.

VLADIMIR II., surnamed Monomachus; succeeded to the throne of Russia in 1113, and consolidated it by the establishment and enforcement of just laws; was married to Gida, a daughter of King Harold of England (1063-1126).

VOGLER, ABBE, composer, born in Wuerzburg; distinguished once both as a musical performer and teacher; lives only in Browning’s “Dramatis Personae” (1749-1814).

VOGT, CARL, German naturalist, born at Giessen; a materialist and disciple of Darwin; has written on geology and anthropology; b. 1817.

VOGULS, a Finnish tribe on the E. slope of the Urals; are Christianised, but still practise many Shamanist rites; number some 20,000.

VOLAPUeK, a universal language by Schleyer, a German pastor; as yet practically limited to its applicability to commercial intercourse.

VOLGA, a river of European Russia, the largest in Europe, which rises in the Valdai Hills, and after a course of 2200 m. falls by a delta with 200 mouths into the Caspian Sea; it is navigable almost throughout, providing Russia with 7200 m. of water-carriage, and has extensive fisheries, especially of salmon and sturgeon.

VOLNEY, French philosopher, born at Craon; travelled in Egypt and Syria; wrote an account of his travels in his “Voyage”; was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror; patronised and promoted to honour by Napoleon, and by the Bourbons on their return; his principal work, “LES RUINES, OU MEDITATIONS SUR LES REVOLUTIONS DES EMPIRES,” was an embodiment of 18th-century enlightenment (q. v.) (1757-1820).