man.

VEDAS, the sacred books of the Hindus, of sacerdotal origin and
ancient date, of which there are four collections, severally denominated
the Rig-Veda, the Atharva-Veda, the Sama-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, to each of
which are attached Brahmanas in elucidation.

VEDDAS, the aborigines of Ceylon, of whom some 2000, still in a wild
state, are extant between Kandy and the E. coast.

VEGA, LOPEZ DE LA, known as Lope, Spanish dramatist, born in Madrid;
began life as a soldier; served in the Armada; was secretary to the Duke
of Alva; took orders, and became an officer of the Inquisition; wrote a
heroic pastoral entitled "Arcadia" at the instance of the duke, and the
"Dragonica" over the death of Drake as the destroyer of the supremacy of
Spain on the sea; was a man of fertile inventiveness, and is said to have
written 2000 plays, besides no end of verses, and was called by Cervantes
a "Prodigy of Nature" (1562-1635).

VEHMGERICHTE or FEHMGERICHT, a tribunal in Germany during the
Middle Ages, of which there were several, all powerful, in connection
with a secret organisation under sanction of the emperor for the
enforcement of justice and punishment of crime at a period when the
States severally were too weak to uphold it. These courts were held in
secret places at night, and inspired great terror in the 13th and 14th
centuries.

VEII, an ancient city of Etruria, and in early times a formidable
rival of Rome, from which it was only 12 m. distant. The Romans under
Camillus laid siege to it, and it baffled them for 10 years.

VEIT, PHILIPP, painter of the Romanticist school, born at Berlin;
his best-known work is a fresco, "Christianity bringing the Fine Arts to
Germany."

VELASQUEZ, DIEGO DE SILVA, greatest of Spanish painters, born at
Seville, of Portuguese family; studied under FRANCISCO HERRERA
(q. v.), who taught him to teach himself, so that but for the hint he
was a self-taught artist, and simply painted what he saw and as he saw
it; portrait-painting was his forte, one of his earliest being a portrait
of Olivarez, succeeded by one of Philip IV. of Spain, considered the most
perfect extant, and by others of members of the royal family; specimens
of his work are found in different countries, but the best are in Spain,
in Madrid, and they include sacred subjects, genre, landscape, and animal
paintings, as well as portraits (1599-1660).

VENDEE, LA (442), a dep. of France, on the Bay of Biscay, S.