The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 423

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TABARD, a tunic without sleeves worn by military n.o.bles over their arms, generally emblazoned with heraldic devices. "Toom Tabard," empty king's cloak, nickname given by the Scotch to John Balliol as nothing more.

TABERNACLE, a movable structure of the nature of a temple, erected by the Israelites during their wanderings in the wilderness; it was a parallelogram in shape, constructed of boards lined with curtains, the roof flat and of skins, while the floor was the naked earth, included a sanctum and a sanctum sanctorum, and contained altars for sacrifice and symbols of sacred import, especially of the Divine presence, and was accessible only to the priests. See FEASTS, JEWISH.

TABLE MOUNTAIN, a flat-topped eminence in the SW. of Cape Colony, rising to a height of 3600 ft. behind Cape Town and overlooking it, often surmounted by a drapery of mist.

TABLES, THE TWELVE, the tables of the Roman laws engraven on bra.s.s brought from Athens to Rome by the decemvirs.

TABLETS, name given to thin boards coated with wax and included in a frame for writing on with a stylus.

TABLE-TURNING, movement of a table ascribed to the agency of spirits or some recondite spiritual force acting through the media of a circle of people standing round the edge touching it with their finger-tips in contact with those of the rest.

TABOO or TABU, a solemn prohibition or interdict among the Polynesians under which a particular person or thing is p.r.o.nounced inviolable, and so sacred, the violation of which entails malediction at the hands of the supernatural powers.

TABOR, MOUNT, an isolated cone-shaped hill, 1000 ft. in height and clothed with olive-trees, on the NE. borders of ESDRAeLON (q. v.), 7 m. E. of Nazareth. A tradition of the 2nd century identifies it as the scene of the Tranfiguration, and ruins of a church, built by the Crusaders to commemorate the event, crown the summit.

TABRIZ (170), an ancient and still important commercial city of Persia, 320 m. SE. of Tiflis, 4500 ft. above sea-level; occupies an elevated site on the Aji, 40 m. E. of its entrance into Lake Urumiah; carries on a flouris.h.i.+ng transit trade and has notable manufactures of leather, silk, and gold and silver ware; has been on several occasions visited by severe earthquakes.

TACITUS, CORNELIUS, Roman historian, born presumably at Rome, of equestrian rank, early famous as an orator; married a daughter of Agricola, held office under the Emperors Vespasian, Domitian, and Nerva, and conducted along with the younger Pliny the prosecution of Marius Priscus; he is best known and most celebrated as a historian, and of writings extant the chief are his "Life of Agricola," his "Germania," his "Histories" and his "Annals"; his "Agricola" is admired as a model biography, while his "Histories" and "Annales" are distinguished for "their conciseness, their vigour, and the pregnancy of meaning; a single word sometimes gives effect to a whole sentence, and if the meaning of the word is missed, the sense of the writer is not reached"; his great power lies in his insight into character and the construing of motives, but the picture he draws of imperial Rome is revolting; _b_. about A.D.

54.

TACNA (14), capital of a province (32) in North Chile, 38 m. N. of Arica, with which it is connected by rail; trades in wool and minerals; taken from Peru in 1883.

TACOMA (38), a flouris.h.i.+ng manufacturing town and port of Was.h.i.+ngton State, on Puget Sound; has practically sprung into existence within the last 15 years, and is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural and mining district.

TADMOR. See PALMYRA.

TAEL, a Chinese money of account of varying local value, and rising and falling with the price of silver, but may be approximately valued at between 6s. and 5s. 6d. The customs tael, equivalent in value to about 4s 9d., has been superseded by the new dollar of 1890, which is equal to that of the United States.

TAGANROG (50), a Russian seaport on the N. sh.o.r.e of the Sea of Azov; is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural district, wheat, linseed, and hempseed being the chief exports. Founded by Peter the Great in 1698.

TAGLIONI, MARIA, a famous ballet-dancer, born at Stockholm, the daughter of an Italian ballet-master; made her _debut_ in Paris in 1827 and soon became the foremost _danseuse_ of Europe; married Count de Voisins in 1832; retired from the stage in 1847 with a fortune, which she subsequently lost, a misfortune which compelled her to set up as a teacher of deportment in London (1804-1884).

TAGUS, the largest river of the Spanish peninsula, issues from the watershed between the provinces of Guadalajara and Teruel; follows a more or less westerly course across the centre of the peninsula, and, after dividing into two portions below Salvaterra, its united waters enter the Atlantic by a n.o.ble estuary 20 m. long; total length 566 m., of which 190 are in Portugal; navigable as far as Abrantes.

TAHITI (11), the princ.i.p.al island of a group in the South Pacific; sometimes called the Society Islands, situated 2000 m. NE. of New Zealand; are mountainous, of volcanic origin, beautifully wooded, and girt by coral reefs; a fertile soil grows abundant fruit, cotton, sugar, &c., which, with mother-of-pearl, are the princ.i.p.al exports; capital and chief harbour is Papeete (3); the whole group since 1880 has become a French possession.

TAILLANDIER, SAINT-RENe, French litterateur and professor, born at Paris; filled the chair of Literature at the Sorbonne from 1863; wrote various works of literary, historical, and philosophical interest, and did much by his writings to extend the knowledge of German art and literature in France; was a frequent contributor to the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, and in 1873 was elected a member of the Academy (1817-1879).

TAILORS, Carlyle's humorsome name in "Sartor" for the architects of the customs and costumes woven for human wear by society, the inventors of our spiritual toggery, the truly _poetic_ cla.s.s.

TAILORS, THE THREE, OF TOOLEY STREET, three characters said by Canning to have held a meeting there for redress of grievances, and to have addressed a pet.i.tion to the House of Commons beginning "We, the people of England."

TAIN (2), a royal burgh of Ross-s.h.i.+re, on the S. sh.o.r.e of the Dornoch Firth, 44 m. NE. of Inverness; has interesting ruins of a 13th-century chapel, a 15th-century collegiate church, an academy, &c.

TAINE, HIPPOLYTE ADOLPHE, an eminent French critic and historian, born at Vouziers, in Ardennes; after some years of scholastic drudgery in the provinces returned to Paris, and there, by the originality of his critical method and brilliancy of style soon took rank among the foremost French writers; in 1854 the Academy crowned his essay on Livy; ten years later became professor of aesthetics at the ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and in 1878 was admitted to the French Academy; his voluminous writings embrace works on the philosophy of art, essays critical and historical, volumes of travel-impressions in various parts of Europe; but his finest work is contained in his vivid and masterly studies on "Les Origines de la France Contemporaine" and in his "History of English Literature"

(1833-4; Eng. trans, by Van Laun), the most penetrative and sympathetic survey of English literature yet done by a foreigner; he was a disciple of Sainte-Beuve, but went beyond his master in ascribing character too much to external environment (1828-1893).

TAI-PINGS, a name bestowed upon the followers of Hung Hsiu-ch'wan, a village schoolmaster of China, who, coming under the influence of Christian teaching, sought to subvert the religion and ruling dynasty of China; he himself was styled "Heavenly King," his reign "Kingdom of Heaven," and his dynasty "Tai-Ping" (Grand Peace); between 1851 and 1855 the rising a.s.sumed formidable dimensions, but from 1855 began to decline; the religious enthusiasm died away; foreign auxiliaries were called in, and under the leaders.h.i.+p of GORDON (q. v.) the rebellion was stamped out by 1865.

TAIT, ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, archbishop of Canterbury, of Scotch descent, born in Edinburgh; educated at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Oxford; when at Oxford led the opposition to the Tractarian Movement; in 1842 succeeded Arnold as head-master at Rugby; in 1850 became Dean of Carlisle; in 1856 Bishop of London; and in 1868 Primate. This last office he held at a critical period, and his episcopate was distinguished by great discretion and moderation (1811-1882).

TAIT, PETER GUTHRIE, physicist and mathematician, born at Dalkeith; educated in Edinburgh; became senior wrangler at Cambridge, and Smith's prizeman in 1852; was in 1854 elected professor of Mathematics at Belfast, and in 1860 professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh; has done a great deal of experimental work, especially in thermo-electricity, and has contributed important papers on pure mathematics; wrote, along with Lord Kelvin, "Treatise on Natural Philosophy," and along with Balfour Stewart "The Unseen Universe," followed by "Paradoxical Philosophy"; _b_. 1831.

TAI-WAN (70), capital of FORMOSA (q. v.), an important commercial emporium, situated about 3 m. from the SW. coast, on which, however, it has a port, ranking as a treaty-port.

TAJ MAHAL. See AGRA.

TALARIA, wings attached to the ankles or sandals of Mercury as the messenger of the G.o.ds.

TALAVERA DE LA REINA (10), a picturesque old Spanish town on the Tagus, situated amid vineyards, 75 m. SE. of Madrid; scene of a great victory under Sir Arthur Wellesley over a French army commanded by Joseph Bonaparte, Marshals Jourdan and Victor, 27th July 1809.

TALBOT, WILLIAM HENRY FOX, one of the earliest experimenters and a discoverer in photography, born in Chippenham, which he represented in Parliament; was also one of the first to decipher the a.s.syrian cuneiform inscriptions (1800-1877).

TALE OF A TUB, a great work of Swift's, characterised by Professor Saintsbury as "one of the very greatest books of the world, in which a great drift of universal thought receives consummate literary form ...