Marco Girolamo, a very elegant Latin poet, was a native of Cremona, but the time of his birth is uncertain. Different writers have placed it in 1470, 1480, and 1490. His parents were noble, but not wealthy. He prosecuted his studies at Padua and Bologna, and at an early age was admitted into the congregation of the canons re- VIE

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March 1809 in his ninety-second year. Vincent and David carried out the pictorial reforms which Vien had begun.

VIENNA (Wien), the capital of the archduchy of Austria, and of the whole Austrian empire, is situated upon an arm of the Danube, to the south of the main stream, at the mouth of the rivulet Wien, about 500 feet above the level of the sea, and in N. Lat. 48° 12', and E. Long. 16° 22'. The city, properly so called, is very small, and occupies only a tenth of the whole space covered by Vienna and its suburbs; but as it is more densely built than the other quarters, its population is more than a seventh of the whole. It is surrounded with a strong and compactly built brick wall, rising from fifty to seventy feet above the outer ditch, and forming a fine terrace, which serves as a public promenade, called the Bastion or Bastions. The Bastions are externally surrounded by the Glacis, an open space, varying in width from about 1000 to 1500 feet, and rising gradually into eminences upon which the thirty-four suburbs are built. These are also surrounded with a wall, the external circumference of which is about 14 miles, but are completely separated from the city by the Glacis, which has been laid out with fine walks, thus affording, in the very midst of the town, every facility for air and exercise to the inhabitants. Within the narrow circuit of the Bastions, which may be walked round in fifty minutes, is contained almost every object of interest or importance; the Imperial palace, the offices of government, the residences of the higher classes, most of the public museums, libraries, and galleries, the best shops, and with one exception, all the good hotels. But like those of most other old towns, the streets of the city are narrow, the places small, and the houses lofty, rising to four or five stories, occupied by different families, and, like those of Edinburgh and Paris, approached by a common stair. Their average number of occupants is about forty; but in the very heart of the city, there are large masses of building, containing more inhabitants than many a large village. They are generally built in the form of a square surrounding a small dark court, and are under the superintendence of a Hausmeister, a person appointed by the proprietor to watch over the building and its tenants, to preserve the cleanliness of the common passages, and attend to the street door. It is however fashionable to reside in the city; and even a tradesman domiciliated there holds a higher rank than his brethren in the suburbs. The suburbs are not so splendidly built as the city; but their more elevated situation, their wide and regular streets, and the inferior height of the houses, would seem to render them a preferable residence, were it not for the domineering influence of fashion.

Among the numerous public buildings which adorn Vienna, the following may be enumerated as the principal. The Kaiserburg, or imperial palace, is a very large building, of a most irregular form, consisting indeed of a conglomeration of edifices erected at different times, but presenting, nevertheless, many portions remarkable for their magnificence, and the beauty of their architecture. It stands on the south side of the city, encloses several courts, one of which, Joseph's Platz, is adorned with a fine equestrian statue, in bronze, of the Emperor Joseph II., and in another, the Burghof, stands the monument of Francis I., erected by the late emperor in 1846. The part used as the residence of the sovereign is called the Schweizerhof, and is an extensive building forming two sides of a square, but its appearance is not very striking. It however contains large collections of valuable works of art. The rest of the building is devoted to various purposes, comprising, among others, the Hof-Bibliothek, or imperial library, the chancery of the empire, the imperial riding-school, and the theatre of the palace. The library is a temple worthy of the intellectual treasures which it enshrines. It contains upwards of 425,000 volumes of printed books in every lan-

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cular of St Mark at Mantua. Here, however, he did not long remain, but removed to Rome, where he became a canon of St John of the Lateran. His poetical talents recommended him to the favour of Leo X., who bestowed upon him the prioryship of St Sylvester near Tivoli. Vida published a collection of his poems at Rome in the year 1527. This collection, a quarto of 110 leaves, contains De Arte Poetica libri iii., De Bombyce libri ii., De Ludo Seneciarum, Hymni, Bucolica. Leo recommended to him the subject of a sacred poem, which was not completed till after the death of that pontiff. Under the title of Christiadus, it was published at Cremona in 1535. In 1532 Clement VII. had promoted him to the bishopric of Alba. Another pope, Paul III., destined him for the bishopric of Cremona, but died before he could fulfill his intentions. Vida composed several other works in verse, and some in prose. When his episcopal city was attacked by the French and the imperialists in 1542, he displayed his courage by urging the garrison to make a strenuous defense, and he afterwards contributed to the recovery of this conquest out of their hands. He accompanied the papal legates to the Council of Trent; and upon that occasion composed a prose work, entitled Dialogi de Republicae Dignitate, and printed at Cremona in 1556. He died at Alba on the 27th of September 1566, and his remains were interred in the cathedral. Vida possessed a very elegant taste, and was a great master of Latin versification. The art of poetry, the operations of the silk-worm, and even the game of chess, he has discussed with singular grace and harmony. The encomium of Pope rendered his name familiar to English ears:

Immortal Vida, on whose honour'd brow The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow.

Of his poems there are several collective editions. A collection exclusive of his sacred poems, was published by Thomas Tristram, A.M., Oxon. 1722-3, 2 part. Svo. But the best edition, containing all the poems which he acknowledged as his, together with the Dialogi, appeared soon afterwards, under the care of J. Ant. et Cajetano Vulpis, Patav. 1731, 2 tom. 4to. Some of Vida's poems have been translated into various languages. Of the Poetica, an English translation was published by Pitt in 1723, and another by Hammond in 1793. Of the poem on Cleopatra, an English version is said to have been published by Erskine in 1785. A translation of another work accompanying the original, appeared under the title of The Christiana, a poem in six cantos; translated from the Latin of Marcus Hieroclesius Vila, by J. Cranwell, M.A., Cambridge, 1768, Svo.