Vassar, MattheTW, a well-known layman of the Baptist dciiominatidn. and founder of the college for fe- males which bears his name, was born in East Dereham, Tuddeniram Parish, County of Norfolk, England, April 29, 1792. In 1796 his father came to America, and took up his residence at Wappinger's Creek, near Pough- keepsie, N. Y., where he established a brewery. The enterprise did not prove successfid, and, after various reverses of fortune, he became a farmer, in a small way, in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie. The subject of this sketch, then quite young, commenced the manufacture of ale on a small scale. The business grew on his hands, until at last it reached such proportions as sur- passed the most sanguine expectations of Mr. Vassar. For fifty years, until 1866, he continued in this busi- ness and accumulated a large fortune. His mind was now much occupied with the question as to the best disposition he should make of his great gains. He concluded to establish a college for females where the opportunities for obtaining an education should be equal to those furnished for males. In 1861 he pro- cured from the New York Assembly a charter for Vas- sar College, and in February of that year he conveyed to the board of trustees bonds and securities to the amount in cash value of four hundred and eight thou- sand dollars to be used for the pur])oses of the college. He also gave the grounds on which the college was built. The college was opened in 1865, and from the beginning has been largely patronized. The gifts of its founder continued to be bestowed as the necessities of the new institution demanded until they reached the munificent sum of over eight hundred thousand dollars. While addressing the trustees at the anniversary of the opening of the college, Mr. Vassar died, June 23, 1868. See Appletons' Annual Cyclop, viii, 755. (J. C. S.)
Vassilacchi, Antonio (L'Aliense, or Aliense da Milo). a jiainter, was born in the island of Milo, in the Grecian Archipelago, in 1556. He was sent to Venice when quite young, and placed under the instruction of Paul Veronese, with whom he made such progress and revealed such genius as to excite the jealousy of his master, who dismissed him from the studio with the advice that he should confine himself to small paint-
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ings. Suspecting the cause of his dismissal, and confi- dent in his own powers, the young artist redoubled his efforts to attain excellence. He accpiired great distinc- tion, was patronized by the doge and principal nobility of Venice, was invited to the court of Spain by Philip II, and Sigismund, king of Poland, earnestly solicited him to enter his service; but he declined these honors and remained in Venice. He executed many works for the churches and other public buildings of Venice and in other Italian cities. Among his best produc- tions are, Abraham Sacrificing Isaac: — Cain Slayiny Abel: — the Brazen Serpent, \n the Church of the Holy Apostles : — and the Destruction of Trotj, in the Sala della Scrutino. He died at Venice in 1629. See Spooner, Bioij. Hist, of the Fine Arts, s. v.
Vassor, Michel le, a French theologian and his- torian, for a number of years a member of the Priests of the Oratory, went to England in ICOo, where he died in 1718, after having joined the Protestant Church. He is the author of Traite de la Maniere (TExaminer Ics Differences de la Religion (Amst. 1697). See Winer, JIandbach der theol. Literatur, i, 341, 668 ; Furst, Bibl. Jud. iii, iOg. (B. P.)
Vassy, Massacre of. Vassy is a town of France in Haute- Marne, on the Blaise, twenty- eight miles north-northwest of Chaumont, and is celebrated for the massacre of the Protestants by order of Guise. On Sunday morning, March 1, l.o62, the Duke of Guise, with a retinue of nobles and soldiers, arrived at Vassy, on his way to Paris. The Protestants were holding their meeting in a large barn, to which the duke sent Slime of his soldiers, who provoked a conflict. The rest of the soldiers came to their aid, broke open the door, slaughtered a large number of the defenceless congre- gation, and plundered their houses. After this bloody deed, the duke was received at Paris with acclamations, while the Protestants throughout France con^dered it a wanton and atrocious violation of the Religious Peace, and Hew to arms, inaugurating a series of wars which only terminated with the accession of Henry IV to the throne. See Fisher, Hist, of the Reformation (N. Y. 1873), p. 267 sq.
Vat. See Wine-fat.
VAT, a cistern or vessel ; a term frequently found in the inventories of religious houses.
VAT Fou Holy Water, a vessel for holding holy water (q. v.).
Vatable ( Vateble, Vastebled, Guastebled), Fran- cois, a learned Frenchman, was a native of Gamache, in Picardy, and served as pastor of Bramet, in Valois, until Francis I made him professor of Hebrew in the newly founded College Royal at Paris. He was abbe of Bellozane when he died, March 16, 1547. His learn- ing was comprehensive and his delivery attractive. He may be considered the restorer of the study of He- brew in France. He wrote nothing for publication. A Latin version of the Parva Naturalia made by him is appended to Duval's edition of Aristotle ; and Robert Stephens printed notes on the Old Test, said to be by Vatable, which obtained considerable fame. The notes, however, correspond in part with those of Calvin and other Protestant writers, and were condemned as heret- ical by the doctors of the Sorbonne, thus involving both Stephens and Vatable in trouble. Stephens's Bi- ble, alleged to be by Vatable, contained the Vulgate, Leo Juda's translation, and the notes already mention- ed, and appeared in a first edition in 1545, 8vo, and in a second edition in 1547, folio. The latest edition is that of Nicholas Henry (Paris, 1729-45, 2 vols. fol.). Stephens published a separate edition of the book of Psalms with yet more extended notes (Geneva, 1556 sq.), from which G. J. B. Vogel republished them, together with those of Grotius (Hal. Magd. 1767, 8vo), and they were again reprinted in the Critid Sacri. They are characterized by special regard for the grammar and