Vesta
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Vesta. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
Known to the Greeks as Hestia . A goddess, daughter of Rhea and Saturn. The Palladium , a celebrated statue of Pallas, was supposed to be preserved within her sanctuary, where a fire was kept continually burning. Vestales (The Vestais). Priestesses consecrated to the service of Vesta. They were required to be of good families and free from blemish and deformity. One of their chief duties was to see that the sacred fire of Vesta was not extinguished. Vesuvius or Vesvius. The celebrated volcanic mountain in Campania , rising out of the plain southeast of Neapolis. There are no records of any eruption of Vesuvius before the Christian era, but the ancient writers were aware of its volcanic nature from the igneous appearance of its rocks. On the 24th of August, A. D. 79, occurred the first great eruption of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed the cities of Stabiae, Herculaneum, and Pompeii. It was in this eruption that the elder Pliny lost his life. Since the eruption of 1506 it has remained burning. Vetulonia, Vetulonium, or Vetulonii. An ancient city of Etruria, and one of the twelve cities of the Etruscan confederation. From this city the Romans are said to have borrowed the insignia of their magistrates the fasces, sella curulis, and togo praetexta-as well as the use of the brazen trumpet in war.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in Roman mythology, the goddess of the hearth. A sacred fire was kept burning on her altar at the foot of the Palatine Hill. If by any mischance it went out it was rekindled with the rays of the sun. Four priestesses of Vesta, later six, were known as vestals or vestal virgins. They had charge of the temple, the sacred fire, and the ceremonies connected with her worship. The position of a vestal was one of great honor. The vestals were given the choicest seats at the games and were regarded as beings of spotless purity. Daughters of noble families sought the honor. They served for thirty years, ten years to learn the duties of the temple, ten to perform them, and ten to teach them to their successors. At the end of the thirty years a vestal was free to return to her father's house and even to marry if she chose. The fall of a vestal from virtue was regarded as the most shocking of crimes and was punished with death by stoning or burial alive. The Roman vestals may be regarded as an early order of nuns. The Greek name of Vesta was Hestia. See Hestia
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an ancient goddess, called Hestia by the Greeks. According to the traditions of that people she was a virgin divinity, and watched over the fire that burned on the household hearth, which was looked on as her shrine. Something sacred attached to this part of the house. It was the family altar; here suppliants took refuge; on it oaths were sworn. Each town had its public fire, which was left continually burning in the the Prytane-