gics," and the "AEneid"; studied at Cremona and
Milan, and at 16 was sent to Rome to study rhetoric and philosophy, lost
a property he had in Cremona during the civil war, but recommended
himself to Pollio, the governor, who introduced him to Augustus, and he
went to settle in Rome; here, in 37 B.C., he published his "Eclogues," a
collection of 10 pastorals, and gained the patronage of Maecenas, under
whose favour he was able to retire to a villa at Naples, where in seven
years he, in 30 B.C., produced the "Georgics," in four books, on the art
of husbandry, after which he devoted himself to his great work the
"AEneid," or the story of AEneas of Troy, an epic in 12 books, connecting
the hero with the foundation of Rome, and especially with the Julian
family, and which was finished in 19 B.C.; on his deathbed he expressed
a wish that it should be burned, and left instructions to that effect in
his will; he was one of the purest-minded poets perhaps that ever lived
(70-19 B.C.).

VIRGIN ISLANDS (45), a group of islands in the West Indies, few of
them of any size, belonging partly to Denmark, Britain, and Spain.

VIRGIN QUEEN, appellation popularly given to Queen Elizabeth.

VIRGINIA (1,655), one of the United States of America, a State
somewhat larger than Scotland, between Maryland and North Carolina, so
named by its founder Sir Walter Raleigh in honour of Queen Elizabeth; is
divided from West Virginia by the Appalachians; it is well watered; the
soil, which is fertile, yields the finest cotton and tobacco, and
minerals, particularly coal and iron, are abundant; the largest city is
Richmond, with flour-mills.

VIRGINIA, WEST (762), formed originally one State with the
preceding, but separated in 1861 to join the Federal cause; is nearly the
same in size and resources; is a great mining region, and is rich in coal
and iron; its largest city is Wheeling, on the Ohio.

VISHNU, the Preserver, the second god of the Hindu triad, BRAHMA (q. v.)
being the first and SIVA (q. v.) the third; revealed himself by a
succession of avatars, RAMA (q. v.) being the seventh and KRISHNA (q. v.)
the eighth; he has had nine avatars, and on the tenth he will come to
judgment; he is extensively worshipped, and his worshippers, the
Vaishnavas, are divided into a great number of sects.

VISIGOTHS, a branch of the Goths that settled in the South of France
and in Spain.

VISTULA, a central river of Europe, which rises in the Car