=Veck= (_Toby_), nicknamed “Trotty;” a ticket-porter, who ran on errands. One New Year’s Eve he ate tripe for dinner, and had a nightmare, in which he fancied he had mounted up to the steeple of a neighboring church, and that goblins issued out of the bells, giving reality to his hopes and fears. He was roused from his sleep by the sound of the bells ringing in the new year. (See MEG.)--C. Dickens, _The Chimes_ (1844). =Vedder= (_Jan_), a fisherman whose mistaken marriage leads to every evil he does or suffers. One who would become a good man but for his perverse, wrong-headed wife. He is desperately wounded in a quarrel, and his condition, working upon all that is best in his wife, changes her temper and behavior to him.--Amelia E. Barr, _Jan Vedder’s Wife_ (1885). =Vegliantino= [_Val.yan.tee´no_], Orlando’s horse.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516). Also called Veillantif. =Vehmgericht=, or THE HOLY VEHME, a secret tribunal of Westphalia, the principal seat of which was in Dortmund. The members were called “Free Judges.” It took cognizance of all crimes in the lawless period of the Middle Ages, and those condemned by the tribunal were made away with by some secret means, but no one knew by what hand. Being despatched, the dead body was hung on a tree to advertise the fact and deter others. The tribunal existed at the time of Charlemagne, but was at its zenith of power in the twelfth century. Sir W. Scott has introduced it in his _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.). Was Rebecca guilty or not? The Vehmgericht of the servant’s hall pronounced against her.--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_, xliv. (1848). =Vehmique Tribunal= (_The_), or the Secret Tribunal, or the court of the Holy Vehme, said to have been founded by Charlemagne.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.). =Veil of St. Agatha=, a miraculous veil belonging to St. Agatha, and deposited in the church of the city of Catania, in Sicily, where the saint suffered martyrdom. “It is a sure defence against the eruptions of Mount Etna.” It is very true that the church itself was overwhelmed with lava in 1693, and some 20,000 of the inhabitants perished; but that was no fault of the veil, which would have prevented it if it could. Happily, the veil was recovered, and is still believed in by the people. =Veilchen= (_Annette_), attendant of Anne of Geierstein.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.). =Veiled Prophet of Khorassan= (_The_), Hakim ben Allah, surnamed Mokanna, or “The Veiled,” founder of an Arabic sect, in the eighth century. He wore a veil to conceal his face, which had been greatly disfigured in battle. He gave out that he had been Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. When the Sultan Mahadi marched against him, he poisoned all his followers at a banquet, and then threw himself into a cask containing a burning acid, which entirely destroyed his body.