VATICAN COUNCIL, a Church council attended by 764 ecclesiastics under the auspices of Pius IX., which assembled on December 8, 1869, and by a majority of nearly 481 decreed the doctrine of Papal Infallibility.

VAUBAN, SEBASTIEN LE PRESTRE DE, marshal of France in the reign of Louis XIV.; military engineering was his great forte, and as such he “conducted 53 sieges, was present at 104 battles, erected 33 fortresses, and restored the works of 300 old ones”; he was originally in the service of Spain, and was enlisted in the French service by Cardinal Mazarin; he was a political economist as well as engineer, but his animadversions only procured for him the royal disfavour (1633-1707).

VAUCLUSE (valley shut in) (235), department in the SE. of France; chief industries agriculture, silk-weaving, pottery, &c., and with a village of the name, 19 m.  E. of Avignon, famous for its fountain and as the retreat of Petrarch for 16 years.

VAUD (247), a canton in the W. of Switzerland, between Jura and the Bernese Alps; is well cultivated, yields wines, and its inhabitants Protestants; the capital is Lausanne.

VAUDEVILLE, a light, lively song with topical allusions; also a dramatic poem interspersed with comic songs of the kind and dances.

VAUDOIS, the name given to Waldenses who, driven forth from France or Vaud, found refuge and settled down in the mountain fastnesses of Piedmont.

VAUGHAN, CHARLES JOHN, English clergyman, born at Leicester; was a pupil of Dr. Arnold’s at Rugby; for many years famous as Master of the Temple, a post he resigned in 1894; held in high esteem as a preacher and for his fine spirit (1816-1897).

VAUGHAN, HENRY, English poet, self-styled the “Silurist” from the seat of his family in South Wales; studied at Oxford, was a partisan of the royal cause; wrote four volumes of poems in the vein of George Herbert, but was much more mystical and had deeper thoughts, could he have expressed them; of his poems the first place has been assigned to “Silex Scintillans,” the theme the flinty heart when smelted giving out sparks.  “At times,” adds Prof.  Saintsbury, “there is in him genuine blood and fire; but it is not always, or even often, that the flint is kindled and melted to achieved expression” (1622-1695).

VAUGHAN, HERBERT, CARDINAL, archbishop of Westminster, born at Gloucester, son of Lieut.-Colonel Vaughan; educated at Stonyhurst and abroad; succeeded Cardinal Manning as archbishop in 1872, having previously been bishop of Salford; b. 1832.

VAUVENARGUES, MARQUIS DE, celebrated French essayist, born at Aix, Provence, poor, but of an old and honourable family; entered the army at 18, served in the Austrian Succession War, resigned his commission in 1744, settled in Paris and took to literature; his principal work was “Introduction a la Connaissance de l’Esprit Humain,” followed by reflections and maxims on points of ethics and criticism; he suffered from bad health, and his life was a short one (1715-1747).