VALDIVIA. See BALDIVIA. VALE. s. (val, French; vallis, Latin.) 1. A low ground; a valley (Dryden). 2. (from avail, profit; or vale, farewell.) Money given to servants (Swift).

VALEDICTION. s. (valedico, Latin.) A farewell (Donne).

VALEDICTORY. Lat.) Bidding farewell.

a. (from valedico,

VALENCE, a city of France, in the department of Drome, with a bishop's see, a citadel, and a school of artillery. It is surrounded by good walls, and the greatest part of the public places, and many private houses, are adorned with fountains. Beside the handsome cathedral, there are many other churches, as well as late convents, that are worthy of notice. It is seated on the Rhone, 30 miles N. by E. of Viviers, and 335 S. by E. of Paris. Lon. 4. 52 E. Lat. 44. 56 N.

VALENCE, a town of France, in the depart. ment of Lot and Garonne, situate on the Garonne, 12 miles $.E. of Agen.

VALENCA D'ALCANTARA, a cousiderable town of Spain, in Estremadura, with an old castle. It is surrounded by walls after the antique manner, flanked by some small bastions, and a few towers; is very strong by situation, being built on a rock, near the river Savar, 20 miles S. W. of Alcantara, and 40 N. of Badajoz. Lon. 6. 30 W. Lat. 39. 26 N. VALENCEY, a town of France, in the department of Indre, with a castle, seated on the Nabon, 15 miles S. of Romorentin.

VALENCIA, a province of Spain, formerly a kingdom; bounded on the E. and S. by the Mediterranean, on the N.E. by Catalonia, on the N.W. by Arragon, and on the W. by New Castile aud Murcia. It is 162 miles long and 62 broad, and is the most pleasant and populous country in Spain; for here they enjoy a perpetual spring. It is watered by a great number of streams, which render it fertile in all the necessaries of life, especially fruits and wine; and in the mountains are mines of gold, silver, and alum. The inhabitants are much more lively than in other parts of Spain; and the women are handsomer.

VALENCIA, a city of Spain, capital of a province of the same name, with an archbishop's see, and a university. The Moors were expelled from it, in the thirteenth century. It was taken by the earl of Peterborough in 1705, and lost again two years after. It contains 12,000 houses within the walls, beside those in the suburbs and pleasure gardens around it, which amount to the same number. The cathedral has a steeple 130 feet high, and one side of the choir is incrusted with alabaster, and adorned with fine paintings of scripture history; the high altar is covered with silver, and lighted with fourteen silver lamps. The palace of the viceroy, that of Ciuta, the monastery of St. Jerom, the exchange, and the arsenal, are all worthy of notice. Here are flourishing manufactures of cloth and silk, and several remains of antiquity. It is seated on the Guadalavia (over which are five bridges)

near the Mediterranean, 130 miles E.S.E. of Madrid. Lon. 0. 10 E. Lat. 39. 23 N.

VALENCIA (New), a town of Terra Firma, in the province of Caraccas, seated on the lake Tocarigua, 57 miles S.W. of Porto Cavallo. Lon. 65. 30 W. Lat. 9. 50 N.

VALENCIENNES, a city of France, in the department of the North. It contains about 20,000 souls, and the Scheldt divides it into two parts. It is a very important place: the citadel and fortifications were constructed by order of Lewis XIV., who took this town from the Spaniards; and it was confirmed to him by the treaty of Nimeguen, in 1678. In 1793, it was taken by the allies, after a severe siege; but it surrendered, without resistance, to the French, in 1794. Beside lace, this city is noted for manufactures of woollen stuffs and cambric. It is 28 miles S.E. of Lisle, and 120 N.N.E. of Paris. Lon. 3. 32 E. Lat. 50. 21 N.

VALENS (Flavius), a son of Gratian, born in Pannonia. His brother Valentinian took him as his colleague on the throne, and appointed him over the eastern parts of the Roman empire. The bald measures and threats of the rebel Procopius frightened Valens, and he would willingly have resigned to him all his pretensions to the empire. By his lenity he permitted some of the Goths to settle in the provinces of Thrace, and encouraged them to make depredations on his subjects, and to disturb their tranquillity. His eyes were opened too late; he attempted to repel them, but he failed in the attempt. A bloody battle was fought, in which the barbarians obtained some advantage, and Valers took shelter in a lonely house, which the Goths set on fire. Unable to make his escape, he was burnt alive in the fiftieth year of his age, after a reign of fifteen years, A. D. 378. Valens did not possess any of the great qualities which distinguish a great and powerful monarch.

VALENTINA, in botany, a genus of the class octandria, order monogynia. Calyx five-parted, coloured, spreading; corolless; capsule berried, four-seeded, pulpy. One species only, a branched shrub of Hispaniola, with alternate leaves, and terminal, umbelled, scarlet flowers.

VALENTINE'S DAY, in the calendar, the fourteenth of February.

VALENTINE, a sweetheart chosen on Valentine's day.

VALENTINIANS, in ecclesiastical history, an ancient and famous sect of Gnostics; thus called from their leader Valentinus, an Egypt ian by birth, who was eminently distinguished by the extent of his fame, and the multitude of his followers. He lived in the days of Polycarp, went to Rome in the pontificate of Hyginus, flourished in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and continued to the time of Anicetus. Vide Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 11. His sect, which took its rise at Rome, grew up to maturity in the isle of Cyprus, and spread itself through Asia, Africa, and Europe, with amazing rapidity. His principles were much

the same with those of the Gnostics, though in many respects he entertained opinions peculiar to himself. He placed in the pleroma, as the Gnostics called the habitation of the Deity, thirty æons, half male and half female; to these he added four others, which were of neither sex, viz. Horus, Christ, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus. The youngest æon, called Sophia or wisdom, conceived an ardent desire of comprehending the nature of the Supreme Being, and by the force of this propensity, brought forth a daughter, named Achamoth; who, being exiled from the pleroma, fell down into the undigested mass of matter and arranged it; and by the assistance of Jesus, produced the demiurge, the lord and creator of all things. This demiurge separated the animal from the terrestrial matter; and out of the former created the superior world, or visible heavens; and out of the latter the inferior world, or the terraqueous globe. He also made man, uniting in his composition the animal and terrestrial matter, to which Achamoth added a spiritual and celestial substance. The demiurge, according to Valentinus, arrogating the honours of God alone, sent prophets to the Jewish nation to urge his claims; and his ambition was imitated by the other angels that preside over the different parts of the universe. In order to chastise this lawless arrogance, and to illuminate the minds of rational beings with the knowledge of the true and supreme Deity, Christ appeared on earth, composed of an animal and spiritual substance, and clothed, moreover, with an aerial body. Christ took not upon him our flesh, but brought with him a certain spiritual body from heaven, and passed through the Virgin, as water through a pipe, without the least participation of her substance; and that the Soter or Saviour flew down upon him at his baptism in the shape of a dove. Vide Tertul. de Prescr. cap. 49, & lib. adv. Valent. c. 27. Valentinus maintained likewise, that the world was made by the offspring of the devil; and therefore made all the wickedness in it owing to the make of the world, and not to the will of man. He denied the resurrection of the flesh, and affirmed the soul and spirit only to be saved by Christ. Vide Aug. Hæres. 11. The Valentinians, says Irenæus, call themselves the spiritual, and the orthodox, psychicos, the animal men; that these animals know not the truth, and for that reason must be beholden to faith and good works for their salvation; but, for themselves, they stand in need of no such things, because they are naturally spiritual, and cannot lose their spirituality; and therefore, though sin may damn the churchmen, it cannot hurt the saints. Iren. lib. 1. adv. Valent.

VALENTINIANUS. This name is common to three Roman emperors; the first of whom was a son of Gratian, raised to the imperial throne by his merit and valour. He kept the western part of the empire for himself, and appointed over the east his brother Valens. He obtained signal victories over the barbarians in the provinces of Gaul, the desarts

of Africa, and on the banks of the Rhine and the Danube. While he spoke with great warmth, he broke a blood vessel, and fell lifeless on the ground. He died on the seventeenth of November, A. D. 375. He was then in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and he reigned twelve years. (Ammian. &c.)-About six days after the death of Valentinian, his second son, Valentinian the second, was proclaimed emperor, though only five years old. He succeeded his brother Gratian, A. D. 383, but was robbed of his throne by Maximus, four years after the death of Gratian; and in this situation he had recourse to Theodosius, then emperor of the east. Maximus was conquered by Theodosius, and Valentinian entered Rome in triumph, but was some time after strangled (15th of May, A. D. 392) by a Gaul, called Arbogastes, in whom he had placed too much confidence. Valentinian reigned nine years.-Valentinian the third, was son of Constantius and Placidia, the daughter of Theodosius the great, and therefore, as related to the imperial family, he was saluted emperor in his youth, and publicly acknowledged as such at Rome, the third of October, A. D. 423, about the sixth year of his age. He was at first governed by his mother, and the intrigues of his generals and courtiers ; and when he came to years of discretion, he disgraced himself by violence, oppression, and incontinence. He was murdered in the midst of Rome, A. D. 454, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, and thirty-first of his reign, by Petronius Maximus, to whose wife he had offered violence. He was the last of the family of Theodosius.

VALENZA, a town of Italy, in the Mila nese, capital of the Lumeline. It has been often taken, and is seated on a mountain, near the river Po, 12 miles E.S.E. of Casal, and 35 S S.W. of Milan.

VALENZA, a fortified town of Portugal, in Entre Douero e Minho, seated on an eminence, near the river Minho, opposite Tuy, in Spain, and 30 miles N.N.W. of Braga.

VALERIAN. See VALERIANA. VALERIAN (Greek). See POLEMONIUM.

VALERIANA. Valerian. In botany, a genus of the class triandria, order monogynia. Calyxless; corol one-petalled, superior, gibbous on one side at the base; seed one. Thirty-one species; all natives of Europe, except V. villosa, which belongs to Japan. They are thus subdivided.

A. With a single pappous seed. Forming the
tribe of valeriana, properly so called.
B. Fruit three-celled, crowned. Forming

the tribe fedia.

The following are cultivated.

1. V. rubra. Common broad-leaved red valerian.

2. V. angustifolia. Narrow-leaved valerian. 3. V. phu, or major. Garden valerian. A native of Silesia, the roots of which are said to be efficacious in removing epilepsies and rheumatisms, especially sciatic rheumatisms.

4. V. calcitrapa. Cut-leaved valerian.
5. V. tripteris. Three-leaved valerian.
6. V. montana.
7. V. Celtica.
8. V. tuberosa.
9. V. Pyrenaica.
10. V. locusta.
lamb's lettuce.

Mountain valerian.
Celtic valerian.
Tuberous-rooted valerian.
Pyrenean valerian.
Common corn-salad, or

11. V. officinalis. Officinal valerian. Found wild in our marshes, the root of which has been long extolled as an efficacious remedy in epilepsy, which caused it to be exhibited in a variety of other complaints termed nervous, in which it has been found highly serviceable. It is also in very general use as an antispasmodic, and is exhibited in convulsive hysterical diseases. A simple and volatile tincture are directed in the pharmacopoeias.

VALERIANUS (Publius Licinius), a Roman, proclaimed emperor by the armies in Rhotia, A. D. 254. The virtues which shone in him when a private man were lost when he ascended the throne. He took his son Gallienus as his colleague in the empire, and showed the malevolence of his heart by persecuting the Christians, whom he had for a while tolerated. He made war against the Goths and Scythians; but against Sapor, king of Persia, his arms were attended with ill suc cess. He was conquered in Mesopotamia, and when he sought a private conference with Sapor, the monarch seized his person, and carried him to his capital, where he exposed him to the ridicule and insolence of his subjects. When the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, Valerian served as footstool. Sapor at last ordered him to be flayed alive, and salt to be thrown over his mangled body, so that he died in the greatest torments. His skin was tanned, and painted in red, and was nailed in one of the temples of Persia. Valerian died in the 71st year of his age, A. D. 260, after a reign of seven years.

VALERIUS. This name was common to many celebrated Romans, the most conspicuous of whom are the following:-1. Publius, a celebrated Roman, surnamed Poplicola, for his popularity. He was very active in assisting Brutus to expel the Tarquins, and he was the first that took an oath to support the liberty and independence of his country. He gained the victory in the battle in which Brutus and the sons of Tarquin had fallen. Valerius died after he had been four times consul, and received the thanks which a people redeemed from slavery usually pay to their deliverers. He was so poor, that his body was buried at the public expence. The Roman matrons mourned his death a whole year.-2. Corvinus, a tribune of the soldiers under Camillus. When the Roman army were challenged by one of the Senones, remarkable for his strength, Valerius undertook to engage him, and obtained an easy victory, by means of a crow that as sisted him, and attacked the face of the Gaul, whence his surname of Corvinus. Valerius triumphed over the Etrurians, and the neighbouring states, and was six times honoured

with the consulship. He died in the 100th year of his age, admired and regretted for many private and public virtues.-3. Marcus Corvi nus Messala, a Roman, made consul with Augustus. He distinguished himself by his learning as well as military virtues.-4. Á Latin historian who carried arms under the sons of Pompey. He wrote an account, still extant, of the most celebrated sayings and actions of the Romans, and other illustrious persons, The work is divided into nine books, and is dedicated to Tiberius. Some suppose that he lived after Tiberius, from the want of purity in his writings.-5. A Latin poet who flourished under Vespasian. He wrote a poem in eight books, on the Argonautic expedition, but it remained unfinished on account of his premature death.

VALET, a French word, employed by us to denote a servant whose office is to dress, undress, and wait upon his master.

VALET, in the old manage, was a stick armed at one end with a blunted point of iron, to prick a leaping horse. Some valets formerly had spur-rowels upon them, with the points beaten down. When a horse first began to be worked round a pillar, without a rider, they used to prick his flanks with the valet, to make him know the spur and obey it without resisting.

VALETTA, a city of Malta, the capital of that island, and wonderfully strong both by nature and art. It is seated on a peninsula, between two of the finest ports in the world, which are defended by almost impregnable for tifications. That on the S.E. side of the city is the largest; it runs two miles inland, and is surrounded by such high grounds, that the largest ships inay ride in the most stormy wea ther, almost without a cable. This basin is divided into five distinct harbours, all equally safe, each capable of containing a vast number of shipping. The entrance is scarcely a quarter of a mile broad, and is commanded on each side by strong batteries, fronted by a quadruple battery, one above the other, the largest of which is on a level with the water. The harbour on the N. side, though only used for fishing, and as a place of quarantine, is likewise well defended; and in an island in the centre of it is a castle and a lazaret. Valetta has three gates, and the streets are all paved with flat square stones. The houses are neat, and built of stone; the roofs forming a flat terrace plastered with pozzolana; and most of them have a balcony to the street, where the inhabitants pass a great part of their time. The principal buildings are the palace of the grand master, the infirmary, the conservatory, and the magnificent church of St. John. The pavement of this church is composed entirely of sepulchral monuments of the finest marbles, porphyry, lapis lazuli, and a variety of other valuable stones, admirably joined together, representing the arms, insignia, &c. of the persons whose names they commemorate. The great source of water that supplies Valetta rises near Citta Vecchia, and is