brigadier in 1677, and served in that capacity under Marshal de Crequi in Flanders. In 1681 he was appointed governor of Provence; and having been raised to the rank of lieutenant-general in 1688, he distinguished himself greatly at the sieges of Mons and Namur, and at the great battle of Steinkirk. In 1693 he was sent into Italy under Marshal Catinat, and shared in many of the enterprises and victories of that general. Two years later he obtained a command in Catalonia, and after a long and obstinate siege took the town of Barcelona—an achievement which not only contributed to hasten the peace of Ryswick, but to modify its terms. During the war of the Succession in Spain, he was despatched to Italy to retrieve the errors of Villeroy, and was opposed to the Prince Eugene. His forces were superior in numbers to those of the enemy, and he commenced the campaign in the most brilliant manner, displaying unusual activity; but he allowed himself to be surprised on the plain of Luzzara, and in spite of a gallant resistance was defeated with great slaughter. He received from the Spanish monarch, however, the order of the golden fleece, as an acknowledgment of the valour and skill which he had displayed in the campaign. He next transferred his operations to the Tyrol, where he obtained several advantages over Count Stahremberg, as well as over the duke of Savoy in Piedmont; but he was again unsuccessful in an encounter with Prince Eugene in 1706 at Cassano. In 1708 he was sent to Flanders to replace Villeroy, who had been signally defeated at Ramillies. But though a much abler, he was not a more successful general than his predecessor, and proved wholly unable to contend against the genius and energy of Marlborough. He committed several grievous mistakes, and his strange sluggishness caused most serious disasters to the French arms. His defeat in the fatal battle of Oudenarde, and other reverses which he met with in that campaign, did not, however, forfeit the confidence of Louis; and in 1710 he was selected to carry succours to the grandson of that monarch, who was then reduced to great straits by the allies. Though now old and suffering from gout, Vendôme displayed the most astonishing activity and energy at this juncture. The allied army was retreating from Castile for the purpose of wintering in Arragon, when Vendôme set out from Talavera, "and pursued them with a speed," says Macaulay, "perhaps never equalled in such a season, and in such a country." He marched night and day; swam at the head of his cavalry the flood stream of Henares; and in a few days overtook Stanhope, the English general, at Brihuega, which he immediately invested, and captured after a desperate resistance. On the following day he fought the obstinate and bloody fight of Villa-Viciosa with the imperial general Stahremberg, who remained master of the field, though Vendôme reaped all the fruits of the battle. Through his energetic and skilful operations the allies were ultimately driven out of Spain, and the crown of that kingdom was firmly fixed on the head of Philip. In the midst of his triumphs the duke suddenly died at Tignarez in 1712, and was buried in the royal tomb in the Escurial. Vendôme was one of the ablest French generals of his age; but he was as notorious for the filthiness of his person, his brutality and gross buffoonery, and the unblushing effrontery with which he abandoned himself to the most disgusting vices, as he was illustrious for his courage and military skill, and the resources, energy, and presence of mind which he displayed when roused by any great emergency, and induced to throw aside the almost incredible indolence in which he indulged on ordinary occasions. Leaving no issue, his estates reverted to the crown, but the title devolved on his brother—
Phillippe, fourth and last duke of Vendôme, who was born in 1655. He held the office of grandprior of the order of the knights of Malta, and made his first essay in arms in the campaign in Candia in 1669 in the Venetian army, under his uncle, the duke of Beaufort. He accompanied his brother in all his campaigns, and acquired considerable military reputation and the rank of lieutenant-general; but his inactivity and insubordination lost the French the battle of Cassano in 1706. He was in consequence treated very harshly both by his brother and by the court, and was deprived of all his benefices. He retired to Rome, where he subsisted on a pension allowed him by Louis XIV. After an exile of four years, however, he was permitted to return to France, regained the favour of the king, and was reinstated in his benefices. He abandoned himself henceforward to a life of pleasure, and died in 1727. The grandprior was a liberal patron of literature and the fine arts; but even in the dissolute times of the regency he was notorious for his licentiousness.—J. T.
VENDRAMINI, Giovanni, a celebrated Italian engraver, was born at Roncade, near Bassano, in 1769. He came to England about 1798, and completed his studies as an engraver under Bartolozzi. In 1803 he went to Russia, was employed by the emperor, and assigned apartments in the palace. Growing tired of the surveillance exercised over him, he wished to return to England, but was refused a passport; and it was only by the connivance of the Neapolitan envoy that he succeeded in making his escape. In England he found constant occupation, and obtained a good position. His best prints are the "Raising of Lazarus," after Sebastian del Piombo; the "Vision of St. Catherine," after Paolo Veronese; and others from the great Italian masters. He also engraved several plates from the works of contemporary painters. He died in London in 1839.—J. T—e.
VENETTE, Jean de, author of the second continuation of the history or chronicle of Guillaume de Nangis, was born at the village of Venette, near Compiegne, in 1308. He was a Carmelite monk, and lived mostly at Paris, though we find from his "History of the Three Marys" that he made frequent visits to the principal provincial towns. He was at Paris in 1346, and saw the frightful conflagrations that marked the presence of the victorious English in the suburbs of the capital. He tells us also in his chronicle, that he saw the new wall and fortifications built in 1356. In 1368 he was at Rheims, and saw there the comet, which in that year filled the French with gloomy forebodings; and he must have lived some time longer, as he notices the disasters which followed, and which he attributes to the appearance of, the celestial visitant. Venette's chronicle is written in Latin, and is particularly valuable as one of the sources of French history. He is not always an impartial narrator, but the liveliness and minuteness of his descriptions more than counterbalance his occasional prejudices and partial statements. He gives a very interesting account of the change of fashion that took place in his own time in regard to dress, and declaims eloquently against the growing taste for luxury and profusion. His chronicle was published by Dom Luc d'Acheri, along with the chronicles of Nangis and his first continuator. It is to be found in the third volume of the collection entitled Spicilegium. His "Histoire des trois Maries," written in French verse, is founded on a legendary notion that was long believed for scripture in the Romish church.—R. M., A.
VENEZIANO, Domenico, an Italian painter, born at Venice about 1410, who was taught oil-painting, then quite a new art, by Antonello da Messina about 1450. About ten years afterwards, Domenico Veneziano was employed at Florence, together with Andrea del Castagno, to execute some paintings in the Portinari chapel in the church of Santa Maria Nuova; and Domenico communicated the secret of his method to Andrea, who in reward treacherously murdered him about the year 1463. Scarcely a trace of Domenico's work now remains.—(See Castagno, Andrea del.)—R. N. W.
VENN, the name of a distinguished English family, which has never wanted representatives in the Anglican church from the time of the Reformation down to the present day:—
Venn, Richard, was rector of St. Antholin's, London, and died in 1740. His name was at one time much before the public in consequence of his successful opposition to the appointment to the see of Gloucester of Dr. Russell, a man whose theology, says Sir James Stephen, "was so liberal as at length to have dissolved into a creed to which any man might assent, who did not dissent from theism." Venn was also known in the religious world by his contributions to the Weekly Miscellany, a periodical publication conducted by Dr. Webster in the interest of high church principles. A volume of his sermons and tracts was published by his widow, the daughter of Mr. Ashton, who had been executed in the reign of William III. for taking part in a plot to restore the Stewart family.
Venn, Henry, the most eminent of the family, and one of the most excellent ministers that ever adorned the Church of England, was born at Barnes in the county of Surrey in 1725. His first teachers were Dr. Pitman and Mr. Catcott, the latter of whom was one of the most distinguished of the Hutchinsonian divines, and author of a curious treatise on the deluge. In 1742 Venn was admitted of Jesus college, Cambridge, where he proceeded B.A. in 1745, and A.M. in 1749. He was subsequently elected a fellow of Queen's, there being at the time no fellowship
