Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/65

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VIÉLÉ-GRIFFIN—VIENNA


to be his. A badly edited edition of the works of Vieira in 27 volumes appeared in Lisbon, 1854–58. There are unpublished MSS. of his in the British Museum in London, and in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. A bibliography of Vieira will be found in Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la compagnie de Jésus, viii. 653–85.

Authorities.—André de Barros, Vida (Lisbon, 1746)—a panegyric by a member of the same society; D. Francisco Alexandre Lobo, bishop of Vizeu, “Historical and Critical Discourse,” Obras (Lisbon, 1849), vol. ii.—a valuable study; João Francisco Lisboa, Vida (5th ed., Rio, 1891)—he is unjust to Vieira, but may be consulted to check the next writer; Abbé E. Carel, Vieira, sa vie et ses œuvres (Paris, 1879); Luiz Cabral, Vieira, biog., caractère, éloquence (Paris, 1900); idem, Vieira pregador (2 vols., Oporto, 1901); Sotero dos Reis, Curso de litteratura Porlugueza e Brazileira, iii. 121–244.  (E. Pr.) 

VIÉLÉ-GRIFFIN, FRANCIS (1864–), French poet, was born at Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.A., on the 26th of May 1864. He was educated in France, dividing his time between Paris and Touraine. His volumes include Cueille d’avril (1885); Les Cygnes (1887; new series, 1892); La Chevauchée d’Yeldis (1893); Swanhilde, a dramatic poem (1894); Laus Veneris (1895), a volume of translations from Swinburne; Poèmes et Poésies (1895), a collection containing much of his earlier work; Phocas le jardinier (1898); and La Légende ailée de Wieland le Forgeron (1899), a dramatic poem. M. Viélé-Griffin is one of the most successful writers of the vers libre, the theory of which he expounded, in conjunction with MM. Paul Adam and Bernard Lazare, in the pages of a periodical entitled Entretiens politiques et littéraires (1890–92). He is at his best in the adaptation of the symbolism of old legend to modern uses.

VIELLE, viole, vièle, a French term, derived from Lat. fidicula, embracing two distinct types of instruments: (1) from the 12th to the beginning of the 15th century bowed instruments having a box-soundchest with ribs, (2) from the middle or end of the 15th century, the hurdy-gurdy (q.v.). The medieval word vielle or vièle has often been incorrectly applied to the latter instrument by modern writers when dealing with the 13th and 14th centuries. The instruments included under the name of vielle, whatever form their outline assumed, always had the box-soundchest consisting of back and belly joined by ribs, which experience has pronounced the most perfect construction for bowed instruments. The most common shape given to the earliest vielles in France was an oval, which with its modifications remained in favour until the guitar-fiddle, the Italian lyra, asserted itself as the finest type, from which also the violin was directly evolved.  (K. S.) 

VIEN, JOSEPH MARIE (1716–1809), French painter, was born at Montpellier on the 18th of June 1716. Protected by Comte de Caylus, he entered at an early age the studio of Natoire, and obtained the grand prix in 1745. He used his time at Rome in applying to the study of nature and the development of his own powers all that he gleaned from the masterpieces around him; but his tendencies were so foreign to the reigning taste that on his return to Paris he owed his admission to the academy for his picture “Daedalus and Icarus” (Louvre) solely to the indignant protests of Boucher. When in 1776, at the height of his established reputation, he became director of the school of France at Rome, he took David with him amongst his pupils. After his return, five years later, his fortunes were wrecked by the Revolution; but he undauntedly set to work, and at the age of eighty (1796) carried off the prize in an open government competition. Bonaparte acknowledged his merit by making him a senator. He died at Paris on the 27th of March 1809, leaving behind him several brilliant pupils, amongst whom were Vincent, Regnault, Suvée, Ménageot, Taillasson and others of high merit; nor should the name of his wife, Marie Thérèse Reboul (1728–1805), herself a member of the academy, be omitted from this list. Their son, Marie Joseph, born in 1761, also distinguished himself as a painter.

VIENNA (Ger. Wien; Lat. Vindobona), the capital of the Austrian empire, the largest city in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, and the fourth city in Europe as regards population. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, at the base of the Wiener Wald, and at the beginning of the great plain which separates the Alps from the Carpathians. This plain is continued on the opposite bank of the Danube by the valley of the March, which constitutes the easiest access to the north. Thus Vienna forms a junction of natural ways from south to north, and from west to east. It also lies on the frontier which separates from one another three races, the German, the Slavonic and the Hungarian.

Curiously enough, Vienna has for a long time turned its back, so to speak, on the magnificent waterway of the Danube, the city being built about 1½ m. away from the main stream. Only an arm of the river, the Danube Canal, so called because it was regulated and widened in 1598, passes through the city, dividing it into two unequal parts. It is true that the river forms at this point several arms, and the adjoining districts were subjected to periodical inundations, while navigation was by no means easy here. But in 1870 works for the regulation of the river were started with the object of making it quite safe for navigation, and of avoiding the dangers of inundation. By these magnificent works of regulation the new bed was brought nearer to the town, and the new river channel has an average width of 915 ft. and a depth of 10 ft. On its left bank stretches the so-called inundation region, 1525 ft. wide, while on the right bank quays have been constructed with numerous wharfs and warehouses. By these works of regulation over 2400 acres of ground were gained for building purposes. This new bed of the Danube was completed in 1876. In conjunction with this work the entire Danube Canal has been transformed into a harbour by the construction of a lock at its entrance, while increased accommodation for shipping has also been provided at the other end of the canal known as the winter harbour. Into the Danube Canal flows the small stream, called Wien, now arched over almost in its entirety. Vienna extends along the right bank of the Danube from the historic and legendary Kahlenberg to the point where the Danube Canal rejoins the main stream, being surrounded on the other side by a considerable stretch of land which is rather rural than suburban in character.

Vienna is officially divided into twenty-one districts or Bezirke. Until 1892 it contained only ten of the present districts; in that year nine outlying districts were incorporated with the town; in 1900 Brigittenau was created out of part of the old district of Leopoldstadt, and in 1905 the Floridsdorf district was made up by the incorporation of the following former suburbs: Aspern-an-der-Donau, Donaufeld, Floridsdorf, Gross Jedlersdorf, Hirschstetten, Jedlesee, Kagran, Leopoldau, Lobau-Insel and Stadlau. By the incorporation of the suburbs in 1892, the area of Vienna was more than trebled, namely, from 21⅓ sq. m. to 69 sq. m., while a new increase of about one-fifth of its total area was added by the incorporation of 1902. A feature of the new city is the unusually large proportion of woods and arable land within its bounds. These form nearly 60% of its total area, private gardens, parks and open spaces occupying a further 13%. While from the standpoint of population it takes the fourth place among European capitals, Vienna covers about three times as much ground as Berlin, which occupies the third place. But the bulk of its inhabitants being packed into a comparatively small portion of this area, the working classes suffer greatly from overcrowding, and all sections of the community from high rents.

The inner city, or Vienna proper, was formerly separated from the other districts by a circle of fortifications, consisting of a rampart, fosse and glacis. These, however, were removed in 1858–60, and the place of the glacis has been taken by a magnificent boulevard, the Ring-Strasse, 2 m. in length, and about 150 ft. in average width. Another series of works, consisting of a rampart and fosse, were constructed in 1704 to surround the whole city at that time, i.e. the first ten districts of modern Vienna. This second girdle of fortifications was known as the Lines (Linien), and a second wide boulevard (Gürtel-Strasse) follows their course round the city. This second or outer girdle of fortifications formed the boundary