them at the very time the sounds are heard, instead of depending on the memory. The leading condition of performance is that the voices and sounds of the dramatic dialogue to be exhibited, should succeed each other so rapidly that the audience should lose sight of the probability that one actor gives effect to the whole, and that where the busi ness is simple the aid of scenery or local circumstance should be called in.

We have seen an eminent philosopher of our own time, who had no previous practice of this art, but when speaking on the subject in a mixed company, took up an hat and folding the flaps together said, by way of example, "Suppose I had a small monkey in this hat;" and then cautiously putting his hand in, as if to catch it, he imitated the chatter of the supposed strug gling animal, at the same time that his own efforts to secure it had a momentary impression on the spectators, which left no time for them to question whether there was a monkey in it or not: this impression was completed when, the instant afterwards, he pulled out his hand as if hurt, and exclaimed "he has bit me." It was not till then that the impression of reality gave way to the diversion arising from the mimic art; and one of the company, even then, cried out "Is there really a monkey in the hat?"

In this manner it was that, at the begin. ning of the last century, the famous Toin King, who is said to have been the first man who gave public lectures on experimental philosophy in this country, was attended by the whole fashionable world, for a succession of many nights, to hear him “kill a calf.” This performance was done in a separated part of the place of exhibition, into which the exhibitor retired alone; and the imagination of his polite hearers was taxed to supply the calf and three butchers, besides a dog who sometimes raised his voice and was checked for his unnecessary exertions. It appears, from traditional narrative, that the calf was heard to be drag ged in, not without some efforts and conversation on the part of the butchers, and noisy resistance from the calf; that they conversed on the qualities of the animal, and the profits to be expected from the veal; and that, as they proceeded, all the noises of knife and steel, of suspending the creature, and of the last fatal catastrophe, were heard in rapid succession, to the never-failing satisfaction of the attendants; who, upon the rise of the curtain, saw that all these imaginary personages had vanish

ed, and Tom King alone remained to claim the applause.

A similar fact may be quoted in the person of that facetious gentleman who has assumed and given celebrity to the name of Peter Pindar. This great poet, laughing at the proverbial poverty of his profession, is sometimes pleased to entertain his friends with unexpected effusions of the art we speak of. One of these is managed by a messenger announcing to the Doctor (in the midst of company) that a person wants to speak with him he accordingly goes out, leaving the door a-jar, and immediately a female voice is heard, which, from the nature of the subject, appears to be that of the Poet's laundress, who complains of her pressing wants, disappointed claims, and of broken promises no longer to be borne with patience. It is more easy to imagine than describe the mixed emotions of the audience. scene, however, goes on by the Doctor's reply; who remonstrates, promises, and is rather angry at the time and place of this unwelcome visit. His antagonist unfortunately is neither mollified nor disposed to quit her ground. Passion increases on both sides, and the Doctor forgets himself so far as to threaten the irritated female; she defies him, and this last promise, very unlike the former ones, is followed by payment; a severe slap on the face is heard; the poor woman falls down stairs, with horrid outcries; the company, of course, rises in alarm; and the Doctor is found in a state of perfect tranquillity, apparently a stranger to the whole transaction.

The

A very able ventriloquist, Fitz James, performed in public, in Soho Square, about four years ago. He personated various characters by appropriate dresses; and by a command of the muscles of his face he could very much alter his appearance. He imitated many inanimate noises, and among others, the repetition of noises of the watermachine at Marli. He conversed with some statues, which replied to him; and also with some persons supposed to be in the room above, and on the landing place; gave the watchman's cry, gradually approaching, and when he seemed opposite the window, Fitz-James opened it and asked what the time was, received the answer, and during his proceeding with his cry, FitzJames shut the window, immediately upon which the sound became weaker, and at last insensible. In the whole of his performance it was clear that the notions of the audience were governed by the auxiliary

circumstances, as to direction, &c. This mimic had, at least, six different habitual modes of speaking, which he could instantly adopt one after the other, and with so much rapidity, that when in a small closet, parted off in the room, he gave a long, confused, and impassioned debate of Democrats (in French, as almost the whole of his performance was); it seemed to proceed from a multitude of speakers; and an inaccurate observer might have thought that several were speaking at once. A ludicrous scene of drawing a tooth was performed in the

same manner.

These examples, and many more which might be added, are sufficient, in proof, that ventriloquism is the art of mimicry, an imitation applied to sounds of every description, and attended with circumstances which produce an entertaining deception, and lead the hearers to imagine that the voice proceeds from different situations. When distant, and consequently low voices are to be imitated, the articulation may be given with sufficient distinctness, without moving the lips, or altering the countenance. It was by a supposed supernatural voice of this kind, from a ventriloquist, that the famous musical small-coal man, Thomas Britton, received a warning of his death, which so greatly affected him that he did not survive the affright.

VENUE, the neighbourhood from whence juries are to be summoned for trial of causes. In local actions, as of trespass and ejectment, the venue is to be from the neighbourhood of the place, where the lands in question lie; and in all real actions the venue must be laid in the county where the thing is for which the action is brought; but in transitory actions, for injuries that may have happened any where, as debt, detinue, slander, or the like, the plaintiff may declare in what county he pleases, and then the trial must be in that county in which the declaration is laid. Though if the defendant will make affidavit that the cause of action, if any, arose not in that, but in another county, the court will direct a change of the venue, and oblige the plaintiff to declare in the proper county. And the court will sometimes move the venue from the proper jurisdiction (especially of the narrow and limited kind), upon a suggestion duly supported, that a fair and impartial trial cannot be had therein. With respect to criminal cases, it is ordained by statute 21 James I. c. 4, that all informations on penal statutes shall be laid in the

counties where the offences were commit. ted.

VENUS, the most beautiful star in the: heavens, known by the names of the morn ing and evening star, likewise keeps near the sun, though she recedes from him almost double the distance of Mercury. She is never seen in the eastern quarter of the heavens when the sun is in the westeria; but always seems to attend him in the evening, or to give notice of his approach in the morning. The planet Venus presents the same phenomena with Mercury; but her different phases are much more sensi ble, her oscillations wider, and of long er duration. Her greatest distance from the sun varies from 45° to nearly 48°, and the mean duration of a complete oscillation is 584 days. Venus has been sometimes seen moving across the sun's disc in the form of a round black spot, with an apparent diameter of about 59". A few days after this has been observed, Venus is seen in the morning, west of the sun, in the form of a fine crescent, with the convexity turned to. ward the sun. She moves gradually westward with a retarded motion, and the crescent becomes more full. In about ten weeks she has moved 46° west of the sun, and is now a semicircle, and her diameter is 26". She is now stationary. She then moves eastward with a motion gradually accelerated, and overtakes the sun about 9 months after having been seen on his disc. Sometime after, she is seen in the evening, east of the sun, round, but very small. She moves eastward, and increases in diameter, but loses of her roundness, till she gets about 46° east of the sun, when she is again a semicircle. She now moves westward, increasing in diameter, but becoming a crescent like the waning moon; and, at last, after a period of nearly 584 days, comes again into conjunction with the sun with an apparent diameter of 59". She does not move exactly in the plane of the ecliptic, but deviates from it several degrees. Like Mercury, she sometimes crosses the sun's disc. The duration of these transits, as observed from different parts of the earth's surface, are very dif ferent: this is owing to the parallax of Venus, in consequence of which different observers refer to different parts of the sun's disc, and see her describe different chords on that disc. In the transit which happened in 1769, the difference of its duration, as observed at Otaheite and at Wardhuys in Lapland, amounted to 23 minutes, 10 se

conds. This difference gives us the parallax of Venus, and of course her distance from the earth during a conjunction. The knowledge of this parallax enables us, by a method to be afterwards described, to ascertain that of the sun, and consequently to discover its distance from the earth. The great variations of the apparent diameter of Venus demonstrate that her distance from the earth is exceedingly variable. It is largest when the planet passes over the surface of the sun. Her mean apparent diameter is 58''.

Venus, as we have already observed, is 'occasionally seen in the disc of the sun, in form of a dark round spot. This happens when the earth is about her nodes at the time of her inferior conjunction. These appearances, called transits, happen but very seldom. During the last century there were two transits, one in June, 1761, and the other in 1769; no other will occur till the writers and most of the present readers of this Dietionary shall be no more, viz. in 1874. Excepting such transits as these, Venus exhibits the same appearances to us regularly every eight years; her conjunctions, elongations, and times of rising and setting being very nearly the same, on the same days, as before. From the transit of Venus in 1761 was deduced the sun's parallax, and of course his distance from the earth with very great accuracy. See Philosophical Transactions, vol. li. and lii. On the day of the transit, when the sun was nearly at his greatest distance from the earth, the parallax was found to be 8" 52""; therefore, at his mean distance, it will be 8" 65"". Whence, by logarithms, we have 10,000, &c.-5.622 (sine of 8" 65"') 4.37623882.84, the number of semidiameters of the earth contained in its distance from the sun. This last number, multiplied by 3985, the number of miles in the earth's semi-diameter, gives 95,173,122 miles for the mean distance of the earth from the sun, This being obtained, we easily, by calculation, find the distances of all the other planets. Other observers made the parallax somewhat different, but it was generally admitted that this distance is somewhere between 95 and 96 millions of iniles.

VENUS, in natural history, a genus of the Vermes Testacea class and order. Animal a tethys; shell bivalve, the frontal margin flattened with incumbent lips; hinge with three teeth, all of them approximate, the lateral ones divergent at the tip. There are nearly two hundred species, in sections.

VERATRUM, in botany, a genus of the Polygamia Monoecia class and order. Natural order of Coronaria. Junci, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx none; corolla six-petalled; stamina six: hermaphrodite, pistils three; capsule many-seeded: male, rudiment of a pistil. There are four species.

VERB. See GRAMMAR.

VERBASCUM, in botany, mullein, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Luridæ. Solaneæ, Jussieu. Essential character: corolla wheel-shaped, a little unequal; capsule two-celled, two-valved. There are nineteen species.

VERBENA, in botany, vervain, a genus of the Diandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Personatæ. Vitices, Jussieu, Essential character: corolla funnel-shaped, almost equal, curved; calyx one of the teeth truncate; seeds two or four, naked, or very thinly arilled; stami na two or four. There are twenty-three species.

VERBESINA, in botany, a genus of the Syngenesia Polygamia Superflua class and order. Natural order of Compositæ Oppositifolia. Corymbiferæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx a double row; florets of the ray about five; pappus awned; receptacle chaffy. There are twelve spe. cies.

VERDICT, the answer of a jury made upon any cause, civil or criminal, committed by the court to their examination; and this is two fold, general or special. A general verdict is that which is given or brought into the court in like general terms to the general issue; as, guilty or not guilty generally, A special verdict is, when they say at large that such a thing they find to be done by the defendant, or tenant, so declaring the course of the fact, as in their opinion it is proved; and as to the law upon the fact, they pray the judgment of the court; and this special verdict, if it contain any ample declaration of the cause from the beginning to the end, is also called a verdict at large. A special verdict is usually found where there is any difficulty or doubt respecting the laws, when the jury state the