Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/344

324: VERRES 34 to 50. This letter was gradually received as authentic, and Verrazzano mentioned in American history as the earliest French ex- plorer of the coast, and possibly the first to enter New York bay. Its authenticity was first attacked in 1864 by T. Buckingham Smith, who identified Verrazzano with the corsair Juan Florin of Spanish accounts, but was maintained by J. Oarson Brevoort in " Verraz- zano, the Navigator " (8vo, New York, 1874). Henry 0. Murphy, after careful researches, re- jects the letter as spurious in his u Voyage of Verrazzano, a Chapter on the Early History of Maritime Discovery in America " (8vo, New York, 1875). The attempted fraud is not at- tributed to Verrazzano, but to some one of his countrymen, anxious to secure for Italy the glory more credibly belonging to Estevan Gomez, a Portuguese, who went as chief pilot with Magellan, and has the credit of visiting the coast of Carolina and entering several rivers in 1525. VERRES, a Roman governor of Sicily, put to death in 43 B. 0. He was the son of a Ro- man senator, and in 82 became quaestor to On. Papirius Carbo, but subsequently deserted the Marian faction to which Carbo belonged, and joined that of Sulla, who gave him a share of the confiscated estates and sent him to Bene- ventura. He was pro-quaestor to Dolabella, praetor of Oilicia, 80-79, and participated in the iniquitous acts of that rapacious governor, but afterward turned against him, and contrib- uted by his evidence to his conviction. With the money obtained by plundering the prov- inces, he was elected praetor in 74, and became by lot prcetor urbanus. After managing the affairs of the city in defiance of all justice and law, he obtained at the expiration of his term of office the administration of Sicily, then the wealthiest province of the republic. In this island he remained three years, during which time he amassed enormous wealth, and fairly desolated Sicily by his rapacity. The Sici- lians intrusted to Cicero the prosecution of Verres, the importance of which was more due to political reasons than to the character of the criminal. Verres was defended by Hor- tensius, and supported by the Scipios and the Metelli. The decision was to be made by the senate, on whom the judicial power taken from the equites had been conferred by Sulla ; and on the result of this trial depended in great measure the continuance of this power, inas- much jis there was a strong feeling among the people in favor of a reform of the court. The adherents of Verres spared nothing in the shape of promises, threats, and bribes, in or- der to secure his acquittal; but their efforts were useless, and before the nine days which were given to the hearing of evidence were over, he fled to Massilia, where he remained in exile 27 years. He was put to death by the proscription of Antony. VERROCCHIO, Andre*, an Italian artist, born in Florence in 1432, died there in 1488. He VERSAILLES was at once a sculptor, a goldsmith, and a painter, but most distinguished as a sculptor. Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci were his pu- pils. He was the first to take moulds of the human form to aid in designing. The pictures attributed to him are generally spurious. VERSAILLES, a city of France, capital of the department of Se^ne-et-Oise, and legally of the republic, 10 m. S. W. of the centre of Paris; pop. in 1872, 61,686. It is built with great regularity, the streets crossing each oth- er at right angles, and has a monotonous ap- pearance. The main thoroughfares are the avenues de Paris, St. Cloud, and Sceaux, the place d'Armes, and the boulevard de la Ri-iiu-. Th principal churches are those of Notre Dame and St. Louis, and there is an English chapel. Among the public buildings are the tennis court, famous for the short part which it played in the beginning of the revolution of 1789, a lyceum, and other schools and hospi- tals. Versailles derives its celebrity from the royal palace built by Louis XIV. on the site of Louis XIII. 's hunting lodge, where that monarch and hia successors resided till the revolution. The marble court and the inte- rior, which is 105 ft. long and 79 ft. high, are remarkable for extraordinary magnificence and grandeur, especially the vast museums or gal- leries, with statues and pictures of the great historical personages and events of the coun- try, described in Gavard's Galeriet historiques de Versailles (13 vols., Paris, 1835-'48). Con- nected with the palace are chapels, an exten- sive library, and magnificent gardens, where fountains playing on Sundays attract multi- tudes of visitors from Paris. Louis XV. added the theatre and other buildings. The park connects with the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon palaces ; the latter was the favorite residence of Marie Antoinette. Adjoining the palace are the military hospital and the artil- lery and cavalry barracks. The most brilliant periods of the reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., as well as the beginning of the catastrophe under Louis XVI., are associated with the resi- dence of those monarchs at Versailles. The definitive treaty which terminated the Amer- ican struggle for independence was concluded here, Sept. 3, 1783, and the states general were opened hero May 5, 1789. Napoleon I., Louis XVIII., and Charles X. attempted to repair the damage inflicted upon the palace during the revolution, and nnder Louis Philippe it was fully restored. During the Franco-Ger- man war of 1870 Versailles became the head- quarters of the Germans ; the king of Prussia was proclaimed here (in the palace) emperor of Germany, Jan. 18, 1871; the capitulation of Paris was concluded here ten days later, and the preliminary treaty of peace on Feb. 26, and the national assembly and seat of gov- ernment ware removed hither from Bordeaux. Many prisoners were transferred to Versailles during the war with the commune, and shot in the neighboring plain of Satory. The on-