VEDDER 175 VEGA CARPIO sas, which constitutes two of the leading darsanas or schools of philosophy. As the first of these is chiefly pi'actical, the Vedanta philosophy is mainly derived from the second. It was founded b^'^ Vyasa, and was modified by Sankara, its commentator. The former identified the world with God, and contended earn- estly for the reality of the external uni- verse which he held to have been created by God; the later Vedantists maintained that the universe is but an illusion pro- jected by God, and is itself God. The present Vedanta system is Pantheistic. It has many adherents among the more educated Hindus. VEDDER, ElilHU, an American painter; born in New York City, Feb. 26, i836. He studied at Paris and in Italy, where he ultimately made his residence. His subjects are mostly ideal — "The Lair of the Sea-serpents," "Fisherinan and Djin," "Death of Abel," "Greek Actor's Daughter," "Cumean Sibyl,"
- 'Nausicaa and her Companions." He also
illustrated Edward Fitz-Gerald's "Omar Khayyam" (Boston, 1884). Author of '•Digressions of V.," etc. VEDDER, HENRY CLAY, an Ameri- can historian; born in De Ruyter, N. Y., Feb. 26, 1853; was graduated at the University of Rochester in 1873 and at the Rochester Theological Seminary in 1876; was on the editorial staff of "The Examiner," a Baptist weekly, in 1876- 1892; and was its editor in 1892-1894. In the latter year he became Professor of Church History at Crozer Theological Seminary. His publications include: "Baptists and Liberty of Conscience" (1885) ; "The Decline of Infa-t Bap- tism" (1890) ; "A Short History of the Baptists" (1891); "The Higher Criti- cism" (1892) ; "Talks with Baptist Young People" (1895) ; "The Decline of the Apostolic Succession in the Church of England" (1894) ; "A History of the Baptists of the Middle States"; "The Gospel of Jesus and the Problems of Democracy" (1914) ; etc. VEGA CARPIO, LOPE EELIX DE, a Spanish dramatist; born in Madrid, Nov. 25, 1562. The story of Lope's life, as commonly told, is full of confusion. That he lost his parents early, was a student and graduate of Alcala; a soldier in the Portuguese campaign of 1580, and in the Armada, 1588; secre- tary to the Duke of Alva, Marquis of Malpica, and Marquis of Sarria; had many amours, was twice married, and father of at least six childi'en, three of them illegitimate; was banished from Madrid because of a quarrel, and lived two years at Valencia; took orders, be- came an officer of the Inquisition, and died at 73 a victim to hypochondria — all this is indisputable, but the order and relation of the facts are by no means clear. The mere list of Lope's works presents a picture of unparalleled mental activity from boyhood to old age. He wrote plays, he says, in his 12th year, and certainly wrote some not much later, but his first work of any length was a characteristic attempt in 20 cantos to prove that his was the miglior plettro to which Ariosto left the completion of Angelica's story. It was written at sea in 1588, but was not printed till 1602. The "Arcadia" was written, as book V. shows, before the Duke of Alva's marriage, July, 1590, but it was kept back till 1598. The "Dragontea," a shout of exultation in 10 cantos over the death of the Dragon, Drake, the destroyer of Spanish naval supremacy, appeared at Valencia the same year, but a few months earlier, and was Lope's first publication with his name. But it was as a ballad writer that he first made his mark. The "Flow- ers of Romance," the little "Garlands" out of which the "General Romances" was formed, had begun to come out at Valencia when he was there in 1590- 1592^ and of the contributors of the Moorish and pastoral ballads in vogue "Belardo" (his name in the "Arcadia") was, we learn, the most esteemed. Of his miscellaneous works some, like those on St. Isidro and his canonization, and on the marriage of Philip III., are merely occasional, and others owe their escape from utter oblivion solely to his name. The more notable are the "Rimas" (1602), comprising the "Angelica," 200 sonnets, and a reprint of the "Dragon- tea"; the "Peregrino in His Country" (Seville, 1604), a romance on the model of "Theagenes and Chariclea," with a preface giving his views on the drama, and a list of the 219 plays he had al- ready produced; the "Conquest of Jeru- salem" (1609), an epic in 20 books in competition with Tasso; the "Pastores de Belen" (1612), a religious pastoral; "Filomena" and "Circe" (1621-1624), miscellanies in which he tried to rival the "Novelas" of Cervantes; the "Tragic Crown" (1627), an epic with Mary Stuart for heroine; the "Laurel of Apolo" (1630), a poem on the pat- tern of Cervantes; "Viage del Par- naso"; the "Rimas de Tome de Bur- guillos" (1634), a collection of his lighter verse, with the "Gatomaqvfia," a mock-heroic. The most noteworthy of all is the "Dorotea" (1632), in form of a prose drama, but obviously the story of his own early love adventures from
