VAUCLUSE (vo-kluzr), a department in the S. E. of France; bounded on the W. by the Rhone, and on the S. separ ated by the Durance from Bouches du Rhone; area, 1.381 square miles; pop. about 250,000. The E. is intersected by spurs of the Alps; in the W. are plains. Agriculture is the chief occupation; of late oaks have been largely planted for the culture of truffles; and there are manufactures of silk, wool, pottery, chemicals, etc. Originally composed of the county of Venaissin, the principality of Orange, and part of Provence, the de partment is divided into the four arron dissements of Apt, Avignon, Carpentras, and Orange, Avignon being the capital. The village of Vaucluse (ValUs elausa) stands in a romantic ravine 19 miles E. of Avignon, and is noted as having been for 16 years the residence of Petrarch, and for its famous fountain. Here, too, lived John Stuart Mill.
VAUD (vo) (German. Waadt), a canton which forms the W. corner of Switzerland; between the Jura and the Bernese Alps; area, 1,244 square miles; pop. about 320,000. It is a compara
tively level district, traversed, however, by an elevated tract known as Mount Jorat, from which plains slope on either side to the Lake of Geneva on the S. and the Lake of Neufchatel on the N. On both sides, near the mountains, there are extensive pasture lands, but the greater part of the country is highly cultivated. The vineyards yield white wines of ex cellent quality. Vaud forms part of French Switzerland; the religion is Prot estant. After the fall of the Roman empire it belonged to the Burgundian kingdom, but in the 13th century it be came a dependency of Savoy, and in 1536 the Bernese took possession of it. The French invasion put an end to the rule of Bern, and Vaud became a separate canton. The existing democratic repre sentative constitution dates from 1845. Lausanne is the capital. See SWITZER LAND: WALDENSES.