VICTOR and philosophy, and, after serving as tutor to the nephews of the Bishop of Ischia for nine years, became in 1697 the professor of Rhetoric at Naples. To this poorly paid appointment was added in 1735 the post of historiographer to the Bourbon king, Charles III. of Naples. He struggled most of his life with poverty and latterly with ill-health, and died 20th January 1744. His great work is his Scienza Nuova, of which the first edition appeared in 1725, but the work was completely recast in the second edition of 1730. A third edition appeared in 1744 after its author's death. The work is a treatise of the history of civilisation and of the evolution of law, and in virtue of it Vico is regarded as the founder of the philosophy of history. Though profoundly influenced by Bacon and Grotius, he differs widely from either of them, deriving law from conscience and conscience from the inspiration of God; God's providence is the basis of history. He also published orations, minor works, and a discourse on universal law. As a critic he anticipated Wolf in holding that Homer was not one but many poets. There are editions of Vico's works by Ferrari (1835-37) and Pomodoro (1858-69), and a full selection by Michelet (Paris, 1835). See the monograph by Cantoni (Turin, 1867) and that by Professor Flint (1884). Victor, CLAUDE PERRIN, Duc de Belluno, and marshal of France, was born at La Marche (Vosges), 7th December 1764, and at seventeen enlisted in a regiment of artillery, and served eight years as a common soldier. He re-enlisted in 1792, and rose rapidly; for his conduct at the siege of Toulon in 1793 he was made general of brigade. He served with distinction in the Italian campaigns, especially covering himself with glory at Montebello and Marengo. Napoleon gave him the marshal's baton on the bloody field of Friedland (1807), and later the title of Duke of Belluno. From 1808 till 1812 he commanded the first corps d'armée in Spain, and lost the battles of Talavera and Barrosa. He commanded the ninth corps d'armée in the fatal Russian campaign, and covered the crossing of the Berezina. He fought at Dresden and Leipzig, lost the emperor's favour by neglecting to occupy the bridge of Montereau-sur-Yonne, and was severely wounded at Craonne. XVIII. gave him the command of the second division, and to his shame the presidency of the military commission appointed to try such of his old companions in arms as had deserted to Napoleon during the Hundred Days.' He was minister of War from 1821 to 1823, and died at Paris, March 1, 1841. Mémoires Inédits was published in 1846. Victor Amadeus. See SAVOY. Louis Victor Emmanuel II., the first king of a united Italy, was the son of Charles Albert (q.v.) of Sardinia, and was born March 14, 1820. (For Victor Emmanuel I., king of Sardinia, see SAVOY.) He early showed military ardour, and in command of the brigade of Savoy in the campaign of 184849 displayed great gallantry at Goito and Novara. On the evening of the latter battle his father, unwilling to bow to the onerous conditions offered by Radetzky, abdicated in favour of Victor Emmanuel, who, being the husband of the Austrian Archduchess Adelaide, and uncommitted to the views of the Italian Ultra-democrats, might hope to obtain more favourable terms from the victor. Victor Emmanuel thus ascended the throne of Sardinia, March 23, 1849. The events of his reign, his policy and that of his ministers, Azeglio, Cavour, and others, issuing in the reconstitution of the kingdom of Italy under the Sardinian dynasty, is already treated at ITALY, Vol. VI. pp. 251, 252. The king had the wisdom to leave statecraft mainly in the hands of the able men who advised him, reigned as a strictly constitutional monarch, and retained to the last the simple tastes of a hardy (but not ascetic) mountaineer and huntsman. The Re Galantuomo,' as his people fondly called him, died January 9, 1878, and was buried in the Pantheon. He was succeeded by his son Humbert. His daughter Clotilde was, for the sake of the French alliance, but rather against the king's will, married to Prince Napoleon (see BONAPARTE). Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India, only child of Edward, Duke of Kent (fourth son of George III.), was born at Kensington Palace, 24th May 1819. Her mother, Victoria Maria Louisa (1786-1861), was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, and sister of Leopold, king of the Belgians. Her first husband, the Prince of Leiningen, died in 1814; and in 1818 she married the Duke of Kent. The duke died in 1820, leaving his widow in charge of an infant daughter only eight months old, who had been baptised with the names of Alexandrina Victoria. The Duchess of Kent fulfilled the important duties which devolved upon her with more than maternal solicitude, and with admirable care and prudence; and by-and-by the Duchess of Northumberland was associated with her in the education of the young princess. The princess' father having belonged to the Whigs, her political education was naturally derived from the members of that party; and to Viscount Melbourne (q.v.) belongs the credit of having thoroughly instructed her in the principles of the British constitution. She ascended the throne of the United Kingdom on the death of her uncle, William IV. (q.v.), 20th June 1837; her uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, became king of Hanover, in virtue of the law which excluded females from that throne, and so the long connection between the crowns of England and Hanover was terminated. Victoria was proclaimed 21st June 1837, and crowned at Westminster, 28th June 1838. She found on her accession Viscount Melbourne at the head of the government; and on a change of administration (1839) she refused to change, in accordance with precedent, the ladies of the bedchamber, the result being that Peel resigned and Melbourne's administration was prolonged till 1841. The young queen was married at St James's Palace (10th February 1840) to Prince Albert (q.v.), Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and second son of the then reigning duke. jubilee was celebrated in 1887, may be traced in the articles on England, Great Britain, Ireland, the several colonies, India, and the successive premiers (see below), on the Corn Laws, Post-office, Reform, Jews, Army, Education, Volunteers, Crimean War, Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Zulus, Egypt. In 1876 Empress of India' was added to the royal titles of the Queen. The death of the Prince-Consort in 1861 led his widow to seclude herself for several years from public life, but, though she never afterwards took so prominent a part in public life, she never neglected any of her essential duties as queen. Other severe trials were the deaths of the Princess Alice (of Hesse), of the Duke of Albany, and of the Duke of Clarence, her grandson. No former monarch has so thoroughly comprehended the great truth, that the powers of the crown are held in trust for the people, and are the means and not the end of government. This enlightened policy has entitled her to the glorious distinction of having been the most constitutional monarch Britain has ever seen. Not less important and beneficial has been the example set by her Majesty and the PrinceConsort in the practice of every domestic virtue. The chief events of this long reign, whose Their stainless lives, their unobtrusive piety, and their careful education of the royal children have borne rich fruit in the stability of the throne. The progress made by the nation in the various elements of civilisation and in material prosperity has been unparalleled, and perhaps during no reign has there been a greater measure of political contentment. Her Majesty has had four sons and five daughters: the Princess Royal, Victoria, born 1840, married in 1858 to Frederick-William, afterwards Emperor of Germany (see Vol. IV. p. 807); Albert Edward (q.v.), Prince of Wales, born in 1841, and married in 1863 to Alexandra, daughter of the king of Denmark; Alice (q.v.), born in 1843, married in 1862 to Prince Frederick-William of Hesse, died in 1878; Alfred, born 1844, created Duke of Edinburgh 1866, married in 1874 to Marie, daughter of the Emperor of Russia; Helena, born 1846, married in 1866 to Prince Christian of Denmark; Louise, born 1848, married in 1871 to the Marquis of Lorne; Arthur, born 1850, created Duke of Connaught 1874, married in 1879 to Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia; Leopold, born 1853, created Duke of Albany in 1881, married to Princess Helena of Waldeck in 1882, died 1884; Princess Beatrice, born 1857, married in 1885 to Prince Henry of Battenberg. The administrators of the reign have been: See Early Days of the Prince-Consort (1867, prepared under the Queen's direction by General Grey); Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands (1869, with the assistance of Sir Arthur Helps); More Leaves (1884); The Life of the Prince-Consort (5 vols. 1873-80, prepared under the Queen's direction by Sir Theodore Martin). Also books cited at ENGLAND, especially J. M'Carthy's History of our Own Times (4 vols. 1879-80), and J. Humphry Ward's Reign of Victoria (2 vols. 1887); with lives of the Queen by Mrs Greenwood (1883), Dr Macaulay (1887), G. Barnett Smith (1886), R. Wilson (2 vols. 1888), and J. C. Jeaffreson (2 vols. 1893). Howe to the source of the Murray. Victoria occupies the south-east of Australia, and has an extreme length from east to west of 420 miles, while its greatest breadth is only 250, and its least only 150; its coast-line is 600 miles, and its area 87,884 sq. m. or 56,245,760 acres. Gold was discovered in 1851, and attracted a large number of immigrants; the first railway was opened in 1854; responsible government was introduced in 1857; in 1862 additional facilities were given for the acquisition of land for agricultural purposes; and in 1865 a protective policy was initiated with the object of stimulating local manufactures. mountainous nature of a large portion of its area The geographical position of Victoria and the have made its climate generally cooler than that of any other colony on the mainland, with the exception of the mountains and high tablelands of New South Wales. A chain of varying height, the Dividing Range, traverses the greater portion of the colony from east to west at a distance of from 60 to 80 miles from the coast; the eastern portion, termed locally the Australian Alps, divides the watershed of the Murray from Gippsland, and has many peaks with an elevation of from 6000 to 6500 feet. Farther west the height of this mountain-range is much less-although there are isolated summits, such as Macedon, 3324 feet high. In some places, as in the neighbourhood of Ballarat, it dwindles into elevated plains of little more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea, surmounted by occasional hills 500 or 600 feet higher. Farther west the range is better defined, and is known locally as the Pyrenees and Grampians, the highest peak, Mount William, having an altitude of 3824 feet. A few miles beyond this lofty eminence the mountains cease altogether, and are succeeded by extensive plains; in addition to this main range there are many isolated mountains and hills scattered all over the colony. Most of the rivers rise in this Dividing Range; those on the north find their way into the Murray, which has a total length, including bends, of 1300 miles, 980 of which form the northern boundary of the colony. The principal streams flowing north (going from east to west) are the Mitta Mitta, 175 miles long; Ovens, 140; Goulburn, 345; Loddon, 225; Avoca, 163; and Wimmera, 228; the last mentioned losing itself in Lake Hindmarsh. The southern streams are the Snowy, 300 miles long (180 of them in New South Wales), which flows into the ocean a few miles west of Cape Howe; the Latrobe, 135, falling into the Gippsland lakes; the Yarra, 150, into Port Phillip; the Hopkins, 155; and the Glenelg, 281, into the Southern Ocean. Many of these rivers are in the summer season mere chains of waterholes, and only the Murray and Yarra are navigable, although others, such as the Goulbourn and the Snowy, might easily be made so. The principal lakes are Victoria (45 sq. m.), King (24), Reeve (6), and Wellington (54), in Gippsland, all navigable and communicating with the ocean, Corangamite (90; salt), in the Western District, and Hindmarsh (47; brackish) and Tyrrell (66; salt), in the Wimmera or North-western District. Victoria, the smallest colony on the mainland of Australia, and with the exception of Queensland the youngest, was at the date of the census in April 1891 the most populous, and has the greatest railway mileage, but in revenue, commerce, and production it is slightly exceeded by New South Wales, of which it originally formed portion. Cape Everard, a point on the south-eastern coastline, was the first land sighted by Captain Cook in 1770; the harbour of Port Phillip was discovered in 1801, and an unsuccessful attempt to form a settlement on its shores was made by Lieutenantcolonel Collins in 1804. But it was not till 1835 that the country around the harbour which gave its name to the whole district was colonised by Batman and Fawkner, and the neighbourhood of Portland Bay by Edward and Francis Henty, all of whom had crossed Bass Straits from Tasmania. The natural grasses were found to be unusually well suited for the growth of fine wool; large areas of land were taken up by sheep-farmers from the neighbouring colonies and Great Britain, and the seaport towns of Melbourne, Geelong, and Portland were founded. From 1836 till 1851 Port Phillip The principal ports and harbours are Port was administered by the government of Sydney, Phillip, area 800 sq. m.; Western Port; Portland but in the latter year the district was constituted Bay, near the South Australian border; Port into the colony of Victoria, with a separate execu- Fairy and Warrnambool, between Portland Bay tive and legislature. Its boundaries, which have and Cape Otway; and Port Albert in Gippsland. not been altered since they were originally deter- The principal headlands, going from west to east, mined upon, are, on the N. and NE., the Murray are Wilson Promontory, in 39° S., the most southRiver from the point at which it enters Southerly headland in Australia; Cape Patterson; Cape Australia in 141° E. long. to its source; on the W., the colony of South Australia; on the S., the ocean; and on the E., a line drawn from Cape | Schanck; Cape Otway; Cape Nelson; and Cape Bridgewater. The only islands of any importance are Phillip and French Islands in Western Port. |