VIRGIL PRACTICE CLAVIER. See Pianoforte.
VIRGINAL (OF., Fr. virginal, from Lat. virginalis, maidenly, from virgo, maiden; so called probably because played especially by young girls). A keyed instrument, one of the precursors of the pianoforte. It resembled in form a small pianoforte, with a compass of four octaves, furnished with a quill and jack like those of the spinet, and a single string to each note.
VIRGINAL.
VIRGIN′IA. The heroine of a Roman legend of the days of the Republic. See Appius Claudius Crassus.
VIRGINIA (Neo-Lat., named in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the ‘Virgin Queen’). A South Atlantic State of the United States, known popularly as the ‘Old Dominion.’ It lies between latitudes 36° 31′ and 39° 27′ N., longitudes 75° 13′ and 83° 37′ W., and is bounded on the north by West Virginia and Maryland, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by North Carolina and Tennessee, and on the west by Kentucky. The southern boundary is a straight line 440 miles long, but the others are extremely irregular, following various Appalachian ridges on the northwest and the Potomac River on the northeast. The greatest breadth from north to south is 192 miles. The State includes the narrow peninsula lying between lower Chesapeake Bay and the ocean. The total area of Virginia is 42,450 square miles, including 2325 square miles of water. It ranks thirtieth in size among the States in total area, and thirty-second in land area.
Topography. The three great topographical regions which rise in broad, low terraces from the Atlantic coast of the United States—the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont Plain, and the Appalachian mountain region—cross the State in parallel bands from southwest to northeast. Two of these are further differentiated, so that six well-marked regions are recognized. The first is the tidewater country, which includes the region traversed by the four estuaries of the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James rivers, and the peninsula east of Chesapeake Bay. This is a low, level, and marshy region, watered by a multitude of tidal inlets, creeks, and rivers. On the west the land rises by a low, rocky escarpment to the Piedmont Plain, whose eastern portion is known as the middle country. The latter has an elevation of 100 to 500 feet, and is drier and more undulating than tidewater Virginia. It terminates on the west at a broken line of hills known as the Coast Mountains, from which the Piedmont section proper extends westward to the foot of the Blue Ridge. The Piedmont section has an elevation of from 500 to 1000 feet, and is rugged compared with eastern Virginia, having isolated knobs and ridges rising 100 to 600 feet above the general level. The Blue Ridge is considered as a region by itself, being the most prominent topographical feature of the State. It rises abruptly from the Piedmont Plain to a height of 1500 feet above it, or 2500 to over 3000 feet above the sea. The ridge is broken in places, notably by the Potomac on the northern State boundary and by the James River farther south. In the southwest it widens out into a triangular plateau, which on its western border bears the highest elevations in the State—Rogers Mountain, 5719 feet, and White Top, 5530 feet above the sea. North of this plateau the ridge is rather narrow and falls steeply on the west into the magnificent Great Valley, known in the north as the Shenandoah, and farther north, in Pennsylvania, as the Cumberland Valley. This is a continuous longitudinal depression about 20 miles wide, with its floor about 1200 feet above the sea. West of the valley lies the Appalachian section, a succession of numerous narrow and broken but parallel ridges running from southwest to northeast, and inclosing equally narrow longitudinal valleys. The ridges are generally about 3500 feet in elevation, and are known under a multitude of local names, though collectively they form the Alleghany Mountains in the northeast and the Cumberland Mountains in the southwest.
Hydrography. The greater part of the State's surface is drained directly into the Atlantic or its great arm, Chesapeake Bay. The largest river within the State is the James, which rises on the western boundary, breaks through the Blue Ridge, and enters the foot of Chesapeake Bay through a large tidal estuary. All of the rivers flowing into Chesapeake Bay enter it through estuaries which are very large for the size of the stream, such as the York River, the common estuary of the Pamunkey and Mattapony, the estuary of the Rappahannock, and, greatest of all, that of the Potomac on the northeastern boundary. All the rivers east of the Blue Ridge flow in parallel southeastward courses, and those traversing the southern part of the Piedmont Plain, chief of which is the Staunton, flow across the boundary into North Carolina. The Great Valley and Appalachian region are drained by several river systems. Through the northern part of the valley flows the Shenandoah to join the Potomac, while the central valley and mountain region are watered by the upper course of the James and its tributaries. Farther south the New River or Great Kanawha traverses the mountain belt and passes into West Virginia on its way to the Ohio, while the southwestern part of the State gives rise to the headstreams of the Tennessee River. The deep and wide estuaries of the eastern rivers admit large vessels to the heart of the State, but a short distance above the heads
