JOANNES, a Greek grammarian of Constantinople, who flourished towards the latter end of the twelfth century, was the son of Michael Tzetzes, an unlettered man, and Endoia, a person of Basque or Iberian extraction. This humble pair trained up their sons Joannes and Isaacus in the practice of wholesome precepts, preferring letters to riches and power to precedence. John Tzetzes, after having acquired a very good knowledge of Hebrew and Syriac, of the science of the day, and of the philosophy of his time, with which he gives signal proofs of his extensive acquaintance, took to writing his Iliaca, a very dull poem of 1676 hexameter lines, and the Chilaides, another equally flat production, consisting of 12,651 lines. Both of these poems are greatly disfigured by the immoderate self-conceit of the author, who is never done with boasting of his prodigious memory, of the "lightning" rapidity of his stylus, and of the Tzeizea method of investigation. It need not be wondered at that this swaggering braggart is now well nigh forgotten. His works bear no traces of originality, nor have they anything, except the exceeding miscellaneousness of their knowledge, to recommend them to the attention of posterity. He dedicated his Homeric Allegories to Irene Augusta, wife of Michael Comnenus, who died A.D. 1158; and from this we would infer, that she had shown him some patronage. This is all we have gathered respecting Joannes Tzetzes.

Various fragments of the Iliaca had been discovered, from the time that the author wrote down to the eighteenth century, yet no person had succeeded in obtaining a complete copy of the MS. of that poem until 1793, when it was published entire by F. Jacobs, with a commentary. There is, besides, a good edition by E. Bekker, Berlin, 1816. The great mass of the poem known as Chilaides, was obtained almost entirely at second hand. It contains, however, valuable information on subjects of the most miscellaneous character. This poem was first published by Gerbelius in 1546, but the best edition of it is that by Kiessling, 1826. With the exception of a few miscellaneous poems and fragments, and the Commentary on Lycophron which he seems to share with his brother Isaac, this completes the list of the published writings of Joannes Tzetzes. The best edition of the Commentary on Lycophron is that by J. C. Müller, 1811. Besides the Homeric Allegories, referred to above, seven short prose works of Tzetzes remain still unpublished. U, or u, the twenty-first letter and fifth vowel of the English alphabet, is formed in the voice by a round configuration of the lips, and a greater extrusion of the under than in forming the letter o. The sound is short in curst, must, tun, tub; but is lengthened by a final e, as in tune, tube, &c. In some words it is rather acute than long; as in brute, flute, lute, &c. It is mostly long in polysyllables; as in union, curious, &c.; but in some words it is obscure, as in nature, venture, &c. See Abbreviations, under V.

UBEDA, a town of Spain, Andalusia province, and 25 miles N.E. of Jaen. It is pleasantly situated in a fertile and well watered district, on a gentle slope, near the right bank of the Guadalquivir. Ubeda was built by the Moors with the materials of the Roman Bactula, now Ubeda la Vieja, and has still a very Moorish appearance. Under the Moors it rose to be a place of importance, and was the scene of several sanguinary conflicts between them and the Christians. It is said at one time to have contained 70,000 inhabitants. Some of its towers and gates, and portions of its walls, still remain. It contains numerous churches, convents, and nunneries, some of which are fine buildings; in particular, the church of San Salvador, and the cathedral, originally a mosque, but transformed into a Corinthian temple. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in agriculture. Pop. 13,632.

UBIQUITARIANS, a word formed from ubique, everywhere, denotes a sect of Lutherans which arose and spread itself in Germany, and whose distinguishing doctrine was, that the body of Jesus Christ is everywhere, or in every place. Brentius, one of the earliest reformers, is said to have first breached this error in 1560.

UDALL, NICHOLAS, a celebrated master of Eton and Westminster schools, and author of Ralph Royster Doyster, the first regular English comedy known in the language, was born in Hampshire in 1506. Passing through Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he took his degrees, first of B.A. in 1524, and subsequently of M.A. in 1534. During his college life, he had given symptoms of a leaning to the Lutheranism of the day, which is said for a time to have kept him out of Eton. On being elevated to the mastership of that famous institution, he gained a celebrity for his severity. Warton tells us that Thomas Tusser, the poet, "was next sent to Eton school, where, at one chastisement, he received fifty-three stripes of the rod from the severe but celebrated master, Nicholas Udall." (Warton's English Poetry, viii. 248.) But Udall was busy with his pen as well as his rod. He published Flores for Latyn Spekynghe, selected and gathered oute of Terence, and the same translated into Englysshe, London, 1533. He wrote translations of some of the works of Erasmus; some Latin plays; and, to crown all, he is the earliest writer on record of the regular English comedy divided into acts and scenes. He seems to have executed a considerable number of dramatic compositions, or "interludes," as he calls them, which were in all probability put together for the amusement of his pupils on St Andrew's day. None of these plays have come down to us, save some thirty-five lines in Wilson's Arte of Logike, 1567, and the Ralph Royster Doyster, which was only discovered in 1818, although it must have been printed as early as 1566, and it even may have been written fifteen or twenty years before. For, in Wilson's Rule of Reason, printed in 1551, the earliest year assigned for the printing of Gammer Gurton's Needle, this play of Udall's is mentioned as being then in circulation. Udall was appointed to a canonry at Wind- But in both the peat is gradually being ameliorated by the drifting of sand and comminuted shells from the shore of the Atlantic; and on the sides of the hills there is much good pasturage. In South Uist there are three distinct groups of hills, occupying the whole of the eastern side; and their highest summit is Hecla, upwards of 2500 feet in height. West of this lies a level tract of peat, terminating at the extreme west in sand. Barley, oats, and potatoes are raised here by the use of seaweed and other manure. North Uist also rises on its eastern side into a ridge of hills from 300 to 700 feet high, which gradually increase towards the south till they rise to a height of 2000 feet. West of this lies a flat tract, partly occupied with peat moss, and partly with pasture and arable land, the latter producing barley and potatoes. The inhabitants of North and South Uist support themselves by the rearing of cattle and sheep, and by fishing; but since the decline of the kelp trade, these sources proving quite inadequate, the population has greatly diminished by emigration. The islands each form a parish, including the smaller islands round about, that of Benbecula forming part of South Uist parish. Besides the Established churches, there is a Free Church charge in North Uist, and two Roman Catholic chapels in South Uist; as about half of the people belong to that body. There are also parochial and other schools. North Uist contains various remains of military works and other antiquities. Pop. of North Uist, 3302; of South Uist, 4006.

UKRAINE, a large district of European Russia, formerly, as it name denotes, the frontier territory between Russia, Poland, Turkey, and Little Tartary; and now comprising the Russian governments of Kiev, Poltava, Kharkov, and Podolia, which see.

ULEABORG, a seaport-town of Russian Finland, capital of a laen or province of the same name, stands on a peninsula at the mouth of the Ulea, in the Gulf of Bothnia, 70 miles S.S.E. of Tornia. Since its destruction by fire in 1822, it has been rebuilt in a regular plan, and has wide and straight streets. After Abo it is the principal commercial town of Finland, and exports pitch, tar, fish, and salted provisions. Fishing and shipbuilding are also carried on. Uleaborg was founded in 1610, and belonged to the Swedes till 1809. In June 1854, the shipping and magazines were destroyed by the English. Pop. (1857) 6451. The laen of Uleaborg has an area of 63,415 square miles, and a population of (in 1857) 169,845.

ULM, a frontier and fortified town of Württemberg, on the border of Bavaria, on the left bank of the Danube, which here receives the Blau, in a rich and beautiful region at the foot of the Swabian Alps, 45 miles S.S.E. of Stuttgart. The Danube is here about 200 feet broad and 12 deep; it is crossed by two bridges to the Bavarian village of New Ulm; and over the Blau, which traverses the town, there are five bridges. The town is oval in form; and has the usual appearance of old German towns, with narrow irregular streets, and quaint old wooden houses. The principal building is the cathedral, one of the largest and finest of German churches, begun in 1377 and completed in 1494. The spire, which was intended to be raised to 475 feet, is only 337 in height; and the interior dimensions are as follows:—length, 485 feet; breadth, 205; height of the choir, 130. It is a fine specimen of ancient Gothic art, and contains one of the finest organs in Germany, and many curious old paintings, carvings, and stained glass. From the summit of the spire a fine view is obtained over Swabia and Bavaria, and in clear weather as far as the Alps. This cathedral now belongs to the Lutherans; and there are here two other Lutheran and two Roman Catholic churches. The town-hall of Ulm is an old and spacious but by no means handsome building. In front of it, in the market-place, is a fine fountain adorned with statues.

The German House, containing the chief public offices, is Ulpianus one of the finest buildings in the town. Ulm has also a theatre, gymnasium, library, museum, hospital, and other benevolent institutions. The manufacture of tobacco, snuff, pipe-bowls, playing-cards, porcelain, linen, and silk fabrics, &c., is carried on here; and there is a very extensive trade. The town is connected by railway with Stuttgart and Munich. Ulm was formerly an imperial free town, strongly fortified, and an important military position; but in 1805 General Mack, with a garrison of 12,000 Austrian troops, being enclosed on all sides by the enemy, capitulated to Napoleon without firing a shot, and the fortifications were then nearly all demolished. They remained in that condition till 1842; when they were restored under the direction of Prussian engineers at the expense of the German Confederation. Ulm is thus again a first-class fortress, and is garrisoned by 5000 Bavarian and Württemberg troops, with 300 Austrian artillery. Pop. (1855) 21,076.

ULPIANUS, Domitius, a celebrated Roman jurist, of whom hardly anything is known with certainty, was most probably a Tyrian who flourished during the reign of S. Severus and his son Antoninus Caracalla—that is, from A.D. 198 to A.D. 211. Although one of the most fertile writers on Roman law, almost all we know of him is contained in the Domitii Ulpiani Fragmenta, 1836; the Florentine Index, and the few excerpts in the Digest of Justinian. The last edition of the Fragmenta is that of E. Boecking, Leipzig, 1855. The style of Ulpian, though clear, is too diffuse to admit of his being classed in the highest rank of Roman jurists.

ULSTER, the most northern of the four great divisions or provinces of Ireland, comprising the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry, Monaghan, and Tyrone. See IRELAND.

ULVERSTONE, a market-town of England, county of Lancaster, about a mile W. from the embouchure of the Leven, in Morecambe Bay, and 15 miles N.W. of Lancaster. The town consists principally of four well built streets, and has been greatly improved of late years. The parish church was almost entirely rebuilt in the beginning of this century, but the tower and a Norman doorway of the old edifice still remain. Trinity Church, an elegant edifice, surmounted by a handsome spire, was erected at the upper end of the town in 1832. There are also several dissenting places of worship, a grammar and other schools, a theatre, assembly-rooms, subscription library, and a savings bank. By means of a canal from the Leven, vessels of 400 tons can come up to a large basin close to the town, where they load and unload. Ulverstone, which is a sub-port to Lancaster, has a considerable trade in iron-ore, iron, slates, corn, &c. Manufactures of cotton goods, canvass, hats, &c., and shipbuilding, are carried on to some extent. Pop. (1851) 6433.

ULYSSES, Ulyxes, or Ulixes, the Roman name of the Greek hero Odysseus ('Odysséos'), the person celebrated in Homer's "Odyssey." According to the Homeric account, he was the son of Laertes and Anticleia, king of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus. While later poets and mythographers have represented Ulysses as sprung from quite a different stock, and as the incarnation of cowardice and base intrigue, he is always held up by Homer as a very prudent warrior, of extensive experience and skill, anxious to avoid or to escape difficulties, pre-eminent in eloquence and wisdom, brave in adversity, patient in suffering, and triumphant over all the accidents of life. The Greek name of this hero ('Odysséos') is said to denote the angry (Hom. Od. xix. 406); but he was called Nanus or Nannus by the Tyrrhenians.

Ulysses was prevailed upon, with great difficulty, to accompany Agamemnon and the rest of the Greeks to the Trojan war. He set out with twelve ships, and cast anchor by the side of the Greek fleet in the port of Aulis. During the progress of the Trojan war he acted the part of a prudent, wily negotiator, often astounding his hearers by the fervour of his eloquence, and again casting them all into perplexity by the profound dissimulation which he practised. He was the inventor of the wooden-horse, and was one of those who were concealed in its belly when it was carried within the walls of Troy. On the burning of the city all his sufferings began. After being tossed about for ten dreary years in the Mediterranean, he at last found the shores of his own land. In his absence his father had gone into solitary retirement, his mother had died, his son had gone in search of his father, and his wife, Penelope, was pestered by swarms of suitors who claimed her hand, and who devoured her means. Ulysses, who was in the attire of a beggar, found a lodgment with Eumaeus the swineherd. Telemachus returned after a few days, when, with the assistance of Athena, Ulysses and his son, and a few faithful servants, set out for the town, where they slew all the suitors. The friends and relatives of the deceased rose in arms against Ulysses, but Athena, as Mentor, calmed their rage, and reconciled them to their doom. All we know of the death of Ulysses from the Homeric account is from the prophecy of Tiresias (Od. xi. 19), where a happy old age and a painless death are promised him.

The later traditions respecting the death of Ulysses are as contradictory of Homer's account of him as the records of his life are by the same hands.

UMMERAPOORA, or Amarapura, "the city of the immortals," a town of the Burman Empire, near the left bank of the Irrawaddy, 6 miles N.E. of Ava. It was founded in 1783, and made the capital of the empire; and it increased so rapidly in size and population, that in 1810 it was estimated to contain 170,000 inhabitants. But in that year the whole of the houses were destroyed by a fire, and this disaster, together with the removal of the court to Ava in 1819, caused a great decline of the place; and in 1827 its population was estimated at only 30,000. Since then it has suffered another severe calamity from an earthquake, which in 1839 destroyed the greater part of the town. It is regularly laid out, but, with the exception of some temples, is built only of bamboos; although some of the buildings, being richly gilt, have a showy appearance. The most remarkable building is a celebrated temple, adorned with 250 lofty pillars of gilt wood, and containing a colossal bronze statue of Buddha. The remains of the ancient palace are also to be seen in the centre of the town. During the time of its prosperity, Ummepoora was defended by a rampart and a large square citadel, with a broad moat, walls 7000 feet long and 20 feet high, and a bastion at each corner.

UNGHYVAR, a town of Hungary, capital of a county of the same name, on the Ungh, 80 miles N.N.E. of Debreczin. It consists of the town proper and two suburbs, and contains a Greek cathedral, an ancient castle, in which the bishop now resides, Roman Catholic and Greek churches, an episcopal seminary, gymnasium, several breweries, and has a considerable trade in salt, cattle, and wine. Pop. 8000.

UNION, a junction, coalition, or assemblage of two or more different things in one.

Union, or The Union, by way of eminence, is more particularly used to express the act by which the two separate kingdoms of Scotland and England were incorporated into one, under the title of the Kingdom of Great Britain. This union, in vain attempted by James I., was at length effected in the year 1707 6 Anne, when twenty-five articles were agreed to by the parliaments of both nations; the purport of the most considerable being as follows:

1. That on the first of May 1707, and for ever after, the kingdoms of England and Scotland shall be united into one kingdom, by the name of Great Britain. 2. The succession to the monarchy of Great Britain shall be the same as Unitarianism was before settled with regard to that of England. 3. The United Kingdom shall be represented by one parliament. 4. There shall be a communication of all rights and privileges between the subjects of both kingdoms, except where it is otherwise agreed. 9. When England raises L2,000,000 by a land-tax, Scotland shall raise L48,000. 16. 17. The standards of the coin, of weights, and of measures, shall be reduced to those of England throughout the united kingdom. 18. The laws relating to trade, customs, and the excise, shall be the same in Scotland as in England. All the other laws of Scotland shall remain in force, but alterable by the parliament of Great Britain; yet with this caution, that laws relating to public policy are alterable at the discretion of the parliament; laws relating to private right are not to be altered but for the evident utility of the people of Scotland. 22. Sixteen peers are to be chosen to represent the peerage of Scotland in parliament, and forty-five members to sit in the House of Commons. 23. The sixteen peers of Scotland shall have all privileges of parliament; and all peers of Scotland shall be peers of Great Britain, and rank next after those of the same degree at the time of the union, and shall have all privileges of peers, except sitting in the House of Lords, and voting on the trial of a peer.

These are the principal of the twenty-five articles of union, which are ratified and confirmed by statute 5 Anne, cap. 8, in which statute there are also two acts of parliament recited—the one of Scotland, whereby the Church of Scotland, and also the four universities of that kingdom, are established for ever, and all succeeding sovereigns are to take an oath inviolably to maintain the same; the other of England, 5 Anne, c. 6, whereby the acts of uniformity of 13 Eliz. and 13 Car. II. (except as the same had been altered by parliament at that time), and all other acts then in force for the preservation of the Church of England, are declared perpetual; and it is stipulated, that every subsequent king and queen shall take an oath inviolably to maintain the same within England, Ireland, Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. And it is enacted, that these two acts "shall for ever be observed as fundamental and essential conditions for the union."

Upon these articles and act of union it is to be observed,

1. That the two kingdoms are so inseparably united that nothing can ever disunite them, except the mutual consent of both, or the successful resistance of either, upon apprehending an infringement of those points which, when they were separate and independent nations, it was mutually stipulated should be "fundamental and essential conditions of the union." 2. That whatever else may be deemed "fundamental and essential conditions," the preservation of the two Churches of England and Scotland in the same state that they were in at the time of the union, and the maintenance of the acts of uniformity which established the liturgy, are expressly declared so to be. See Britain.

For an account of the union of Ireland with Great Britain, thus forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, see Britain.

UNITARIANS, a name given to those who confine the glory and attribute of divinity to the One only great and supreme God. Jesus Christ they consider as a man constituted in all respects like other men; and they look upon his death, not as a sacrifice or atonement for sin, but as a martyrdom in defence of truth. They deny the essential sinfulness of human nature, and hold that a conscientious diligent discharge of moral duties will be adequate to secure for men their future happiness. Their form of government is essentially congregational, each congregation ruling itself without regard to any courts or synods. In 1851 they had in England 229 places of worship, with 68,554 sittings; and in Scotland, 5 places of worship, with 2437 sittings.