what dissolute in his youth, but reformed himself, and became one of the most distinguished men of his day. He inherited the martial ardour of his family, had the command of a regiment sent to the assistance of the Dutch in their struggle with Spain, and headed a forlorn hope in a desperate attack on the impregnable works thrown up by Spinola at Terheidan. He died of a fever at the siege of Breda. As he left no issue, there was a great contest in 1626 for the honours and dignities of the family, between the heir male and Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, who claimed through his mother, Mary, daughter of John, sixteenth earl. The exordium of the speech of Lord-chief-justice Crewe, in deciding the case, has been pronounced by Macaulay "among the finest specimens of the ancient English eloquence." The decision was in favour of the male heir, Robert, nineteenth earl, who was killed in 1632 fighting for the protestant cause and the liberties of Europe under the walls of Maestricht; but the great office of lord-chamberlain was awarded to the heir, General Lord Willoughby.—Aubrey, twentieth earl, commanded a regiment of English infantry in the service of the States, fought for the king in the great civil war, and suffered much for his loyalty. After the Restoration he was sworn of the privy council, made a knight of the garter, and appointed lord-lieutenant of the county of Essex. But he was deprived of all his offices by the despotic bigot James II., because he refused to support the dispensing power. "Sir," said the courtly and mild yet resolute peer, "I will stand by your majesty against all enemies to the last drop of my blood; but this is a matter of conscience, and I cannot comply." On the death of this earl, whom his contemporaries delighted to call "the noblest subject in Europe," though the family estates were by this time much dilapidated, this great house became extinct in the male line; but the present duke of St. Albans represents it through the female line—Diana, daughter of the last earl, having married Charles Beauclerk, illegitimate son of Charles II., and first duke of St. Albans.—J. T.
VERE, Sir Francis, a distinguished soldier, one of the famous "fighting Veres," the son of Geoffrey de Vere, third son of John, fifteenth earl of Oxford, was born in 1554. His first military service was under the earl of Leicester, when he was sent by Queen Elizabeth in 1585 with a body of troops to the assistance of the Dutch in their contest with Spain. He assisted in the defence of Sluys against the prince of Parma in 1587, and of Bergen-op-Zoom in the following year, and for his services on the latter occasion received the honour of knighthood. In 1589 he was intrusted with the defence of the Isle of Bommel at the head of six hundred English soldiers, and so skilfully strengthened the place that Count Mansfeldt, who commanded the numerous besieging army, did not venture to attack it. Shortly after, Sir Francis repeatedly threw reinforcements into the town of Berg while besieged by the Spaniards, but was severely wounded and nearly lost his life in one of these exploits. In 1590 he relieved the castle of Litkenhooven and recaptured the town of Burtick, and in 1591 was present at the sieges of Zutphen and Deventer, and mainly contributed to the defeat of the prince of Parma before Knodzenburg fort. In the following year Sir Francis was returned to the house of commons for the borough of Leominster. Little or nothing is known of his life during the next three or four years; but in 1596 he was appointed one of the commanders of the land forces in the expedition against Cadiz, and greatly distinguished himself both in the action with the Spanish fleet, and in the attack upon the town of Cadiz (June 20-22). A few months later he returned to Holland, and fought at the battle of Turnhout (24th January, 1597). In the summer of the same year he accompanied the earl of Essex in his second expedition against Spain, and after his return was made governor of Brill, and commander of the English auxiliaries in the service of the States. he was suddenly recalled in 1599, when a Spanish invasion was threatened, and was made lord-marshal. In the following year he was appointed, in conjunction with Count Ernest of Nassau and Count Solmes, to the command of the army which the Dutch sent into Flanders; and he was mainly instrumental in gaining the memorable battle over the Spaniards near Nieupor (5th July), in which he was severely wounded, and had his horse killed under him. His next great exploit was his defence of Ostend, which with very inadequate resources he held for eight months against the Archduke Albert at the head of twelve thousand men. He was, however, severely wounded in the head by the accidental bursting of a cannon. He resigned his government (7th March, 1602) to Frederick Dorp, whom the States had appointed his successor. Sir Francis was reappointed to the government of Brill in 1603. He died in 1608, and was buried in Westminster abbey. His family, consisting of three sons and two daughters, all died before him. Queen Elizabeth had a very high opinion of the talents and courage of Sir Francis, whom she considered the best general of his time. He was the author of a record of his own achievements, entitled "The Commentaries of Sir Francis Vere, being divers pieces of service wherein he had command; written by himself by way of commentary," published in 1657 in one volume folio.—J. T.
VERE, Horatio, Lord Vere of Tilbury, a less celebrated, but scarcely less able military commander than his brother. Sir Francis, was born in 1565 at Kirby hall, Essex. In his twenty-first year he accompanied his brother to the Low Countries, where he shared in exploits that well sustained the honour of English arms. In 1596 he formed part of the expedition to Cadiz, and was knighted for his good conduct in the capture of that place. Returning to the Netherlands, he distinguished himself in the various campaigns between 1597 and 1610—especially at the siege of Ostend in 1601, and in a gallant retreat with four thousand men in 1605 from Spinola, commanding a large army. On the death of his brother in 1608, he succeeded him as general of the English forces in the Netherlands, and in 1610 he was, by letters patent under the great seal of England, made governor of the town of Brill, and all the ports thereto belonging. After the conclusion of the twelve years' truce between Spain and the States General, he retained his post of governor for some time, but gave it up in 1616, receiving a pension from the English crown to compensate him for the loss. In 1618 he was employed by the prince of Orange to suppress the Arminian factions in Utrecht, and was made governor of the town; and two years later he was appointed to command the forces sent by King James to aid his unfortunate son-in-law, Frederick, king of Bohemia. An account of the expedition and its failure will be found in Wilson's History of James I. Sir Horace Vere remained in Germany the following year, and kept the Palatinate from being quite overrun by the imperialists. He kept Heidelberg, Frankendale, and Mannheim out of their hands till the end of 1622, when he surrendered the last-named place to Count Tilly on honourable terms, and returning to England, was received most graciously by the king. He became a member of the council of war; and on the accession of Charles I. in 1625, he was raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Vere of Tilbury, being the first peer of his majesty's creation. He still held his commission of general of the forces in the service of the States General, and frequently went over to them during the year 1627. He had attained to the age of seventy when, dining with Sir Henry Vane at Whitehall on the 2nd May, 1635, he was struck with apoplexy while in the act of reaching out his plate for a supply of fresh salmon, and being carried away, expired two hours afterwards. Fuller pays tribute to the nobility of his character.—(Biographia Brit., vi.)—R. H.
VERELIUS, Olaus, properly Olof Werl, a celebrated Swedish antiquary, was born on the 12th of February, 1618, at Ragnildstorp in Oestergötland. After completing his studies at Upsala he made the tour of Europe, and on his return was nominated quæstor of the Upsala university, an office he filled with great advantage to that institution. He at the same time received a professorship. At Oxenstjerna's request he wrote in Latin a history of Sweden till 1630, and he also edited Götrek's and Rolf's Saga, and various other Icelandic sagas. In his declining years he was appointed to the sinecure of chief librarian of the university. He died on the 1st of January, 1682. The antiquarian knowledge of Verelius was enormous; and his works, which are numerous and weighty, are among the most valuable on the early history and antiquities of Scandinavia. Some of them are, unfortunately, marred by polemical bitterness.—J. J.
VERGENNES, Charles Gravier, Comte de, son of a president of the parliament of Dijon, was born in that place on the 28th December, 1717. At an early age he began his diplomatic career, having gone as attaché to the Lisbon embassy in 1740. The ability he even then displayed procured him the appointment in 1750 of minister to the electoral court of Trier, where, in the very hot-bed of the political intrigues which at that time agitated Germany, he found full scope for the employment of his peculiar gifts. Successfully advancing French interests,
