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but others maintain that what we have now is only an' abridg-ment ot the work written by this celebrated historian, and thatthis abridgment was made by one Nepotian of Africa .

VA LES1ANS, a set t of heretics, in the second century, found-ed by Valens, who were all voluntary eunuchs, and rejected tin-law and the prophets. They were condemned by the council otAchaia, A. D. 240.

VALET, with us, is only used in the phrase valet de chambre,a servant whose office it is to dress and undress his master, &c.

VALETTE, a city of Malta , capital of the island. Lon. 14.34. E. Lat. 35. 54. X.

Valette, a town of France, in the department of Charente ,and province of Angoumois , 10 miles S. ot Angoulesme.

VALHALLA, jjScandin. i . c. the hall of those who died by•violence,] in the mythology of the ancient Saxons , Scandinavians,Danes, Swedes, &c. the paradise of Odin , where, after death, thesouls of warriors were believed to be feasted by Odin , seated on athrone, and served by the Valkyrite, &c.

VALID, in law, an appellation given to acts, deeds, transac-tions, &c. which are clothed with all the formalities requisite totheir being put into execution, and to their being admitted in acourt of justice.

VALKI, a town of Russia , in the province of Charkovskoe, 10miles S. W. of Cliarkov. Lon. 35. 55. E. Lat. 49. 36. N.

VALKA RLE, in the Saxon mythology, celestial virgins, whoattend the sonis of heroes in Odin ’s paradise of Valhalla.

• VALLADOLID, a city of Spain , in Old Castile, and capitalof a principality of tliesanie name. Lon. 4. 25. \V. Lat. 41.50. N.

VALLERS, a town of France , in the department of [mire andLoire, ami province of Touraine . Lon. 0. 41. E. Lat. 47. 24. N.

VALISNER1A, in botany, a genus of the diacia diandria classand order ; natural order Palma:. Male spatlie two-parted ; spa-dix, covered with floscules ; corolla three-parted ; female, spatliebifid, one-flowered; c.-lyx three-parted, superior; stigma three-parted; capsule onecelied, many-steded. There are two spe-cies, viz. V. spiralis, two-stamened valljsneria; and V. octandriu,eight-sta incited vadisneria.

VALMON T, a town of France , in the department of theLower Seine, and province of Normandy . Lon. 1. 25. IV. Lat.49. 46. N.

VALOGNE, a town of France , in the department of theChannel, and province of Normandy . Lon. 1.26. VV. Lat. 49.30. N.

VALONA, a sca-port-town of European Turkey , in Upper Al-bania, 50 miles S. of Dorazzo. Lon. 19. 23. E. Lat. 4l. 4. N.

VALOUR, in tile mythology, the daughter of Pallas and Styx,and sister of Strength and Victory.

VALPARAISO, or VAJ.PARISSA, a town of Peru , in Chili,225 miles N'. of Conception . Lon. 72. 16. W. Lat. 33. 3. S.

VALS, a town of France, in the department of the Ardeche ,and province of Dauphine, 3 miles N. of Aubenes. Lon. 4. 26, E.Lat. 44. 48. N.

VAl/I ELINE, a territory and lordship in the country of theOrisons, at the foot of the Alps. The river Adda flows throughits whole length into the lake Como ; and it is divided into threedistricts, upper, middle, and lower, of which the chief towns areTirnno, Sondrio , and Morbegno.

VALUE, in commerce, denotes the price or worth of afiything: hence the intrinsic value denotes the real and effectivewortli of a tiling, and is used chiefly with regard to money', the po-pular value whereof may be raised and lowered at the pleasure oftile prince; but its real or intrinsic value, rh-pending wdioitv onils weight and fineness, is not at all affected by the stamp or im-pression thereon.

VALV E, in hydraulics, pneumatics, &c. is a kind of lid orcover to a tube, vessel, or orifice, contrived to open one way;but which, the more forcibly it is pressed the other way, the closerit shuts die aperture, like the clapper of a bellows: so that it eitheradmits the entraiice o! a fluid into tlie tube, or vessel, and pre-vents return; or permits it to escape, and prevents its re-en-

trant e. See Pump, and II yurosta iics.

V alvk, in anatomy, a min membrane applied on several ca-vities a,id vessi Is of the hotly, to afford a passage to certain hu-mours going one wav, and prevent their reflux towards the platewhence they came.

VALVERDE, a town of Portugal, in Estremadura , 27 milesN. W. of Alcantara. Lon. 6. 19. VV. Lat. 39 44. N.

Vai.verde, a town of Spain, in Estremadura, near Portugal ,

8 miles from Badajoz . Lon. 6. 39. W. Lat. 38. 34. N.

VAN, YANT, or VAUNT, a term derived from the French avont, or avaunt, signifying before, or foremost of any tiling ; thus,we say, the van guard of an army, &c.

V'.vw, in sea-language, denotes the foremost division of any na-val armament, or the pait that usually leads the way to battle, oradvances first in the order of sailing.

Van, in geography, a populous town of Asiatic Turkey, in Ar-menia, or Caramania, on tlie frontiers of Persia , 42 miles 8. E ofBeilis, and 150 E. of Diarbek. Lon. 44. 50, E. Lat. 38, 30. N.

VANCOUVER, Capt. George, of the royal navy, wrotean Account of a Voyage of discovery into the North PacificOcean , and Round the World, in 1790 — 1795. He died 10thMay, 1798.

VANDALS, a brave and numerous, hut barbarous, people ofEurope, who, along with the Goths, Heruli, Suevi , Alani, andBurgundians, emigrated in large bodies from their respective na-tive countries, and spreading fire, sword, and desolation, everywhere, overthrew the Roman empire, in the fifth century. Theywere several times, however, successfully opposed by Slilicho.They are thought to have originally come from Lower Saxony and Pomerania . Olliers make them a tribe of the Samaritans, orSclavonians.

VANDELLIA, in botany, a genus of plants belonging to theclass didynatnia, and order angiospermia. Calyx siibquadrifid ;corolla ringent ; two exterior filaments proceed from the disc ofthe lip of tin; corolla; antherte connected; capsule cue-celled,many-seeded. There are two species.

VAN DIEMEN’S LAND, the S. extremity of New Holland.Lon. 148° to 150° E. Lat. 40° 30' to 42° 30' S.

VAN DYCK, Sir Anthony, a celebrated painter, born atAntwerp in 1599. After giving several early proofs of his excel-lent genius, lie became the disciple of the illustrious Rubens.From this celebrated master lie received not only instruction in hisart, but was by his generosity enabled to go to Rome . Havingstaid a short lime there, lie removed to Venice , where lie attainedtli - beautiful colouring of Titian, Paul Veronese , and the Venetian! school, which appeared from the many excellent pictures he drew| at Genoa, After having spent a few years abroad, he returned toi Flanders , with so noble, so easy, and natural a manner of painting#that Titian himself was hardly his superior ; and no other mastefcould equal him in portr-ibs. He then went to England when hissuperior genius soon brcfiight him into great reputation ; and,above all, lie excelled in portraits, which lie drew with an incon-ceivable facility, and for winch lie charged a very high price. F orsome of tilt-in lie received 400 guineas a-piece. tie soon foundhimself loaded with honours and riches. He married a daughterof lord Ruths cn, earl of Cowry. His bouse was so frequented bypersons of the greatest quality, that it rather resembled the courtof a prince titan the lodgings of a painter. He died in 164), andwas buried in St. Paul’s. It was said lie left 40,000/.

VANE, a thin slip of bunting hung to the mast-head, or som eother conspicuous place in the ship, to siiew the direction of thewind. It is commonly sewed upon a wooden frame called thestock, which contains two holes whereby to slip over the spindle#upon which it turns round as the wind changes.

VANGN ESI A, a genus of plants of the class and order pentan*dria monogynia. Calyx five-toothed ; corolla, tube globular#with a hairy throat ; stigma bilamellale ; berry inferior, four ° rlive-seeded. There is one species, a tree of China .

VANNES, a populous and ancient town of France , in the de"parlinenl of Morbihan ; 56 miles S. W. of Rennes , and 255by S. of Paris .

VAPOUR , in philosophy, the particles of bodies rarified bjfheat, and-tints rendered specifically lighter than the atmospherein winch they rise to a considerable height. See Evaporation#

Damp, Gas, &c. Many kinds of vapour are unfriendly to an 1 '

mal-lile, out the most noxious are those which arise from metallicsubstances. Of tlie aqueous vapour raised from the earth by tljsun’s heat are formed the clouds; but though these are coirun° nat no great distance from the earth we cannot from thence determine the height to which the vapours ascend. SeeMETEOROt-o G ’

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