Tuscan, belonging to Tuscany, a country of Italy. The language of the Tuscans is considered the purest and finest in Italy; hence the phrase, Tuscan softness,' to express the sweetness and melody of the Italian language. The term 'Tuscan artist' is applied by Milton to Galileo, a Tuscan by birth.

Tycho Brahe, a celebrated Danish astronomer, of the sixteenth century. His system of astronomy, that the sun and heavenly bodies revolve round the earth, was soon rejected by succeeding astronomers, in favor of that of Copernicus, (which see ;) but his observations and improvements in astronomical instruments, were of great value.

Tyre, one of the most wealthy and important commercial cities of antiquity, situated in Phoenicia. Carthage was a colony from Tyre. Tyrian, belonging to Tyre.

Ulysses, King of Ithaca, one of the Grecian chiefs who fought at the siege of Troy. His adventures form the subject of the Odyssey of Homer. He was the husband of Penelope, celebrated for her conjugal fidelity, and the father of Telemachus. He was noted for his sagacity and craftiness.

United Colonies. In 1643, the colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, formed a confederacy under the name of the United Colonies of New England, which lasted about forty years, till they were deprived of their charters by King James the First. The name was afterwards applied to all the colonies, before the title United States' was assumed.

Uranus, a name sometimes given to the planet Herschel. Valdarno, or Val d'Arno, the valley of the Arno, a river in Italy, which runs by Florence.

Vancouver, (George,) a midshipman under Captain Cook, and afterwards commander of a British expedition of discovery to the North Pacific Ocean. He died in 1798.

Vega, (Lopez Felix de,) or Lope de Vega, a celebrated Spanish dramatic poet. He was a very voluminous writer, and it is supposed that some eight hundred of his plays were represented on the stage. He possessed great dramatic invention, but his pieces are loosely and hastily executed. He was born in 1562, and died in 1635.

Venice, a city of Italy, at the head of the Adriatic Sea, (or Gulf of Venice,) once one of the most important commercial cities of Europe, and still a city of much commercial and manufacturing busiIt is built entirely upon small islands, having canals instead of streets. Its population is about one hundred and fifty thousand

ness.

persons.

Venus, one of the deities of the ancient mythology, and the goddess of beauty, has been a favorite subject for both painters and sculptors. One of the most celebrated statues of Venus is the Venus de Medici,' in the gallery at Florence, an ancient work of art, discovered in 1695, and an object of universal admiration, for its exquisite beauty of form and proportion. Vienna, the capital city of Austria, situated on the river Danube, and containing upwards of three hundred thousand inhabitants. Villiers, (George, Duke of Buckingham,) an unworthy favorite of

James the First and Charles the First of England, was born A. D. 1592, and died by assassination, in 1628. By his natural graces of person and manner, he first gained the affection of King James, who invested him with numerous high and profitable offices, and at last with almost unlimited control of all the honors and emoluments of the kingdom. He was possessed of inordinate ambition, and was unfaithful even to the King who trusted and honored him. The parliament, under Charles the First, pronounced him a traitor to the liberty of his country, and prepared to impeach him; but the favor of the King supported him against all attacks. Virgil, one of the most distinguished poets of ancient Rome, was born in the year B. C. 70. He went to Rome at about the age of thirty, gained the favor of Mæcenas, and became an intimate friend of the Emperor Augustus. He died in the fifty-second year of his age. His disposition was mild and gentle, his demeanor modest. His poetry is marked by sweetness and dignity, without possessing the highest energy and sublimity. But he is generally regarded as the first poet of his age.

Viscera; the interior parts of the body ; the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, intestines, &c. The ancients examined the viscera of animals freshly killed, under the erroneous idea that they could draw from them omens of future events.

Wampum, strings of pieces of perforated shells, used, instead of money, by the American Indians.

The War of 1755, between the French and English colonies in North America, was carried on from 1755 to 1763, forming one branch of the Seven Years' War, (which see.)

Washington, (George,) was born February 22, 1732, and died December 14, 1799. For a biography of Washington, see 'THE SCHOOL LIBRARY,' Larger Series.

Watt, James, a man remarkable for his acquisitions in science and natural philosophy, and for his improvements in the steam-engine, was born in 1736, and died in 1819. For a biographical sketch of his life, see Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties,' Vol. ii., forming volume xv. of THE SCHOOL LIBRARY,' Larger Series.

Weaver's beam. In the process of weaving, the warp, or threads running lengthways of the cloth, are wound upon a round beam or

roller.

West, (Benjamin,) was born in Pennsylvania, in 1738. He early manifested a genius for drawing and painting, and followed these pursuits with eagerness, notwithstanding the limited opportunities for improvement which his situation afforded him. In his eighteenth year, he established himself as a portrait painter in Philadelphia. He afterwards visited Italy, and finally fixed his residence in England, where he was much favored by George the Third, and employed upon various historical and scriptural paintings. In 1792, he became President of the Royal Academy of Painting, in London, (an institution for the encouragement of this art, founded in 1768.) He died in 1817. His productions are very numerous, and some of them of a high order; but they generally show more of the skill of art, than of the fire of genius.

Westminster Abbey, an edifice in Westminster, (which forms the part of London most inhabited by the higher classes,) containing various chapels, and used as the place of coronation of the English kings. It contains monuments to most of the illustrious men of England. Whitney, Eli, was born at Westborough, Massachusetts, in 1765, and died in 1825. He was buried at New Haven, and over his remains a beautiful monument has been erected to his memory. He was an able and ingenious mechanician, and is well known as the inventor of the cotton-gin, a machine for separating the seeds from the downy fibre of the cotton, an operation previously performed slowly, and with great labor, by hand. For a description of this machine, see Bigelow's Useful Arts,' Vol. i. page 111, being the eleventh volume of 'THE SCHOOL LIBRARY.' His Life will appear in a subsequent volume of The School Library.' Whittemore, (Amos,) died at West Cambridge in 1828, aged sixtynine. He was the inventor of the machine for sticking cards, by which the wire is reeled off, cut of the right length for teeth, bent, holes pricked in the leather, and the teeth inserted, till the card is completed, and all this by a rapid operation of a machine, which fills no more space than a small table. Wiclif, or Wickliffe, (John,) was born in Yorkshire, England, about the year 1324. Being a bold thinker in religious matters, he took a prominent stand against the encroachments and corruptions of the Pope and Roman Catholic clergy, and endeavored to restore the apostolical simplicity and purity of the primitive Christian Church. He was a man of great learning, and an ardent Reformer. He disavowed the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, and considered the confession of sins to a priest, when sincerely repented of, as useless. Among his other numerous writings, he finished a translation of the Sacred Scriptures. He died of a paralytic attack, in 1384.

Wilkie, David, a distinguished painter, remarkable for his skill in painting scenes of domestic life, was born in Scotland, in 1785. Williams College is located at Williamstown, Massachusetts. Winthrop, (John,) Governor of the colony of Massachusetts, was born in England in 1587, and came out to America in 1630, having been previously chosen Governor.

Wyse, a living writer on Education.

Yale College is located at New Haven, in Connecticut. Yorktown, a town in Virginia, famous for the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army by the Americans under General Washington, October 19, 1781, which was the last important event in the Revolutionary War, and the immediate cause of the cessation of hostilities.

Young, (Edward,) a distinguished English Poet, who was born in 1681, and died in 1765. He was the author of several tragedies, but is most known by a serious poem, called the Night Thoughts,' which, though sometimes extravagant in language and sentiment, exhibits marks of considerable poetical power and genius.

Accident, discoveries by, 74, 76. Algiers, subjection of, 203.
Accumulation, discussion of the Allston, Washington, 129.
topic of, 308. Production ne- || Almanac, remarks on the, 127.
cessary to, 308.
The basis of Alnwick castle, 318.
commerce, 308. Mutual ben-Alphabetical signs, invention of,
efit of, 309. On the denuncia- 23, 131, 132, 196, 283, 325.
tion of, 311. Influence of, on Altai mountains, 50.
human comfort, 319. Effect Amaru, Tupac, 217.
of, in the case of Stephen Gi- || America, rights of, defended in
rard, 321. See Capital, and Parliament, 64. When it may
Wealth.
be said to have been discov-
ered, 78. Remarks on the
discovery of, and its effects,
102, 109, 326. See United
States.
American

Accumulators, see Producers.
Acorn, remarks on the, 110, 112.
Adams, John, 71.

Adelphic Union Society, Address
before the, in 1837, 249.
Eschylus, Cicero taught by, 194.
Africa, on the inhabitants of, 192,

193. Progress of civilization
in, 203, 204. Colonization in,
203, 205. Effect of insecurity
of property in, 311.
Ages of improvement, 24, 54,
105, 190.

Agriculturists, on the intelligence
and morals of, 96.
Albertus Magnus, 215.
Alcæus, Horace translates, 24.
Alchymists, 229.
Alcuin, 175.

Alexander the Great, wept, 232.
Opposition to, by the Phoeni-
cians and Tyrians, 325.
Alexanders, 50.

Alexandrian literature, 24.
Alexandrian school, 225.
34

Antiquarian Society,

American Revolution, advocates
for the, in England, 64. The
statesmen and generals of the,
158. Prospects in the time of
the, 158. First principles of
the, 222.

Amherst College, 170, 211. Ad-
dress before the Literary Soci-
eties of, in 1835, 213.
Anacaona, 61.
Anatolia, 199.

Ancients, their knowledge of con-
vex lenses, 79. Their approach
to the art of printing, 80. Their
conceptions of the Universe,

Animals, planets supposed to be,
230. Milton's description of
the creation of, 230. Discov-

ery of fossil remains of, 247, || Athos, 198.

Apple, deduction by Newton from || Atmospheric pressure, principle

Arms, on education for bearing, || Bacon, Roger, 175.

Liberty and litera-Berkeley, Bishop, 41. Cited, 41.
Ancient civ- Berkshire County, Massachusetts,
early settlers in, 275.