VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS 186 VENTRILOQUISM VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. an ancient and celebrated hymn of the Ro- man Breviary, which occurs in the of- fices of the Feast of Pentecost for Ves- pers and Tierce, and in the Pontifical for the Ordination of Priests, Consecra- tion of Bishops or of a Church, the "Ordo ad Synodum," and some other solemn services. Its authorship has been ascribed to Charlemagne, also to Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, or Rabanus Maurus. It was translated by Bishop Cosin, again by Dryden, whose version was adapted by John Wesley and Toplady. The labors of more than 30 later translators have not stripped this noble hymn of all its dignity. The Veni Creator Spiritus must not be con- founded with another hymn to the Holy Ghost, Veni Sancte Spiritus, Et emitte coelitus, the "Golden Sequence," which ranks among the masterpieces of Latin sacred poetry. The latter belongs not to the Breviary, but to the Missal, in which it forms a Sequence in the Mass of Pentecost Sunday and Octave. It is in five stanzas, each consisting of six lines of seven-syllable trochaic verse. It is certainly not older than the be- ginning of the 13th century. It has been variously ascribed to King Robert II. of France, to Hermannus Contractus, to Stephen Langton, and, with perhaps most probability, to Pope Innocent III. The best translations are those by Cas- wall and by Neale. VENIRE FACIAS (ve-ni're fa'shyas) (Latin, "that you cause to come"), in law, a writ or precept directed to the sheriflF, requiring him to cause a jury to come or appear in the neighborhood where a cause is brought to issue to try the same. This writ was abolished in England in 1852, but the precept issued by the justices of assize, which is sub- stituted, is sometimes loosely spoken of as a venh'e. VENIZELOS. ELEUTHERIOS, a Greek statesman, born in 1864 on the Isle of Crete. He was educated in the schools of Athens and at Athens Univer- sity, where he graduated from the law department in 1886. Returning to Crete he soon established a reputation as a brilliant lawyer. He became a member of the Cretan Legislature at the age of 25. During the Cretan revolution of 1890-1892, he took a prominent part and was appointed Minister of Justice in 1899. His constant desire was for the political union of Crete and Greece and in 1908 he was the leader of the movement which aimed to bring this about. He was chosen Premier of Crete in 1910, but shortly afterward, at the request of the military league, removed to Athens, where he took a prominent part in revising the constitution. From 1910, when he became Premier, he was the central figure in events in the Bal- kans. Largely through his efforts was organized the Balkan League, which waged successful war against Turkey. See Balkan Wars. He took a leading part in the negotiations which followed this war. At the outbreak of the World War, Venizelos appeared as an active cham- pion of the Entente, and urged the par- ticipation of Greece on that side. See Greece. When Greece finally joined the Allies, Venizelos became the practical dictator of the country. At the Peace Conference, he was one of the chief fig- ures, and was declared to have been the most able statesman present at the Con- ference. Chiefly through his efforts, Greece was given the large areas of ter- ritory which she claimed. Venizelos bit- terly opposed the return of Constantine to the throne, following the conclusion of the war, but in a plebiscite held in the latter part of 1920 he was defeated and withdrew from the country. VENLO. or VENLOO, a town of the Netherlands, in Limburg, on the Meuse, at the junction of several railways. In its earlier days it was strongly fortified and was the scene of many sieges and battles, having been at different times in the possession of France, Holland, England, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Its principal industries are the manufacture of tin, lead, and tobacco, together with brewing and tan- ning. Pop. about 20,000. VENTILATION. See Heating and Ventilation. VENTNOR, the principal town on the S. shore of the Isle of Wight; 11 miles S. by W. of Ryde. Situated amid the finest of the fine scenery of the Under- cliff, it has a S. exposure, well sheltered from the N., and so possesses a mild climate, suitable for various classes of invalids. The beach is composed of beautiful yellow shingle; and fossils are found in great quantity in the vicinity. VENTRICLES. See Heakt. VENTRILOQUISM, the art of speak- ing in such a way as to cause a hearer to believe that the sound comes, not from the person speaking, but from a dif- ferent source. The name originated from the erroneous supposition that the sounds uttered were formed in the belly, where- as practice alone is necessary to carry this act of illusion to a high degree of perfection. The sounds are formed by
