VILLON. ana," in liomnnia (ib., I'JOl) ; ami I'ayno, Fran- cois illcni, I'oems ; rendered iiilo Knylinh verse, in the original forms, with a hioffraphical and critleul iiitniduction (London, 1802). VILMAR, vil'nu'ir, Augustus FniEDnicii Christian (1800-68). A Oeniian theologian and literary historian, born at Solz, Hesse- Cassel. He studied theolofiy and jjliilosopliy at the University of Marbur;;. In 1851 he was elected by the synod superintcndent-in-ehief of the Chureh of the Electorate, but as this election was not approved he shortly afterwards accepted the post of professor of theology at the University of Marburg. His theological writings include Theologische Moral (1871; edited by Israel) and Die Theologie der Thatsaehen n:ider'die Theologic der Rhctorik ( 185fl-7(i) , but he is better known as a literary historian, in which field his chief work is (Icschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur (1845: 24th ed. 1894), which was continued by Adolf Stern. VILNA, vel'na. A government of Western Russia, lying betv.een the Diina and the Nienien. Area, 16,420 square miles (Map: Russia, C 4). The larger part of the surface is low, and its highest point is only a little above 1000 feet. Marshes and lakes occupy a considerable propor- tion of the area. The chief rivers are the Nieinen, the Vilia, and the Diina — all of them navigable and important for the commerce of the govern- ment. The climate is moderate aiid steady, the jn-ecijiitation ample. Agriculture is the i)rinci- pal occupation. The population was l,.501,ni2 in 1897, of whom the Lithuanians formed about one- half and the rest was composed of Russians, Poles, and Jews. The latter numbered about 240,000. The Roman Catholics numbered nearly 1,000,000. VILNA. The capital of the Government and the Governor-Generalship of Vilna, in Western Russia, situated at the confluence of the Vileika with the Vilia, 436 miles south-.soutliwest of Saint Petersburg (Map: Russia, C 4). It is an old city irregularljf built and unsatisfactory in its sanitary arrangements. Its most interest- ing ecclesiastical edifices are the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Stanislaus with the silver coffin of Saint Casimir, the Greek Catholic Cathe- dral of Saint Nicholas, and the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin. Vilna is well provided with educational institutions which include a Greek Orthodox and a Roman Catholic seminary, an archieological museum with a library, an<l a municipal theatre. In the suburbs are a number of ancient monas- teries and churches and the ruins of the castle of the Jagellons. Vilna manufactures tobacco, knit goods, articles of apparel, artificial flowers, gloves, etc. The extensive coniiiierce in grain and timber is favored by the position of Vilna at the intersection of three important railway lines and on a navigable river. Population, in 1S89, 109..329; in 1897, 1,'59..568, nearly 50 per cent. Jewish and the rest Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian. Vilna was probably founded in the tenth cen- tury, but it became prominent only as the capi- tal of Lithuania under Gedimin (about 1323). It obtained Magdeburg rights from Jagellon,and had a printing-press as early as 1519. During the seventeenth century it was nearly ruined in 141 VINCENNES. the struggle between Hussia anil Poland. It was annexed to Russia in 1795. In 1803 a university was established at Vilna and sup- pressed for political reasons in 1832. The in- habitants of the city welcomed Napoleon in 1812 and took a prominent part in the Polish ui)ri.sing9 of 1830-31 and 1863. VILVORDE, v.'d'vord'. A town of the Prov- ince of P.rabant, ISi'lgivim, on the river Senne, nine miles north of Brussels (.Map: Belgium, C 4). It has manufactures of horsehair and passe- menterie. Population, in 1900, 12,992. VINA, ve'na (Skt. vma, lute). The prin- cipal musical instrument of the ancient Hindus. The instrument consists of a cylindrical pipe of bamboo 3% feet long with a fingerboard a little less than tvi'o feet in length. At the ends of the pipe are two hollow gourds acting as resonators, each 15 inches in diameter. Behind one of these resonators are four pegs on which metal strings are fastened tuned in the following order: domi- nant, leading tone, tonic, subdominant. On the bamboo pipe are 18 movable bridges, somewhat lower than the principal bridge. These movable bridges can be adjusted so that the instrument can be tuned in any of the Hindu scales. Along the finger-board run three sympathetic strings .acting as bourdons (q.v.). The vina has a range of two octaves with all chromatic intervals. The player assumed a kneeling attitude, so that one resonator rested upon the left shoulder, the other upon the right knee. The strings ere struck by means of the first and second fingers of the right hand, each having a kind of thimble with a flexible point. VINCENNES, vaN'sen'. A town of the De- partnuMit of Seine, France, five miles by tramway east-southeast from the Louvre. Paris, on the northern edge of the Bois de Vincennes (Map: Paris and Vicinity). The town is entirely given over to military purposes. There are imiiicnse barracks, a great fortress famous for its arsenal and its school of marksmanship, and depots of military supplies. The chilteau to which the town owes its historical importance is built in the form of a parallelogram. It originally possessed nine towers, of which only one, known as the Donjon de Vincennes, with walls 17 feet thick and 170 feet high, i-enmins. The building was begun by Louis VII. in 1164, and was used as a royal residence until 1740. In 1832 Louis Philippe fortified it and turned it into a military depot. Among its famous prisoners were Henry IV., the Great Conde, Cardinal de Retz, IMirabeau, and the unfortunate Due d'En- ghien, who was executed here in 1804. Poinila- tion, in 1901. 31,405. VINCENNES, vJn-senz'. The. county-scat of Knox County, Ind., 117 miles southwest of In- dianapolis; on the Wabash River, and on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Saint Louis, the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern, the Evans- ville and Terre Haute, and the Indianapolis and Vincennes railroads (Map: Indiana. B 4). It has Vincennes University (non-sectarian). Saint Rose Female Academy, a public library, and the Cathedral Library. Other points of interest are the house occupied by William Henry Harrison, while Territorial Governor, and the old legisla- tive hall, the Catholic Cathedral, the court-house, city hall. Government building, Vincennes Sana-
