Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/377

This page needs to be proofread.

VINAGO the fragments of Philemon (2 vols. fol., Paris). In 1778 he was sent by the government to Venice to search the library of St. Mark for unpublished Greek manuscripts, and in 1781 published his Anecdota Grceca (2 vols. 4to, Ven- ice). He also found there a manuscript Iliad of the 10th century with very ancient scholia (now known as the scholia Veneta), which he printed in 1 788. Explorations in the library of Weimar led to the EpistolcB Vimarienses (4to, Zurich, 1783). He subsequently travelled sev- eral years in Greece and the Archipelago, and became a member of the institute. VINAGO. See PIGEON. VINCENNES, a city and the capital of Knox co., Indiana, on the E. bank of the Wabash river, here navigable by steamboats, about 90 m. above its mouth, and 100 m. S. W. of Indi- anapolis; pop. in 1850, 2,070; in 1860, 3,960; in 1870, 5,440; in 1875, locally estimated at 8,500. It is in the midst of a fertile country abounding in coal, and has good manufac- turing facilities. By rail it is connected with St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and other points. The lines meeting here are the Ohio and Mississippi, Evansville and Orawfordsville, Indianapolis and Vincennes, and Cairo and Vincennes. The chief manufactories are five flouring mills, two woollen factories, an iron foundery, a starch and sirup factory, a pla- ning mill, a hub and spoke factory, and the machine shops of the Ohio and Mississippi rail- road. Two national banks have a joint capi-' tal of $350,000. There are a high school and several other public schools, with about 1,300 pupils. The Roman Catholics have several schools and two orphan asylums. Vincennes university, chartered in 1807, is conducted as a high school. There are four libraries. A semi-weekly and three weekly newspapers are published. There are 10 churches, viz. : Bap- tist, Christian, Episcopal, German Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Koman Catholic (2). Vincennes is the oldest town in the state. In 1702 the French estab- lished a mission here, and a few years later a fort was built. It came into the possession of the British with the surrender of Canada, and was taken from them by Gen. Clark, Feb. 26, 1779. It became the capital of the territory of Indiana upon its organization in 1800, and so remained till the seat of government was removed to Corydon in 1814. It was incor- porated as a borough Sept. 6, 1814, and as a city Feb. 13, 1856. VINCENNES, a town of France, in the depart- ment of Seine, 1 m. E. of Paris, on the rail- way to Lyons; pop. in 1872, 17,064. The old castle was the nucleus of the present fortifi- cations, which are a part of those of Paris. It contains the principal arsenal of Paris, a large armory, extensive barracks, schools in which the best marksmen (chasseurs de Vincennes') are trained, a chapel, and a dungeon consisting of a square stone tower 170 ft. high, with walls 10 ft. thick. The castle, being surrounded by VINCENT 357 many of the other detached works, was of strategic importance during the siege of Paris in 1870-'7l. It had its origin in a hunting box built by Louis VII. in the 12th century. Philip of Valois substituted for this a royal palace, subsequently enlarged and embellished by Louis XIV. Under Louis Philippe it was surrounded with a complete system of modern fortifications, and the former nine lofty towers were converted into bastions. The castle is associated with many great personages who resided or died here, and with celebrated pris- oners of state incarcerated in the dungeon. The duke d'Enghien was shot here, March 21, 1804. Various improvements, including the new military hospital and small chapel, ori- ginated with Napoleon III. The park of Vin- cennes has been much enlarged since 1854, when it was placed under the care of the Paris municipality, and extends over more than 3 m. The centre forms a continuous open space for the race course, and for artillery practice and other military exercises. Outside this space are extensive walks and drives which intersect the pleasure grounds. The principal artificial lake (des Minimes) has three wooded islands ; Lake Charenton dates from 1866. A model farm was erected by Napoleon III. S. of the woods, near the Marne, and he also founded an asylum for convalescent workmen, with fine grounds. The park of Vincennes is for the east end of Paris what the Bois de Boulogne is for the west end. VINCENNES, Jean Baptiste Bissot, sieur de, an American soldier, born in Quebec in January, 1688, burned by the Chickasaws in 1736. He was the tenth child of Francois Bissot, and brother-in-law of Joliet, the explorer of the Mississippi. He was an active officer in the west, and in 1704 attacked an Ottawa party and rescued some Iroquois prisoners taken in violation of treaties, thus averting a war. He was engaged in 1712 in the operations against the Foxes at Detroit, and soon after founded the post that still bears his name. He took part in 1736 in an expedition from the Illinois country against the Chickasaws, while another attacked them from Louisiana. The latter ex- pedition failed, and D'Artagnette and Vin- cennes< pushing on, carried some towns, but were finally defeated, and nearly all killed or taken. Vincennes, with D'Artagnette, Father Senat, and some others, was burned. VINCENT, William, an English classical scholar, born in London, Nov. 2, 1739, died there, Dec. 21, 1815. He was educated at Westminster school and at Cambridge, became an usher in the former in 1762, and was head master from 1788 to 1802, when he was made dean of West- minster in reward for his " Defence of Public Education, in a Letter to the Lord Bishop of Meath " (8vo, 1802). His chief work is^'The History of the Commerce and Navigation of the Ancients in the Indian Ocean " (2 vols. 4to, 1807), comprising "The Voyage of Nearchus to the Euphrates, collected from the Original