aspiration. David is the most common Welsh name; Sawney (_Alexander_),
the most common Scotch; Pat (_Patrick_), the most common Irish; and John
(_John Bull_), the most common English. So we have Cousin Michael for a
German, Micaire for a Frenchman, Colin Tampon for a Swiss, and Brother
Jonathan in the United States.
=Tag=, wife of Puff, and lady’s maid to Miss Biddy Bellair.--D. Garrick,
_Miss in Her Teens_ (1753).
=Tahmuras=, a king of Persia, whose exploits in Fairy-land among the
peris and deevs are fully set forth by Richardson, in his
_Dissertation_.
=Tails= (_Men with_). The Niam-niams, an African race between the gulf
of Benin and Abyssinia, are said to have tails. Mons. de Castlenau
(1851) tells us that the Niam-niams “have tails forty centimetres long,
and between two and three centimetres in diameter.” Dr. Hubsch,
physician to the hospitals of Constantinople, says, in 1853, that he
carefully examined a Niam-niam negress, and that her tail was two inches
long. Mons. d’Abbadie, in his _Abyssynian Travels_ (1852), tells us that
south of the Herrar is a place where all the _men_ have tails, but not
the females. “I have examined,” he says, “fifteen of them, and am
positive that the tail is a natural appendage.” Dr. Wolf, in his
_Travels and Adventures_, ii. (1861), says: “There are both men and
women in Abyssinia with tails like dogs and horses.” He heard that, near
Narea, in Abyssinia, there were men and women with tails so muscular
that they could “knock down a horse with a blow.”
John Struys, a Dutch traveller, says, in his _Voyages_ (1650), that “all
the natives on the south of Formosa have tails.” He adds that he himself
personally saw one of these islanders with a tail “more than a foot
long.”
It is said that the Ghilane race, which numbers between 30,000 and
40,000 souls, and dwell “far beyond the Senaar,” have tails three or
four inches long. Colonel du Corret assures us that he himself most
carefully examined one of the race named Bellal, a slave belonging to an
emir in Mecca, whose house he frequented.--_World of Wonders_, 206.
The Poonangs, of Borneo, are said to be a tail-bearing race.
_Individual Examples._ Dr. Hubsch says that he examined at
Constantinople the son of a physician whom he knew intimately, who had a
decided tail, and so had his grandfather.
In the middle of the present (the nineteenth) century, all the
newspapers made mention of the birth of a boy at Newcastle-on-Tyne with
a tail, which “wagged when he was pleased.”
In the College of Surgeons at Dublin may be seen a human skeleton with a
tail seven inches long.
_Tails given by way of Punishment._ Polydore Vergil asserts that when
Thomas á Becket came to Stroud, the mob cut off the tail of his horse,
and in eternal reproach, “both they and their offspring bore tails.”
Lambarde repeats the same story in his _Perambulation of Kent_ (1576).
For Becket’s sake Kent always shall have tails.--Andrew Marvel.
John Bale, bishop of Ossory, in the reign of Edward VI., tells us that
John Capgrave and Alexander of Esseby have stated it as a fact that
certain Dorsetshire men cast fishes’ tails at St. Augustine, in
consequence of which “the men of this county have borne tails ever
since.”
We all know the tradition that Cornish men are born with tails.
=Taillefer=, a valiant warrior and minstrel in the army of William the
Conqueror. At the battle of Hastings (or _Senlac_) he stimulated the
ardor of the Normans by songs in praise of Charlemagne and Roland. The
soldier-minstrel was at last borne down by numbers, and fell fighting.
He was a juggler or minstrel, who could sing songs and play tricks....
So he rode forth singing as he went, and as some say, throwing his
sword up in the air and catching it again.--E. A. Freeman, _Old
English History_, 332.
=Tailors of Tooley Street= (_The Three_). Canning tells us of three
tailors of Tooley Street, Southwark, who addressed a petition of
grievances to the House of Commons, beginning with these words, “We, the
people of England.”
The “deputies of Vaugirard” presented themselves before Charles VIII. of
France. When the king asked how many there were, the usher replied,
“Only one, an please your majesty.”
=Taj=, in Agra (East India), the mausoleum built by Shah Jehan to his
favorite sultana, Moomtaz-i-Mahul, who died in childbirth of her eighth
child. It is of white marble, and is so beautiful that it is called “A
Poem in Marble,” and “The Marble Queen of Sorrow.”
=Talbert= [_Tŏl´.but_], John Talbert or rather Talbot. “The English
Achillês,” first earl of Shrewsbury (1373-1453).
Our Talbert, to the French so terrible in war,
That with his very name their babes they used to scare.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xviii. (1613).
=Tallbot= (_John_), a name of terror in France. Same as above.
They in France, to feare their young children, crye, “The Talbot
commeth!”--Hall, _Chronicles_ (1545).
Is this the Talbot, so much feared abroad,
That with his name the mothers still their babes?
Shakespeare, _1 Henry VI._ act. ii. sc. 3 (1589).
_Talbot_ (_Colonel_), an English officer, and one of Waverley’s
friends.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).
_Talbot_ (_Lord Arthur_), a cavalier who won the love of Elvira,
daughter of Lord Walton; but his lordship had promised his daughter in
marriage to Sir Richard Ford, a puritan officer. The betrothal being set
aside, Lord Talbot became the accepted lover, and the marriage ceremony
was fixed to take place at Plymouth. In the mean time, Lord Arthur
assisted the Dowager Queen Henrietta to escape, and on his return to
England was arrested by the soldiers of Cromwell, and condemned to
death; but Cromwell, feeling secure of his position, commanded all
political prisoners to be released, so Lord Arthur was set at liberty,
and married Elvira.--Bellini, _I Puritani_ (1834).
_Talbot_ (_Lying Dick_), the nickname given to Tyrconnel, the Irish
Jacobite, who held the highest offices in Ireland in the reign of James
II., and in the early part of William III.’s reign (died 1691).
=Tale of a Tub=, a comedy by Ben Jonson (1618). This was the last comedy
brought out by him on the stage; the first was _Every Man in His Humor_
(1598).
In the _Tale of a Tub_, he [_Ben Jonson_] follows the path of
Aristoph´anês, and lets his wit run into low buffoonery, that he might
bring upon the stage Inigo Jones, his personal enemy.--Sir Walter
Scott, _The Drama_.
_Tale of a Tub_, a religious satire by Dean Swift (1704). Its object is
to ridicule the Roman Catholics under the name of Peter, and the
Presbyterians under the name of Jack [_Calvin_]. The Church of England
is represented by Martin [_Luther_].
_Gulliver’s Travels_ and the _Tale of a Tub_ must ever be the chief
corner-stones of Swift’s fame.--Chambers, _English Literature_, ii.
547.
=Tales= (_Chinese_), being the transmigrations of the mandarin,
Fum-Hoam, told to Gulchenraz, daughter of the king of Georgia. (See
FUM-HOAM.)--T. S. Gueulette (originally in French, 1723).
_Tales_ (_Fairy_), a series of tales, originally in French, by the
Comtesse D’Aunoy, D’Aulnoy, or D’Anois (1698). Some are very near copies
of the _Arabian Nights_. The best-known are “Cherry and Fairstar,” “The
Yellow Dwarf,” and “The White Cat.”
About the same time (1697), Claude Perrault published, in French, his
famous _Fairy Tales_, chiefly taken from the _Sagas_ of Scandinavia.
_Tales_ (_Moral_), twenty-three tales by Marmontel, originally in French
(1761). They were intended for draughts of dramas. The design of the
first tale, called “Alcibiădês,” is to expose the folly of expecting to
be loved “merely for one’s self.” The design of the second tale, called
“Soliman II.,” is to expose the folly of attempting to gain woman’s love
by any other means than reciprocal love; and so on. The second tale has
been dramatized.
_Tales_ (_Oriental_), by the Comte de Caylus, originally in French
(1743). A series of tales supposed to be told by Moradbak, a girl of 14,
to Hudjadge, shah of Persia, who could not sleep. It contains the tale
of “The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.” (See MORADBAK.)
=Tales of a Grandfather=, in three series, by Sir W. Scott; told to Hugh
Littlejohn, who was between five and six years of age (1828). These
tales are supposed to be taken from Scotch chronicles, and embrace the
most prominent and graphic incidents of Scotch history. Series i., to
the amalgamation of the two crowns in James I.; series ii., to the union
of the two parliaments in the reign of Queen Anne; series iii., to the
death of Charles Edward, the Young Pretender.
=Tales of My Landlord=, tales supposed to be told by the landlord of the
Wallace inn, in the parish of Gandercleuch, “edited and arranged by
Jedediah Cleishbotham, schoolmaster and parish clerk” of the same
parish, but in reality corrected and arranged by his usher, Peter or
Patrick Pattison, who lived to complete five of the novels, but died
before the last two were issued. These novels are arranged thus: _First
Series_, “The Black Dwarf” and “Old Mortality;” _Second Series_, “Heart
of Midlothian;” _Third Series_, “Bride of Lammermoor” and “Legend of
Montrose;” _Posthumous_, “Count Robert of Paris” and “Castle
Dangerous.”--Sir W. Scott. (See _Black Dwarf_, introduction.)
=Tales of the Crusaders=, by Sir W. Scott, include _The Betrothed_ and
_The Talisman_.
=Tales of the Genii=, that is, tales told by the genii to Iracagem,
their chief, respecting their tutelary charges, or how they had
discharged their functions as the guardian genii of man. Patna and
Coulor, children of Giualar (imân of Terki), were permitted to hear
these accounts rendered, and hence they have reached our earth. The
genius, Barhaddan, related the history of his tutelary charge of
Abu´dah, a merchant of Bagdad. The genius, Mamlouk, told how he had been
employed in watching over the Dervise Alfouran. Next, Omphram recounted
his labors as the tutelar genius of Hassan Assar, caliph of Bagdad. The
genius, Hassarack, tells his experience in the tale of Kelaun and
Guzzarat. The fifth was a female genius, by name, Houadir, who told the
tale of Urad, the fair wanderer, her ward on earth. Then rose the sage
genius, Macoma, and told the tale of the Sultan Misnar, with the
episodes of Mahoud and the princess of Cassimir. The affable Adiram, the
tutelar genius of Sadak and Kalas´rade, told of their battle of life.
Last of all rose the venerable genius, Nadan, and recounted the history
of his earthly charge, named Mirglip, the dervise. These tales are from
the Persian, and are ascribed to Horam, son of Asmar.
=Talgol=, a butcher in Newgate market, who obtained a captain’s
commission in Cromwell’s army for his bravery at Naseby.
Talgol was of courage stout ...
Inured to labor, sweat, and toil,
And like a champion, shone with oil ...
He many a boar and huge dun cow
Did, like another Guy, o’erthrow ...
With greater troops of sheep he’d fought
Than Ajax or bold Don Quixote.
S. Butler, _Hudibras_. i. 2 (1663).
=Taliesin= or TALIESSIN, son of St. Henwig, chief of the bards of the
West, in the time of King Arthur (sixth century). In the _Mabinogion_,
are given the legends connected with him, several specimens of his
songs, and all that is historically known about him. The bursting in of
the sea through the neglect of Seithenin, who had charge of the
embankment, and the ruin which it brought on Gwyddno Garanhir, is
allegorized by the bursting of a pot called the “caldron of
inspiration,” through the neglect of Gwion Bach, who was set to watch
it.
That Taliessen, once which made the rivers dance,
And in his rapture raised the mountains from their trance.
Shall tremble at my verse.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1613).
=Talisman= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott, and one of the best of the
thirty-two which he wrote (1825). It relates how Richard Cœur de Lion
was cured of a fever in the Holy Land, by Saladin, the soldan, his noble
enemy. Saladin, hearing of his illness, assumed the disguise of Adonbec
el Hakim, the physician, and visited the king. He filled a cup with
spring water, into which he dipped the talisman, a little red purse that
he took from his bosom, and when it had been steeped long enough, he
gave the draught to the king to drink (ch. ix.). During the king’s
sickness, the archduke of Austria planted his own banner beside that of
England; but as soon as Richard recovered from his fever he tore down
the Austrian banner, and gave it in custody to Sir Kenneth. While
Kenneth was absent he left his dog in charge of it, but on his return,
found the dog wounded, and the banner stolen. King Richard, in his rage,
ordered Sir Kenneth to execution, but pardoned him on the intercession
of “the physician” (Saladin). Sir Kenneth’s dog showed such a strange
aversion to the Marquis de Montserrat, that suspicion was aroused, the
marquis was challenged to single combat, and, being overthrown by Sir
Kenneth, confessed that he had stolen the banner. The love story
interwoven is that between Sir Kenneth, the prince royal of Scotland,
and Lady Edith Plantagenet, the king’s kinswoman, with whose marriage
the tale concludes.
=Talismans= (_The Four_). Houna, surnamed Seidel-Beckir, a talismanist,
made three of great value: viz., a little golden fish, which would fetch
out of the sea whatever it was bidden; a poniard, which rendered
invisible not only the person bearing it, but all those he wished to be
so; and a ring of steel, which enabled the wearer to read the secrets of
men’s hearts. The fourth talisman was a bracelet, which preserved the
wearer from poison.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“The Four
Talismans,” 1743).
=Talking-Bird= (_The_), called Bulbulhe´zar. It had the power of human
speech, and when it sang all the song-birds in the vicinity came and
joined in concert. It was also oracular, and told the sultan the tale of
his three children, and how they had been exposed by the sultana’s two
jealous sisters.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Two Sisters,” the last tale).
The talking bird is called “the little green bird” in “The Princess
Fairstar,” one of the _Fairy Tales_ of the Comtesse D’Aunoy (1682).
=Tallboy= (_Old_), forester of St. Mary’s Convent.--Sir W. Scott,
_Monastery_ (time, Elizabeth).
=Talleyrand.= This name, anciently written “Taileran,” was originally a
sobriquet derived from the words _tailler les rangs_ (“cut through the
ranks”).
Talleyrand is generally credited with the _mot_: “La parole a été donnée
à l’homme pour l’aider à cacher sa pensée [_or_ déguiser la pensée];”
but they were spoken by Comte de Montrond, “the most agreeable scoundrel
in the court of Marie Antoinette.”--Captain Gronow, _Recollections and
Anecdotes_.
Voltaire, sixty years previously, had said: “Ils n’employent les paroles
que pour déguiser leurs pensées.”--_Le Chapon et la Poularde._
And Goldsmith, in 1759, when Talleyrand was about four years old, had
published the sentence: “The true use of speech is not so much to
express our wants as to conceal them.”--_The Bee_, iii.
=Talos=, a son of Perdix, sister of Dædălos, inventor of the saw,
compasses, and other mechanical instruments. His uncle, jealous of him,
threw him from the citadel of Athens, and he was changed into a
partridge.
_Talos_, a man of brass, made by Hephæstos (_Vulcan_). This wonderful
automaton was given to Minos to patrol the island of Crete. It traversed
the island thrice every day, and if a stranger came near, made itself
red hot, and squeezed him to death.
=Talus=, an iron man, representing power or the executive of a state. He
was Astræa’s groom, whom the goddess gave to Sir Artĕgal. This man of
iron, “unmovable and resistless without end,” “swift as a swallow, and
as a lion strong,” carried in his hand an iron flail, “with which he
threshed out falsehood, and did truth unfold.” When Sir Artegal fell
into the power of Radigund, queen of the Amăzons, Talus brought
Britomart to the rescue.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 1 (1596).
=Talut.= So the Mohammedans call Saul.
Verily God hath sent Talût king over you .... Samuel said, Verily God
hath chosen him, and hath caused him to increase in knowledge and
stature.--_Al Korân_, ii.
=Talvi=, a pseudonym of Mrs. Robinson. It is simply the initials of her
maiden name, Therese Albertine Louise von Iakob.
=Tam o’ Todshaw=, a huntsman, near Charlie’s Hope Farm.--Sir W. Scott,
_Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
=Tam o’ the Cowgate=, the sobriquet of Sir Thomas Hamilton, a Scotch
lawyer, who lived in the Cowgate, at Edinburgh (*-1563).
=Tam O’ Shanter=, drunken peasant who looks into the lighted windows of
Alloway Kirk one night, on his way home from the tavern, and watches the
witches dance. He is discovered and chased by the hags. In crossing the
bridge, a witch who has sprung upon his crupper, seizes his horse’s
tail, and he leaves it with her, since she cannot cross running
water.--Robert Burns, _Tam O’ Shanter_.
=Tamburlaine the Great= (or _Timour Lengh_), the Tartar conqueror. In
history called Tamerlane. He had only one hand and was lame (1336-1405).
The hero and title of a tragedy by C. Marlowe (1587). Shakespeare (_2
Henry IV._ act ii. sc. 4) makes Pistol quote a part of this turgid play.
Holla, ye pampered jades of Asia.
What! can ye draw but twenty miles a day,
And have so proud a chariot at your heels,
And such a coachman as great Tamburlaine.
(In the stage direction in Marlowe’s play:
Enter Tamburlaine, drawn in his chariot by Treb´izon and Soria, with
bits in their mouths, reins in his left hand, in his right a whip with
which he scourgeth them.)
N. Rowe has a tragedy entitled _Tamerlane_ (_q. v._).
=Tamer Tamed= (_The_), a kind of sequel to Shakespeare’s comedy _The
Taming of the Shrew_. In the _Tamer Tamed_, Petruchio is supposed to
marry a second wife, by whom he is hen-pecked.--Beaumont and Fletcher
(1647).
=Tamerlane=, emperor of Tartary, in Rowe’s tragedy so called, is a
noble, generous, high-minded prince, the very glass of fashion for all
conquerors, in his forgiveness of wrongs, and from whose example
Christians might be taught their moral code. Tamerlane treats Bajazet,
his captive, with truly godlike clemency, till the fierce sultan plots
his assassination. Then, longer forbearance would have been folly, and
the Tartar has his untamed captive chained in a cage, like a wild
beast.--N. Rowe, _Tamerlane_ (1702).
It is said that Louis XIV. was Rowe’s “Bajazet,” and William III. his
“Tamerlane.”
⁂ Tamerlane is a corruption of _Timour Lengh_ (“Timour, the lame”). He
was one-handed and lame also. His name was used by the Persians _in
terrorem_. (See TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT.)
=Taming of the Shrew= (_The_), a comedy by Shakespeare (1594). The
“shrew” is Kathari´na, elder daughter of Baptista, of Padua, and she is
tamed by the stronger mind of Petruchio into a most obedient and
submissive wife.
This drama is founded on _A pleasaunt conceited Historie, called The
Taming of a Shrew. As it hath beene sundry times acted by the right
honourable the earle of Pembrooke his servants, 1607._ The induction is
borrowed from Heuterus, _Rerum Burgundearum_, iv., a translation of
which into English, by E. Grimstone, appeared in 1607. The same trick
was played by Haroun-al-Raschid, on the merchant Abou Hassan (_Arabian
Nights_, “The Sleeper Awakened”); and by Philippe the Good of Burgundy.
(See Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, II. ii. 4; see also _The
Frolicksome Duke, or the Tinker’s Good Fortune_ (a ballad), Percy.)
Beaumont and Fletcher wrote a kind of sequel to this comedy, called _The
Tamer Tamed_, in which Petruchio is supposed to marry a second wife, by
whom he is hen-pecked (1647).
_The Honeymoon_, a comedy by Tobin (1804), has a similar plot, but the
shrew is tamed with far less display of obstreperous self-will.
=Tami´no and Pami´na=, the two lovers who were guided by the magic flute
through all worldly dangers to the knowledge of divine truth (or the
mysteries of Isis).--Mozart, _Die Zauberflöte_ (1791).
=Tamismud=, aged chief of the Delawares, regarded as an oracle by
Indians of all tribes. When Magua brings his captives, whites and
Indians, before the sage for sentence, Tamismud is a hundred years old,
and speaks with clear eyes, and for the most part dreamily, as communing
with unseen powers. His style of speech is highly figurative and the
superstitious creatures by whom he is surrounded hang breathlessly upon
every sentence uttered by his lips.--James Fenimore Cooper, _The Last of
the Mohicans_ (1826).
=Tam´ora=, queen of the Goths, in love with Aaron, the Moor.--(?)
Shakespeare, _Titus Andron´icus_ (1593).
⁂ The classic name is _Andronīcus_, but Titus Andronĭcus is a purely
fictitious character.
=Tamper= (_Colonel_), betrothed to Emily. On his return from Havana, he
wanted to ascertain if Emily loved him “for himself alone;” so he
pretended to have lost one leg and one eye. Emily was so shocked that
the family doctor was sent for, who, amidst other gossip, told the young
lady he had recently seen Colonel Tamper, who was looking remarkably
well, and had lost neither leg nor eye. Emily now perceived that a trick
was being played, so she persuaded Mdlle. Florival to assume the part of
a rival lover, under the assumed name of Captain Johnson. After the
colonel had been thoroughly roasted, Major Belford entered, recognized
“Captain Johnson” as his own _affiancée_, the colonel saw how the tables
had been turned upon him, apologized, and all ended happily.--G. Colman,
Sr., _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).
=Tamson= (_Peg_), an old woman at Middlemas village.--Sir W. Scott, _The
Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).
=Tanaquill=, wife of Tarquinius, _priscus_ of Rome. She was greatly
venerated by the Romans, but Juvenal uses the name as the
personification of an imperious woman with a strong independent will. In
the _Faëry Queen_, Spenser calls Gloriana (_Queen Elizabeth_),
“Tanaquill” (bk. i. introduction, 1590).
=Tancred=, son of Eudes and Emma. He was the greatest of all the
Christian warriors except Rinaldo. His one fault was the love of woman,
and that woman Clorinda, a pagan (bk. i.). Tancred brought 800 horse to
the allied crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon. In a night combat
Tancred unwittingly slew Clorinda, and lamented her death with great and
bitter lamentation (bk. xii.). Being wounded, he was tenderly nursed by
Erminia, who was in love with him (bk. xix).--Tasso, _Jerusalem
Delivered_ (1575).
⁂ Rossini has an opera entitled _Tancredi_ (1813).
_Tancred_, prince of Otranto, one of the crusaders, probably the same as
the one above.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).
_Tancred_ (_Count_), the orphan son of Manfred, eldest grandson of Roger
I. of Sicily, and rightful heir to the throne. His father was murdered
by William the Bad, and he himself, was brought up by Siffre´di, lord
high chancellor of Sicily. While only a count, he fell in love with
Sigismunda, the chancellor’s daughter, but when King Roger died, he left
the throne to Tancred, provided he married Constantia, daughter of
William the Bad, and thus united the rival lines. Tancred gave a tacit
consent to this arrangement, intending all the time to obtain a
dispensation from the pope, and marry the chancellor’s daughter; but
Sigismunda could not know his secret intentions, and, in a fit of
irritation, married the Earl Osmond. Now follows the catastrophe:
Tancred sought an interview with Sigismunda, to justify his conduct, but
Osmond challenged him to fight. Osmond fell, and stabbed Sigismunda when
she ran to his succor.--Thomson, _Tancred and Sigismunda_ (1745).
⁂ Thomson’s tragedy is founded on the episode called “The Baneful
Marriage,” _Gil Blas_, iv. 4 (Lesage, 1724). In the prose tale, Tancred
is called “Henriquez,” and Sigismunda “Blanch.”
=Tancredi=, the Italian form of Tancred (_q.v._). The best of the early
operas of Rossini (1813).
=Tanner of Tamworth= (_The_), the man who mistook Edward IV. for a
highwayman. After some little altercation, they changed horses, the king
giving his hunter for the tanner’s cob, worth about four shillings; but
as soon as the tanner mounted the king’s horse, it threw him, and the
tanner gladly paid down a sum of money to get his old cob back again.