pathians
and after a course of 600 m. falls into the Baltic; it is almost
navigable throughout, and carries down great quantities of timber, grain,
and other produce to the Baltic ports.

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