4 of himself, which is prefixed to the first edition of his New Science,' and is reprinted, with additions by himself and his son, in the subsequent editions of the same work. A collection of all his works was edited by the Marquis de Villa Rosa, at Naples, in 1818, and a second edition appeared in 1835. A clear and able exposition of the New Science' has been given by Michelet, Principes de la Philsophie de l'Histoire, traduits de la "Scienza Nuova" de G. B. Vico,' Paris, 1827. VICO'A, a genus of plants of the natural family of Compositæ and subtribe Inules. The species are natives of and found in most parts of the plains of India: some of them extend into the islands of the Indian Ocean. V. Indica is the most widely diffused, being found in the northern as well as in the southern parts, and to the westward near Salsette and Belgaum. The plants are annual, erect, but branched; leaves alternate, sagittate, half embracing, lanceolate, linear; margins very entire or slightly toothed; branches with few leaves, terminated by a single head of flowers, which are yellow. VICQ-D'AZYR, FELIX, was born at Valogne in 1748. His father, who was a physician of good repute, sent him to study philosophy at Caen, and medicine at Paris. He received his licence to practise in 1773, and directly after began to deliver lectures on comparative anatomy during the vacation from the regular courses of lectures of the faculty. In consequence however of some dispute with the authorities of the faculty, he was obliged to discontinue his course, though already he had become a very popular teacher. Upon this, Antoine Petit, who had been Vicq-d'-Azyr's instructor in anatomy, resigned the professorship of anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes, hoping to secure the appointment of his pupil to be his successor. In this however he was disappointed. Portal, through the influence of Buffon, was elected, and Vicq-d'Azyr was obliged to limit himself to the delivering of lectures in his own house. These were well attended, but the greatest assistance to his advancement was furnished by his marriage with a niece of Daubenton, who fell in love with him in return for his politeness in assisting her when she once fainted in the street. Daubenton furnished him with all that was necessary for the prosecution of comparative anatomy and natural history, in which he was actively engaged, and the results of which he published in numerous essays in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences. ment, and contains the substance of several previous works · VICRAMADITYA. [HINDUSTAN, Xii., 225.] VICTOR I., a native of Africa, succeeded Eleutherius as bishop of the Christian congregation at Rome, about A.D. 185. During his episcopacy Theodotus was expelled the Christian congregation of Rome, for asserting the mere humanity of Christ. [EBIONITES.] Victor had a warm controversy with the churches of Asia, and especially with Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, concerning the proper time for celebrating the Easter festival. [EASTER.] Irenæus, bishop of Lyon, remonstrated in a letter to Victor upon his intolerance upon this occasion. Victor died about A.D. 197, and was succeeded by Zephyrinus. Some say that he died a martyr, but the word martyr was often used by the early Christian writers to signify a person who had in any way suffered on account of the Christian faith. In 1774 Vicq-d'-Azyr was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences; and in 1775, through the influence of Lassonne, he was sent to investigate and endeavour to exterminate a murrain which was raging among the cattle in the South of France. On his return he formed with Lassonne the scheme of establishing a society for carrying on at all times similar investigations of epidemics, &c., by correspondence with provincial physicians; and upon their plan, the Royal Society of Medicine was founded in 1776, and Vicq-d'Azyr was chosen perpetual secretary. This engaged him for a time in an angry dispute with the faculty of medicine, who appear to have done their best to destroy his reputation; but his activity, and the general excellence of the numerous essays, éloges, and other works which he was constantly publishing, as well as the spirit and care with which the society was managed, obtained VICTOR II., Gebhard, bishop of Eichstadt, and a friend for him a constantly increasing celebrity, and in 1788 he and adviser of Henry III. of Germany, was chosen by the was chosen to succeed Buffon in the French Academy. clergy of Rome to succeed Leo IX., A.D. 1055. The monk His oration in honour of his predecessor is the most re- Hildebrandus (afterwards Gregory VII.), who had sugmarkable of all (and they were very numerous) that Vicq-gested the choice, was sent by the Romans to Germany, d'Azyr delivered in honour of men of science. in 1789 he succeeded Lassonne as first physician to the queen; and it is said that his devotion to her gave him reason to fear the rage of the revolutionary party so much, that, through continual anxiety, his health began to fail. To avoid suspicion he took part with the followers of Robespierre, and having accompanied the citizens of his district to the impious mockery of the festival of the Supreme Being, he returned home seriously ill, next day became delirious, and died on the 20th of June, 1794. Vicq-d'Azyr's works are very numerous, and were nearly all published together by Moreau de la Sarthe, with the title Euvres de Vieq-d'Azyr,' Paris, 1805, 6 vols. 8vo., with a quarto volume of plates. The chief of them are as follows: 1,Observations sur les Moyens...pour préserver les Animaux sains de la Contagion,' Bordeaux, 1774, 12mo. 2, La Médecine des Bêtes a cornes,' Paris, 1781, 2 vols. 8vo: this was published by order of the govern for the purpose of obtaining the emperor's assent to the election, which is said to have been given with some reluctance, as Henry was unwilling to part with his adviser. Victor, having proceeded to Italy, assembled a Council at Florence, in which several abuses in the discipline of the clergy were condemned, and the ordinances against alienating the property of the Church were renewed. Another Council was held in the same year at Tours, at which Hildebrand presided as legate. Berenger appeared before the Council, and was challenged to defend his opinion against transubstantiation. Berenger however declined doing so, and he professed to submit to the general belief of the Church upon the matter in question. [BERENGER.] The year 1055 was a busy year for councils; a Council was held at Lyon against simony, another at Rouen, to enforce continence among priests; and another at Narbonne, in which the usurpers of certain possessions of the Church were excommunicated. In the following year, 1056, Pope Victor went to Germany at the desire of Henry III., and was there present at the death of the emperor, which took place in that year. Victor remained in Germany with the dowager empress Agnes, and her infant son Henry IV., till the next spring, 1057, when he returned to Italy. Pope Victor died at Florence in the same year, and was succeeded by Stephen IX. Church, which continued even after the death of the anti- VICU'NA, or VICUGNA. [LLAMA, vol. xiv., pp. 73, 74.] VICTOR III., Desiderius, abbot of Monte Casino, was elected by the cardinals assembled at Salerno, after the VIDA, MARCO GIRO'LAMO, born at Cremona about death of Gregory VII., in compliance with the wish expressed the year 1490, studied at Padua and Bologna, and distinby that pope on his death-bed, A.D. 1085. Desiderius guished himself in the classical studies, and especially in however declined the proffered dignity, and the Church Latin poetical composition. He afterwards entered the remained without a pontiff till Easter of the following order of the regular canons of the Lateran. He went to year, 1086, when Desiderius, having gone to Rome, was Rome about the beginning of the pontificate of Leo X.,whe invested with the papal garments by the assembled cardi- happening to see his little Latin poem on chess, Scacchua nals, and proclaimed by the name of Victor III. But the ludus,' and another entitled 'Bombyx,' or the Silkworn. prefect of the emperor Henry IV., who had possession of took him into favour, and urged him to undertake the comthe Capitol, and who supported the antipope Guibert, who position of a more important and regular poem on the life had been already set up in opposition to Gregory VII., of our Saviour, and in order to enable him to apply himse opposed the consecration of the new pope. After four undisturbed to his poetical studies, the pope bestowed upor days Desiderius left Rome and returned to Monte Casino, him the priory of San Silvestro at Frascati. Vida accordhaving deposed his pontifical robes at Terracina and re-ingly began his poem entitled 'Christiados,' of which be nounced his dignity. During the Lent of the next year, presented two cantos to Leo X., who praised them greatly. 1087, a Council was held at Capua, in which Desiderius but the poem was not finished for many years after was prevailed upon to resume the papal office for the good Meantime he published, in 1527, his didactic poem 'De of the Church. The new pope then proceeded towards Arte Poetica,' which has been extolled by Scaliger, BatRome, accompanied by the cardinals and many of the teux, and other critics, as being his best work. It has been Roman nobility, and by a body of troops given to him by translated into English, and has been praised by Dr. the prince of Capua, and by Roger, duke of Apulia. On Johnson, and by Pope, in his Essay on Criticism. arriving outside of Rome, they defeated the troops of the antipope, and drove him away from the Vatican. On the Sunday after the Ascension, Pope Victor was solemnly crowned in St. Peter's church, after which he returned to Monte Casino, as the city of Rome was still occupied by the partisans of the antipope. Soon after however the Countess Matilda arrived near Rome from Tuscany with a large force, and invited Pope Victor to a conference, which took place in the Vatican in the beginning of June. On St. Barnabas'-day, 11th of June, the pope and the countess, having forced the passage of the Tiber, entered Rome amidst the acclamations of the people. On the eve of St. Peter's-day, 28th of July, a messenger from Henry IV. having threatened the consuls and senators of Rome with the displeasure of the emperor if they continued to adhere to Victor, the Romans turned against the pope, and drove him and his friends out of the town. Pope Victor however retained possession of the Vatican, and celebrated mass on the next day in St. Peter's church. A few days after, Pope Victor thought proper to abandon Rome altogether, and withdrew to Monte Casino, and from thence to Beneventum, where he held a Council in the month of August, in which he anathematized the antipope Guibert, as well as Hugo, archbishop of Lyon, who had declared himself for the antipope, and had written a violent letter to the Countess Matilda, in which he strove to blacken the character of Pope Victor, charging him with ambition, cunning, and other vices. This letter, which is inserted in Labbe's Concilia,' probably gave rise to the several accusations against the memory of Pope Victor, which are found in the Chronicle of Augsburg and other compilations. Whilst the Council was sitting, Pope Victor fell dangerously ill of dysentery. He hastened back to his favourite residence of Monte Casino, where he died on the 16th of September, 1087, after having recommended the cardinals who were about him to choose Otho, bishop of Ostia, for his successor, who was accordingly elected by the name of Urban II. (Muratori, Annali d'Italia, and the authorities therein quoted.) · Pope Victor III. is better known in the history of learning as Desiderius, abbot of Monte Casino. In his convent he was a great collector of MSS.; he employed amanuenses to copy the works of the classics; he restored or rather rebuilt from the foundations the church and part of the convent upon a much larger scale than that of the former structure, and he sent to Constantinople for skilful workmen in mosaic and joinery to assist in adorning the church. (Peregrinius, Series Abbatum Cassinensium; Tiraboschi, Storia della Letteratura Italiana.) Clement VII. appointed Vida Apostolic Protonotary. and in 1532 made him bishop of Alba in Piedmont. Ughelli, in his Italia Sacra, speaks at length of the mentorious conduct of Vida during the thirty-four years that he administered the see of Alba. When the French be sieged that place in 1542, the bishop assisted at his own expense the poor inhabitants, and supported the spinte the garrison until the besiegers were obliged to raise the siege. Vida afterwards repaired to the Council of Treat. where he became intimate with the cardinals Pole, Cer vini, and Dal Monte, and with the learned Marcantonio Flaminio, and in the familiar conversations which he had with them he conceived the plan of his dialogues De Dignitate Reipublicæ,' which he afterwards published and dedicated to Cardinal Pole. In the year 1549, on the occasion of a dispute about precedence between the towns of Cremona and Pavia, the citizens of the former intrusted their townsmen Vida with the defence of their claims, which were to be laid before the senate of Milan for its decision. Vida wrote three orations: Cremonensium Aetiones Tres adversus Papienses in Controversia Principatus.' In these compositions Vida gave way perhaps too much to municipal feelings, and indulged in invective against the people of Pavia, for which his orations were called Vida's Verrinæ. Giulio Salerno, on behalf of Pavia, replied to Vida, in his 'Pro Ticinensibus adversus Cremonenses de Jure Possessionis,' which however were not printed, as the question was dropped. Vida died at Alba, in September, 1566, and was buried in the cathedral of that town. It seems that he died poor. Besides the works mentioned in the course of this article. he wrote sacred hymns in Latin, and other minor compositions both in Latin and Italian. Vida was one of the most learned scholars and most elegant Latin writers of the 16th century. His contemporary Sadoleto, a compe tent judge, affirms that his Latin verse approached near to the dignity of classical poetry. His poem on the Life of Christ, in six books, is a close imitation of Virgil, ix which the author was styled 'the Christian Virgil." Vida wrote also a small poem on the challenge and fight betweer thirteen Italians and the same number of Frenchmen in Apulia, in February, 1503, in which the Italians remained victorious. Of this inedited poem a fragment was published at Milan in 1818: Marci Hieronymi Vidæ XIII. Pugilum Certamen.' There is an account of this same occurrence in Italian prose: Istoria del Combattimento de tredici Italiani con altrettanti Francesi, fatto in Puglia trà Andria e Quarati,' by a contemporary and a spectator d the fight, which has furnished the subject of Azeglio's his torical novel, Ettore Fieramosca o la Disfida di Barletta.' (Corniani, I Secoli della Letteratura Italiana; TirabesSuorum Temporum; and the biography of Vida, in the edition of his works published at Oxford, 1722.) VICTOR IV., Antipope. Octavian, cardinal of St. a. Fringillinæ. Genera:-Calamospiza, Bonap.; Guiraca, Sw. (Coccoborus, Sw.); Coccothraustes, Briss.; Chlorospiza, Bonap. ; Petronia, Bonap.; Pyrgita, Cuv.; Fringilla, Linn.; Montifringilla, Brehm; Struthus, Bonap. (Boie, part); Passerella, Sw.; Zonotrichia, Sw.; Chondestes, Sw.; Euspiza, Bonap.; Coturniculus, Bonap.; Ammodramus, Sw.; Passerculus, Bonap.; Spizella, Bonap.; Carduelis, Briss.; Chrysomitris, Boie (Spinus, Brehm); Citrinella, Bonap.; Serinus, Br.; Linota, Bonap. (Cannabina et Linaria, Brehm); Erythrospiza, Bonap. (Erythrothorax, Brehm); Cardinalis, Bonap.; Pipilo, Vieill.; Spiza, Bonap. b. Tanagrinæ. Genus::-Pyranga. c. Emberizinæ. Genera:-Loxia, Linn.; Psittirostra, Temm.; Paradoxornis, Gould. 9. Phytotominæ. Genera-Phytotoma, Mol.; Hyreus, Steph. In this arrangement the Fringillida are immediately preceded by the Sturnida and followed by the Colida (1841). The reader upon referring to the article Fringillida will now have the opinion of most of the leading ornithologists as to the place of Vidua in the system: we proceed to give its Subgeneric Character.-Bill short. Wings lengthened, the second, third, and two following quills longest, and of equal length. Tail boat-shaped; males with the two middle feathers excessively elongated, generally broad and convex. (Sw.) This genus can hardly be said to differ from Fringilla Genera:-Cynchramus, Bonap. (Miliaria, Brehm); Em- in the form of the bill, which is very analogous to that of beriza, Linn.; Plectrophanes, Meyer. d. Alaudinæ. Genera:-Certhilauda, Sw.; Alauda, Linn.; Galerida, Boie; Phileremos, Brehm (Ereomophilus, Boie); Melanocorypha, Boie. e. Loxinæ. Genera:-Pyrrhula, Briss.; Corythus, Cuv., Loxia, Briss. The Fringillida belong to the Passeres, the second order of birds, according to the Prince, and are immediately preceded by the Corvidae: the Scansores come directly after the Fringillida. This family, in Mr. G. R. Gray's arrangement, stands as the fourth of the tribe Conirostres, and comprises the following subfamilies and genera :— 1. Ploceinæ. Genera:-Textor, Temm.; Pyromelana, Bonap.; Philetairus, Smith; Ploceus, Cuv.;? Goniaphæa, Bowd.; Sycobius, Vieill. 2. Coccothraustinæ. Genera:-Spermospiza, G. R. Gray; Cardinalis (Charl.), Bonap.; Calamospiza, Bonap.; Guiraca, Sw.; Pyrenestes, Sw.; Coccothraustes (Antiq.), Briss.; Munia, Hodgs.; Geospiza, Gould; Camarhychus, Gould; Cactornis, Gould; Certhidea, Gould; Vidua (Briss.); Coliuspasser, Rüpp. 3. Tanagrinæ. Genera:-Emberizoides, Temm.; Pipilo, Vieill. ; Embernagra, Less.; Arremon, Vieill.; Cissopis, Vieill.; Pitylus, Cuv.; Tanagra, Linn.; Saltator, Vieill.; Spindalis, Jard. | and Selby; Ramphopsis, Vieill.; Lamprotes, Sw.; Pyranga, Vieill.; Lanio, Vieill.; Tachyphonus, Vieill.; Nemosia, Vieill.; Tanagrella, Sw.; Euphonia, Desm.; Calospeza, G. R. Gray; Stephanophorus, Strickl.; Cypsnaga, Less. 4. Fringillinæ. Ge nera :-Estrelda, Sw.; Amadina, Sw.; Spermestes, Sw.; Erythrura, Sw.; Pytelia, Sw.; Tiaris, Sw.; Carduelis (Antiq.), Briss.; Chrysomitris, Boie; Citrinella, Bonap.; Serinus (Antiq.), Brehm; Paroaria, Bonap.; Cannabina, Brehm; Ligurinus, Briss.; Petronia (Ray), Bonap.; Passer, Antiq.; Atlapetes, Wagl.; Fringilla, Linn.; Niphea, Aud.; Montifringilla, Brehm; Passerella, Sw.; Zonotrichia, Sw.; Passerculus, Bonap.; Peucæa, Aud.; Coturniculus, Bonap.; Euspiza, Bonap.; Spiza, Bonap. Spizella, Bonap.; Ammodramus, Sw.; Chondestes, Sw. ;? Junco, Wagl. the Linnets. Many ornithologists therefore do not admit that they can be separated from Fringilla; for as the females are deprived of the long tail-feathers entirely, and the males when they moult lose them, they urge the impossibility of assigning precise characters to the group. Mr. Swainson makes these birds a subgenus of the WEAVERBIRDS, Ploceus, and modern ornithologists generally distinguish them, either generically or subgenerically. must indeed be allowed that they form a very natural group, and, if it be permitted to subdivide the great genus Fringilla, with reference to the other forms which claim a place under it, there is quite sufficient in the plumage of the Viduæ, especially in the tail, to justify its distinction as a subgenus at least. It The Whidah-Finches, Widow-Birds, as they are familiarly termed by the British, Veuves of the French, are among the most remarkable of the section of hard-billed seed-eating birds to which they belong. These African Buntings are favourites for the cage and the aviary, where the long drooping tail-feathers, not inelegant, though out of all ordinary proportion, that adorn the males in the breeding season for the birds are, generally, not larger in the body than canaries-immediately attract the attention. The Latin generic name and the French and English familiar ones are most probably derived from the sombre hue which prevails in their plumage, suggesting the idea of a widow's weeds. Mr. Swainson observes, that these birds are common in the French houses and in those on the Continent generally; and that numbers of them and the other pretty little African finches are imported into France by the Senegal traders, where they are sold to the bird-merchants of Paris. In that city he saw between a hundred and fifty and two hundred of these natives of the scorching climate of Africa flying and sporting about in a small dark dirty room, transformed into a sort of aviary, in one of the meanest houses on the Quai Voltaire, two rooms only of which were tenanted by such a marchand-his birds living in one, and himself and his family in the other. Mr. Swainson had been assured that several of these Africans bred in their dingy quarters. There are several species, and Mr. Swainson records four in his Birds of Western Africa, forming the seventh volume of the Ornithology of that cheap and nicely illustrated work, The Naturalist's Library. Examples, Vidua paradisea. Description.-The upper part of the plumage is of a faded or deep brownish-black; but this colour becomes of a paler hue on the wings and lateral tail-feathers. The whole of the head, the chin, and throat are of this faded black, which extends downwards, narrowing as it descends, to the middle of the breast. A broad rich orange-rufous collar proceeds from the upper part of the back of the neck and unites with a tinge of the same colour on the sides of the,neck and breast; this last hue passes into the pale buff of the body, abdomen, and thighs, but leaves the under tail-covers black, the colour of the upper ones. VOL. XXVI.-2 R The tail-feathers are black: the four lateral ones on each side are slightly graduated, each being a fraction of an inch, sometimes about a quarter, longer than the one above it. The two next are the long vertical externally convex feathers, so conspicuous in the male. These in fine specimens measure a foot in length from the base, and about three-quarters of an inch in width. The two middle feathers, also placed in a vertical direction, have very broad webs on their basal half (about three inches), but the remainder of the shaft becomes a plumeless hairlike process (somewhere about three inches more). Bill and feet black. Size about that of a canary. This is Emberiza paradisea, Linn.; Grande Veuve d'Angola, of the French; Whidah Bunting of English ornithologists; Widow Bird of the English salesmen and fanciers. Description.-Mr. Swainson describes the Red-billed Whidah Finch as of less size than Vidua paradiseu, and he considers it as altogether an aberrrant species of this group. The bill is shorter, thicker, and broader at the top, so as to resemble that of Amadina. Of the four middle greatly elongated tail-feathers, two are conver and two (one within the other) concave, so that when all four are closed, they form a sort of cylinder; and, but for their extremities, appear at first sight as one. Ordinary tail-feathers, four on each side, slightly rounded. Tertials, or at least one of them, as long as the primaries. General colour of the adult deep glossy blue-black, which covers the crown and the back, between which is a pure white collar; the wings and scapulars marked with similar colours; lower part of the back and margin of the tail-covers white, a large spot of which spreads over nearly all the wing-covers. Ears, sides of the head, and all the under parts pure white, but the black colour of the back advances on the sides of the breast, so as to form a half collar, open in front. Tail-feathers black externally, but white internally, the latter colour predominating on the outermost feathers. In a Senegal specimen there was a deep black spot on the chin, of which there was no trace in another of encertain locality. Locality.-Senegal. This also is the Emberiza vidua of Linnæus and authors, according to Mr. Swainson, who remarks that there seems to be considerable confusion between three of the Whidah Birds described by Linnæus as distinct species, under the names of Emberiza vidua, principalis, and serena; but, he adds, there is no published evidence whatever to authorize our uniting all three under one specific name, and that authors have omitted to notice the white nuchal colour and also the black spot on the chin. With regard to the absence or presence of the black spot on the chin, Mr. Swainson inquires whether the birds with and without that spot are varieties, of different sexes, or from different localities? VIECHE, or VIETZA, was the appellation of the antient Slavonian popular assemblies, supposed to be derived from the Slavonian verb vieshchat, 'to announce o: to proclaim.' These assemblies were customary among all the Slavonian nations, but the appellation of Vietza, or Vieche, was given to them in Poland and in Russia. The courts of justice held by the kings of Poland during the early part of its history were called Vietza, and the same name was applied to provincial assemblies, which was afterwards superseded by that of Seymiki, that is, little diets, comitiola. The republic of Novgorod was entirely governed by the vieche. This assembly, at which all the citizens had a right to vote, was held in an open space before the cathedral church. It was called together by the tolling of the great bell of the Vieche, which was made use of only on those occasions. The citizens held previous consultations in the five separate quarters of the town, and then all together in the above-mentioned place before the cathedral church, where all the affairs of state were finally decided by a majority of votes. Neither the prince nor the magistrates took any part in the deliberations of the vieche, because, as it was expressed in a popular proverb, 'the free Novgorod was judging himself by his own judgment.' The vieche decided war and peace, elected the prince, the Possadnik, or chief magistrate, the military commanders and inferior officers, the ambassadors who were sent to foreign powers, and even the archbishop. It likewise deposed all those dignitaries, and could condemn them to exile, and even to death. It was not unfrequent for the condemned individual to be immediately executed by being thrown from the bridge into the river. The constitution of Novgorod was entirely democratie. It had a prince who was elected by the Vieche from the dynasty of Ruric, which reigned in the several principalities into which Russia was divided from the eleventh cen tury. The prince had the right to propose war and peace, to command the troops in time of war, and to receive a considerable part of the booty taken from the enemy. He had a court, certain revenues assigned to him, and several privileges, such as hunting in every part of the country. He could judge in criminal as well as in civil cases, but only in conjunction with the Possadnik. There were instances of princes chosen from the sovereign house of i places) are twenty in number, ten larger and ten smaller, but they are all small and irregular; among the best are the New Parade, before the imperial palace, the largest square in Vienna, nearly 1000 feet in length and 650 in breadth, perfectly regular, surrounded with avenues of Lithuania. Many princes were deposed from their dignity | by the vieche, but many others, disgusted with the fickleness of popular favour, left it of their own accord. The uncertainty of their tenure may be judged by the fact, that Novgorod had in one century more than thirty princes. The possadnik was always elected from among the citi-trees, and adorned with grass-plots and flower-beds; zens; his dignity was similar in every respect to that of the chief burgomaster in the Hanse towns of Germany. The duration of the office seems not to have been determined with precision, because there are many cases of possadniks who occupied it during their lifetime, while many others were repeatedly re-elected. Several were deposed by the vieche, and sometimes murdered in secret. The thousand men (Tissiatzki) were a kind of tribunes who watched over the possadnik and the prince, lest they might usurp an illegal authority and injure the freedom of the citizens. They also acted in a judicial capacity, and were assisted by minor magistrates, called hundred men (Sotniki). The republic of Pskow or Plescow was governed in the same manner, but it was frequently obliged to receive orders from the vieche of its stronger ally, or, as it was called, its elder brother, Novgorod. The vieches of the two republics were abolished on their subjection to the grand-duke of Moscow; Novgorod in 1477, and Pskow in 1509, and the bells employed for summoning those assemblies were carried to Moscow. The chronicles mention vieches held on several occasions at Kiev, Vladimir, and other towns of Russia. A similar assembly took place at Moscow in 1382, when the grand-duke had left his capital on the approach of the Tartars. The provincial towns of the republics of Novgorod and Pskow had their local vieches, which were however entirely subject to that of the capital, and were assembled only for the execution of its orders. The republic of Viätka, [VIATKA] having adopted the constitution of its mothercountry, was also governed by a vieche. VIENNA (in German, Wien), the metropolis of the Austrian empire, is situated in 48° 10' N. lat. and 16° 20' E. long., on the right or south bank of the Danube, at its confluence with the little river Wien, which flows through the city. Though Vienna is said to be on the right bank of the Danube, it is full two miles from the main stream of he river, which divides above the city into several branches, forming many islands, so that only a small >ranch, which serves as a canal, and is generally called he Danube canal, passes under the walls. Vienna is in he province of Lower Austria, which is called the country below the Ens, 716 Paris feet above the level of the sea, ccording to Stein's statement; Blumenbach says 470 feet bove the level of the Mediterranean; Hormayer says 71.4 feet above the level of the Black Sea. Vienna consists of the interior or old city and the uburbs. The old city is nearly circular, and not above hree miles in circumference. It is surrounded with a road fosse, and a wall from forty to fifty feet high, hich has ten regular bastions, and forms altogether what ; called the Bastei, now one of the most favourite pronenades of Vienna, commanding a very fine view. Beyond he fosse is the glacis, varying in breadth from 960 to 500 feet, formerly reserved as a clear space without the alls, but now laid out in public walks. It extends all round e city, except on the side next the Danube. The city is irrounded by the thirty-four suburbs, two of which are to e north-east, on the island Leopoldstadt in the Danube, nd the thirty-two others beyond the glacis. These thirtywo suburbs are surrounded by the lines, that is, a fosse ith a wall twelve feet high. From the old city twelve ates lead to the suburbs, the principal of which is the urg-thor, or palace gate (the imperial palace being alled the Burg), which was completed in 1824, and is a plendid piece of architecture, with five equal archways. rom these gates there are paved streets and avenues to e principal streets in the suburbs, and these are con-cted by twelve other gates in the lines with the adjant country. The extent of the lines is twelve miles, and e circumference of the two suburbs situated on the and is above six miles, making the entire circumference Vienna above eighteen miles, including the windings, - though the general form approaches to the circular, ere are many irregularities. The old city occupies about enth part of the whole space. The inner or old city is very irregularly built; most of e streets are crooked and narrow; the Places (open 2, the Hof, 450 feet long and 300 broad; 3, the Hohe Markt, with a beautiful marble temple; 4, the Josephsplatz, in which there is a colossal equestrian bronze statue of Joseph II., erected in 1806; 5, the Graben, which is rather a street than a square, 540 feet long and 100 broad: it is nearly in the centre of the city, and is a place of fashionable resort, especially for strangers. The streets are in general well paved with granite; they are well lighted at night, and great care is taken to keep them clean, to which the capacious sewers essentially contribute. Differing in this respect from most other European capitals, the old city is the most fashionable it contains the palaces of the emperor, of many of the principal nobility, the public offices, the finest churches, and most of the museums and public collections, the colleges, the exchange, and the most splendid shops. The houses, which are in general of brick, are very high, of five or six stories, and some even more, and very large, as may be judged from the fact that 1318 are occupied by 50,093 inhabitants; so that most of the houses are inhabited by several families, each occupying one floor, or part of one. There is a common staircase, and a porter keeps the street-door. The public buildings, palaces, churches, &c. are very numerous. 1. The most remarkable is the cathedral, dedicated to St. Stephen, a very majestic edifice, built entirely of freestone, in a beautiful Gothic style, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: it is one of the finest specimens of antient German architecture. The interior is 342 feet in length, 222 feet in breadth between the two great towers, and 79 feet in height. The church has four towers, one of them among the loftiest in Europe: its height has been variously stated at 480, 445, and 430 feet; but it appears from the most correct measurement (according to Hormayer) to be 420 feet. In this steeple hangs the great bell, weighing 354 cwt., which the emperor Joseph I. caused to be cast, in 1711, out of 180 pieces of cannon taken from the Turks, when they were obliged to raise the siege of the city. The interior of the church contains thirty-eight marble altars and numerous monuments of celebrated men, among which are those of the emperor Frederic IV. and of Prince Eugene of Savoy. The crypt beneath the church consists of thirty large vaults, in which since the time of Ferdinand III. the bowels of all the deceased members of the imperial family are deposited in copper or silver urns, their hearts being deposited in the church of the Augustines and their bodies in that of the Capuchins. 2, St. Peter's, built on the model of St. Peter's at Rome, and adorned with fine fresco and oil paintings. 3, The elegant church of the Augustines, which contains the celebrated mausoleum of the archduchess Christina, a masterpiece of Canova, which cost 20,000 ducats. 4, The church of the Capuchins, with the imperial family vaults, where the bodies of the imperial family are deposited, beginning with the emperor Mathias and his consort. 5, St. Michael's, a magnificent edifice, containing some capital paintings. 6, St. Ruprecht's is remarkable only as the oldest Christian church in Vienna, having been built in 740, for the convenience of the heathen Avari; but little, if anything, remains of the original edifice. 7, The church of Maria Stiegen is the next oldest church, having been built in 882. It has been assigned to the newly constituted order of the Redemptorists (otherwise called Ligorists, from the founder Ligorio) to perform divine worship, and likewise to the Slavonian nation. 8, The church and abbey of the Scotch (so called from the Scotch Benedictines, who possessed it from 1158 to 1418). Besides these there are the Italian church, the German church, two chapels in the Burg, the church of the United (or Roman Catholic) Greeks, two churches of the non-united (or schismatic) Greeks. The Lutheran chapel and the Calvinist chapel have been built since 1785; they have neither steeples nor bells, and no entrance direct from the street, but through a court. The Jews have a synagogue and school. The principal public buildings are-1, The Burg, the imperial palace, the residence of the emperor, an old irregular edifice, built at different times. It consists of three quadrangles. It contains the imperial jewel office, |