Vereschagin
ve-resh-cha'gen, Vasilii, a Russian painter. He was born October 25, 1842, in the province of Novgorod, and was killed by a bursting shell on board a Russian battleship off Port Arthur , April 13, 1904. He was educated in St. Petersburg and in the School of Fine Arts at Paris. He served in several military campaigns. He is celebrated for numerous large paintings depicting the horrors of warfare. Some of these are After Defeat, Assault on Plevna, Wounded Returning, and The Retreat from Moscow. One of his latest paintings is an imaginative picture of the battle of San Juan Hill, in which Roosevelt figures as the hero. Vereschagin is credited with having aroused the public conscience to the suffering and dread realities of warfare.
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Vereshtchagin
WASILIY, a Russian historical painter; born in Tcherepovets, Russia, Oct. 26, 1842; was educated at the naval school at St. Petersburg . In 1864 he entered the Art School at Paris, where Gerôme was his master. He joined the Caucasian expe dition under General Kaufmann in 1867 , and in 1869 went to Siberia . In 1874 he went to India with the Prince of Wales, and afterward settled in Paris. He took part in the Russo-Turkish War, and was wounded at Plevna. His pictures are of immense size , extremely realistic, and treat chiefly of the horrors of war. 1904 he went to Manchuria to study scenes and events in actual warfare, and was lost April 13 on the man-of-war Petropavlovsk blown up by a submarine mine, just out of Port Arthur harbor. He thus brought a brilliant career to a sudden close. In
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Verge
The piece in a watch or clock which regulates the motion of the escape wheel and allows one tooth to pass at a time. In a watch it acts as a support for the balance wheel. This name is especially applied to the recoil escapement used in the so-called Yankee clock, and shown in Fig. 6.
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Verge Escapement
This form of escapement is shown in Fig. 310, which shows a plan of the escape wheel and verge in their relative positions in a watch. The inventor of this form of escapement remains in obscurity, but it appears to have been invented about the year 1000, and was the sole escapement up to the seventeenth century. The verge has served a very good purpose in its time, but its lack of correct timekeeping led to its disuse as soon as something better appeared. The escape tooth drops direct upon the impulse plane. If the momentum of the balance is sufficient to overcome the power of the mainspring a recoil is the result, but if not the result is a to and fro motion just sufficient to escape. As shown in the drawing, when the tooth in contact with the right hand pallet leaves it the tooth shown just below will fall upon the left hand pallet and impel the balance in the opposite direction. The opening of the pallets is usually ninety degrees, that is, at right angles to each other. A workman who is acquainted with the other escapements will have but little trouble in repairing the verge. Fig. 6 shows the verge clock escapement.
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Verge Pin
The pin upon which the verge of an American clock is supported. This pin is usually mounted in a small movable arm by which the escapement action may be corrected.
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Verge Wire
The wire by which the power is transmitted to the pendulum wire. In this class of clock the beat may be corrected by slightly bending it.
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Vergennes
CHARLES GRAVIER, French statesman; born in Dijon, France, Dec. 28, 1717. After a diplomatic ca- 7, Turkey and Sweden, reer in Germany, Turk I.'s minister of foreign affairs, and, by promoting the independence of the United States, concluded the alliance of 1778. He died in Versailles, Feb, 13, 1787. he became Louis XVI.'s an Italian author; born in Urbino, Italy, about 1470. He had his education at Bologna, and seems to have commenced life under the patronage of Guido Ubaldo, Duke of Urbino, to whom was dedicated his first work, "Proverbiorum Libellus" (1498),
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Vergil (POLYDORE an earlier book than)
POLYDORE, an earlier book than the "Adagia" of his friend Erasmus. His second, "De Inventoribus Rerum" ( 1499), which was also the earliest book of its kind, became extremely popular , and was translated into English, Spanish and Italian . His "Historiæ Anglicæ Libri XXVI." appeared at Basel at 1534 ; the 27th book, bringing the story down to 1538 , was added in the third edition (1555). About 1550 he obtained a license from Edward VI. to return to Italy for his health's sake, without losing his livings, and next he traveled to Urbino, where he lived in quiet till his death in 1555. His history is a work of great research, vigororous and independent, written in clear and elegant Latin. It is the fullest original narrative for the reign of Henry VII., and here Hall has simply translated his Latin into English. As rediscounted by his strong prejudice. gards Wolsey, the value of his evidence He spared no pains to insure accuracy , and a strongly rational bias of mind hindered him from accepting the Scottish fables supplied him by Gavin Douglas, or the exploits of Brut and Arthur warranted by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
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Vergniaud
PIERRE VICTUR- NIEN, a French orator; born in Limoges, France, May 31, 1753. Turgot, then intendant of the Limousin, nominated him to a bursarship at the Collége du Plessis at Paris. He studied divinity aimlessly at the Sorbonne, but soon grew tired of it, next took a post in the civil service at Paris, but ere long threw it up and retired to his bankrupt father's house at Limoges. But a brother-in-law helped him to settle as an advocate at Bordeaux in 1781, and he quickly gained a great practice, and was elected a deputy to the National Assembly in 1791. His splendid eloquence, the charm of his personality, made him the leader of the Girondists, but he was too indolent and unambitious to care for political intrigue, and indeed he was far more of the orator than the statesman. Sent to the Convention by the department of the Gironde, he supported, in the question of the king's trial, the proposal of Salle to make an appeal to the people. When the decisive moment came he voted for death, and as president it was his duty to announce the result. In the struggle with the Mountain he made a splendid effort, but too late. He was guillotined Oct. 31, 1793, the last of the 21 who died together.
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