Chapter V: Part 5

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.

King Edward now blew his hunting-horn, and the courtiers gathered round him. “I _hope_ [_i.e._, _expect_] I shall be hanged for this,” cried the tanner; but the king, in merry pin, gave him the manor of Plumpton Park, with 300 marks a year.--Percy, _Reliques, etc._

=Tannhäuser= (_Sir_), called in German the _Ritter Tannhäuser_, a Teutonic knight, who wins the love of Lisaura, a Mantuan lady. Hilario, the philosopher, often converses with the Ritter on supernatural subjects, and promises that Venus herself shall be his mistress, if he will summon up his courage to enter Venusberg. Tannhäuser starts on the mysterious journey, and Lisaura, hearing thereof, kills herself. At Venusberg, the Ritter gives full swing to his pleasures, but in time returns to Mantua, and makes his confession to Pope Urban. His holiness says to him, “Man, you can no more hope for absolution, than this staff which I hold in my hand, can be expected to bud.” So Tannhäuser flees in despair from Rome, and returns to Venusberg. Meanwhile, the pope’s staff actually does sprout, and Urban sends in all directions for the Ritter, but he is nowhere to be found.

Tieck, in his _Phantasus_ (1812), introduces the story. Wagner (in 1845) brought out his great opera, called _Tannhäuser_. The companion of Tannhäuser was Eckhardt.

⁂ The tale of Tannhäuser is substantially the same as that of Thomas of Erceldoun, also called “Thomas the Rhymer,” who was so intimate with Faëry folk, that he could foretell what events would come to pass. He was also a bard, and wrote the famous lay of _Sir Tristrem_. The general belief is, that the seer is not dead, but has been simply removed from the land of the living to Faëry-land, whence occasionally he emerges, to busy himself with human affairs. Sir W. Scott has introduced the legend in _Castle Dangerous_, v. (See ERCELDOUN.)

=Tantalus=, for crimes the nature of which is uncertain, he was punished in the Inferno with insatiable hunger and thirst, placed up to his chin in water, which receded whenever he tried to drink, while tempting fruits grew near by, that drew back if he attempted to touch them. Hence, _tantalize_.--_Greek Mythology._

=Taouism=, the system of Taou, that invisible principle which pervades everything. Pope refers to this universal divine permeation in the well-known lines: it

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent.
_Essay on Man_, i. (1733).

=Tapestered Chamber= (_The_), a tale by Sir W. Scott, laid in the reign of George III. There are but two characters introduced. General Browne goes on a visit to Lord Woodville, and sleeps in the “tapestered chamber,” which is haunted. He sees the “lady in the sacque,” describes her to Lord Woodville next morning, and recognizes her picture in the portrait gallery.

The back of this form was turned to me, and I could observe, from the
shoulders and neck, it was that of an old woman, whose dress was an
old-fashioned gown, which, I think, ladies call a sacque--that is, a
sort of robe completely loose in the body, but gathered into broad
plaits upon the neck and shoulders, which fall down to the ground, and
terminate in a species of train.

=Tap´ley= (_Mark_), an honest, light-hearted young man, whose ambition was “to come out jolly” under the most unfavorable circumstances. Greatly attached to Martin Chuzzlewit, he leaves his comfortable situation at the Blue Dragon to accompany him to America, and in “Eden” has ample opportunities of “being jolly,” so far as wretchedness could make him so. On his return to England he marries Mrs. Lupin, and thus becomes landlord of the Blue Dragon.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_, xiii., xxi., etc. (1843).

Charles [_VII. of France_] was the Mark Tapley of kings, and bore
himself with his usual “jollity” under this afflicting news. It was
remarked of him that “no one could lose a kingdom with greater
gaiety.”--Rev. J. White.

=Tappertit= (_Sim_, i.e., _Simon_), the apprentice of Gabriel Varden, locksmith. He was just 20 in years, but 200 in conceit. An old-fashioned, thin-faced, sleek-haired, sharp-nosed, small-eyed little fellow was Mr. Sim Tappertit, about five feet high, but thoroughly convinced in his own mind that he was both good looking and above the middle size, in fact, rather tall than otherwise. His figure, which was slender, he was proud of; and with his legs, which in knee-breeches were perfect curiosities of littleness, he was enraptured. He had also a secret notion that the power of his eye was irresistible, and he believed that he could subdue the haughtiest beauty “by eyeing her.” Of course Mr. Tappertit had an ambitious soul, and admired his master’s daughter, Dolly. He was captain of the secret society of “’Prentice Knights,” whose object was “vengeance against their tyrant masters.” After the Gordon riots, in which Tappertit took a leading part, he was found “burnt and bruised, with a gun-shot wound in his body and both his legs crushed into shapeless ugliness.” The cripple, by the locksmith’s aid, turned shoe-black under an archway near the Horse Guards, thrived in his vocation, and married the widow of a rag-and-bone collector. While an apprentice, Miss Miggs, the “protestant” shrewish servant of Mrs. Varden, cast an eye of hope on “Simmun;” but the conceited puppy pronounced her “decidedly scraggy,” and disregarded the soft impeachment.--C. Dickens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841). (See SYLLI.)

=Tapwell= (_Timothy_), husband of Froth, put into business by Wellborn’s father, whose butler he was. When Wellborn was reduced to beggary, Timothy behaved most insolently to him; but as soon as he supposed he was about to marry the rich dowager, Lady Allworth, the rascal fawned on him like a whipped spaniel.--Massinger, _A New Way to Pay Old Debts_ (1625).

=Tara= (_The Hill of_), in Meath, Ireland. Here the kings, the clergy, the princes and the bards used to assemble in a large hall, to consult on matters of public importance.

The harp that once thro’ Tara’s halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara’s walls
As if that soul were fled.
T. Moore, _Irish Melodies_ (“The Harp that Once ...” 1814).

_Tara_ (_The Fes of_), the triennial convention established by Ollam Fodlah or Ollav Fola in B.C. 900, or 950. When business was over the princes banqueted together, each under his shield suspended by the chief herald on the wall, according to precedency. In the reign of Cormac, the palace of Tara was 900 feet square, and contained 150 apartments, and 150 dormitories, each for sixty sleepers. As many as 1000 guests were daily entertained in the hall.

=Tarpa= (_Spurius Metius_), a famous critic of the Augustan age. He sat in the temple of Apollo, with four colleagues, to judge the merit of theatrical pieces before they were produced in public.

He gives himself out for another Tarpa; decides boldly, and supports
his opinions with loudness and obstinacy.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, xi. 10
(1735).

=Tarpe´ian Rock.= So called from Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, governor of the citadel on the Saturnian (_i.e._, Capitoline) Hill of Rome. The story is that the Sabines bargained with the Roman maid to open the gates to them, for the “ornaments on their arms.” As they passed through the gates they threw on her their shields, saying, “These are the ornaments we bear on our arms.” She was crushed to death, and buried on the Tarpeian Hill. Ever after, traitors were put to death by being hurled headlong from the hill-top.

Bear him to the rock Tarpeian, and from thence
Into destruction cast him.
Shakespeare, _Coriolanus_, act iii. sc. 1 (1610).

⁂ G. Gilfillan, in his introduction to Longfellow’s poems, makes an erroneous allusion to the Roman traitress. He says Longfellow’s “ornaments, unlike those of the Sabine [_sic_] maid, have not crushed him.”

Louise Imogen Guiney has a poem entitled _Tarpeia_, beginning:

“Woe! lightly to part with one’s soul as the sea with its foam!
Woe to Tarpeia, Tarpeia, daughter of Rome!”
(1884).

=Tarquin=, a name of terror in Roman nurseries.

The nurse, to still her child, will tell my story,
And fright her crying babe with Tarquin’s name.
Shakespeare, _Rape of Lucrece_ (1594).

_Tarquin_ (_The Fall of_). The well-known Roman story of Sextus Tarquinius and Lucretia has been dramatized by various persons, as: N. Lee (1679); John Howard Payne, _Brutus_, or _The Fall of Tarquin_ (1820)--this is the tragedy in which Edmund Kean appeared with his son, Charles, at Glasgow, the father taking “Brutus” and the son “Titus.” Arnault produced a tragedy in French, entitled _Lucrèce_, in 1792; and Ponsard, in 1843. Alfieri has a tragedy called _Brutus_, on the same subject. It also forms indirectly the subject of one of the lays of Lord Macaulay, called _The Battle of the Lake Regillus_ (1842), a battle undertaken by the Sabines for the restoration of Tarquin, but in which the king and his two sons were left dead upon the field.

=Tarquinia=, wife of Titus, son of Brutus. Titus is one of the conspirators whose object is to bring back the Tarquins to Rome, and the sin against the state is palliated by his connection with the proscribed family. The unhappy son is condemned to death by his own father, and beheaded in his presence.--John Howard Payne, _Brutus_, a tragedy (1818).

=Tarquinius= (_Sextus_), having violated Lucretia, wife of Tarquinius Collatīnus, caused an insurrection in Rome, whereby the magistracy of kings was changed for that of consuls.

⁂ A parallel case is given in Spanish history: Roderick, the Goth, king of Spain, having violated Florinda, daughter of Count Julian, was the cause of Julian’s inviting over the Moors, who invaded Spain, drove Roderick from the throne, and the Gothic dynasty was set aside for ever.

=Tartaro=, the Basque Cyclops; of giant stature and cannibal habits, but not without a rough _bonhommie_. Intellectually very low in the scale, and invariably beaten in all contests with men. Galled in spirit by his ill success, the giant commits suicide. Tartaro, the son of a king, was made a monster out of punishment, and was never to lose his deformity till he married. One day he asked a girl to be his bride, and on being refused, sent her “a talking ring,” which talked without ceasing immediately she put it on; so she cut off her finger and threw it into a large pond, and there the Tartaro drowned himself.--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_, 1-4 (1876).

In one of the Basque legends, Tartaro is represented as a Polyphēmos, whose one eye is bored out with spits made red hot by some seamen who had wandered inadvertently into his dwelling. Like Ulysses, the leader of these seamen made his escape by the aid of a ram, but with this difference--he did not, like Ulysses, cling to the ram’s belly, but fastened the ram’s bell round his neck and threw a sheep-skin over his shoulders. When Tartaro laid hold of the fugitive, the man escaped, leaving the sheep-skin in the giant’s hand.

=Tartar=, handsome, “eminently well-dressed” and vivacious cousin of the Crittendens, into whose family Phœbe has married. The country-bred bride conceives the fancy that the dashing belle is beloved of her (Phœbe’s) husband, and leaves him in consequence. Tartar, meanwhile, has long loved--as she believes--hopelessly, Peyton Edwards, a quietly-reserved young lawyer, whom she finally marries.--Mariam Coles Harris, _Phœbe_ (1884).

=Tartarin=, a Quixotic Frenchman whose life at home and whose adventures while travelling are related by Alphonse Daudet in _Tartarin of Tarascon_, _Tartarin on the Alps_, and _Port Tarascon_.

=Tartlet= (_Tim_), servant of Mrs. Pattypan, to whom also he is engaged to be married. He says, “I loves to see life, because vy, ’tis so agreeable.”--James Cobb, _The First Floor_, i. 2 (1756-1818).

=Tartuffe= (2 _syl._), the chief character and title of a comedy by Molière (1664). Tartuffe is a religious hypocrite and impostor who uses “religion” as the means of gaining money, covering deceit, and promoting self-indulgence. He is taken up by one Orgon, a man of property, who promises him his daughter in marriage, but his true character being exposed, he is not only turned out of the house, but is lodged in jail for felony.

Isaac Bickerstaff has adapted Molière’s comedy to the English stage, under the title of _The Hypocrite_ (1768). Tartuffe he calls “Dr. Cantwell,” and Orgon “Sir John Lambert.” It is thought that “Tartuffe” is a caricature of Père la Chaise, the confessor of Louis XIV., who was very fond of truffles (French, _tartuffes_), and that this suggested the name to the dramatist.

=Tartuffe of the Revolution.= N. J. Pache is so called by Carlyle (1740-1823).

Swiss Pache sits sleek-headed, frugal, the wonder of his own ally for
humility of mind.... Sit there Tartuffe, till wanted.--Carlyle.

=Tasnar=, an enchanter, who aided the rebel army arrayed against Misnar, sultan of Delhi. A female slave undertook to kill the enchanter, and went with the sultan’s sanction to carry out her promise. She presented herself to Tasnar and Ahu´bal, and presented papers which she said she had stolen. Tasnar, suspecting a trick, ordered her to be bow-strung, and then detected a dagger concealed about her person. Tasnar now put on the slave’s dress, and, transformed into her likeness, went to the sultan’s tent. The vizier commanded the supposed slave to prostrate “herself” before she approached the throne, and while prostrate he cut off “her” head. The sultan was angry, but the vizier replied, “This is not the slave, but the enchanter. Fearing this might occur, I gave the slave a pass-word, which this deceiver did not give, and was thus betrayed. So perish all the enemies of Mahomet and Misnar, his vicegerent upon earth!”--Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley], _Tales of the Genii_, vi. (1751).

=Tasso and Leonora.= When Tasso, the poet, lived in the court of Alfonso II., the reigning duke of Ferrara, he fell in love with Leonora d’Este (2 _syl._), the duke’s sister, but “she saw it not or viewed with disdain” his passion, and the poet, moneyless, fled half mad to Naples. After an absence of two years, in which the poet was almost starved to death by extreme poverty, his friends, together with Leonora, induced the duke to receive him back, but no sooner did he reach Ferrara than Alfonso sent him to an asylum, and there he was kept for seven years, when he was liberated by the instigation of the pope, but died soon afterwards (1544-1595).

=Taste=, a farce by Foote (1753), to expose the imposition of picture-dealers and sellers of virtu generally.

=Tati´nus=, a Greek who joined the crusaders with a force of 200 men armed with “crooked sabres” and bows. These Greeks, like the Parthians, were famous in retreat, but when a drought came they all sneaked off home.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_, xiii. (1575).

=Tatius= (_Achilles_), the acolyte, an officer in the Varangian guard.--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Tatlanthe= (3 _syl._) the favorite of Fadladinida (queen of Queerummania and wife of Chrononhotonthologos). She extols the warlike deeds of the king, supposing the queen will feel flattered by her praises; and Fadladinida exclaims, “Art mad, Tatlonthe? Your talk’s distasteful.... You are too pertly lavish in his praise?” She then guesses that the queen loves another, and says to herself, “I see that I must tack about,” and happening to mention “the captive king,” Fadladinida exclaims, “That’s he! that’s he! that’s he! I’d die ten thousand deaths to set him free.” Ultimately, the queen promises marriage to both the captive king and Rigdum-Funnidos “to make matters easy.” Then, turning to her favorite, she says:

And now, Tatlanthe, thou art all my care;
Where shall I find thee such another pair?
Pity that you, who’ve served so long and well,
Should die a virgin and lead apes in hell.
Choose for yourself, dear girl, our empire round;
Your portion is twelve hundred thousand pound.
H. Carey, _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734).

=Tattle=, a man who ruins characters by innuendo, and so denies a scandal as to confirm it. He is a mixture of “lying, foppery, vanity, cowardice, bragging, licentiousness, and ugliness, but a professed beau” (act i.). Tattle is entrapped into marriage with Mrs. Frail.--Congreve, _Love for Love_ (1695).

⁂ “Mrs. Candour,” in Sheridan’s _School for Scandal_ (1777), is a Tattle in petticoats.

=Tattycoram=, a handsome girl, with lustrous dark hair and eyes, who dressed very neatly. She was taken from the Foundling Asylum (London) by Mr. Meagles to wait upon his daughter. She was called in the hospital Harriet Beadle. Harriet was first changed to Hatty, then to Tatty, and Coram was added because the Foundling stands in Coram street. She was most impulsively passionate, and when excited had no control over herself. Miss Wade enticed her away for a time, but afterwards she returned to her first friends.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857)

=Tawny= (_The_). Alexandre Bonvici´no, the historian, was called _Il Moretto_ (1514-1564).

=Taylor=, “the water-poet.” He wrote four score books, but never learnt “so much as the accidences” (1580-1654).

Taylor, their better Charon, lends an oar,
Once Swan of Thames, tho’ now he sings no more.
Pope, _The Dunciad_, iii. 19 (1728).

_Taylor_ (_Dr. Chevalier John_). He called himself “Opthalminator, Pontificial, Imperial and Royal.” He died, 1767. Hogarth has introduced him in his famous picture, “The Undertaker’s Arms.” He is one of the three figures atop, to the left hand of the spectator; the other two are Mrs. Mapp and Dr. Ward.

=Teacher of Germany= (_The_), Philip Melancthon, the reformer (1497-1560).

=Teachwell= (_Mrs._), a pseudonym of Lady Ellinor Fenn, wife of Sir John Fenn, of East Dereham, Norfolk.

=Teague= (_1 syl._), an Irish lad, taken into the service of Colonel Careless, a royalist, whom he serves with exemplary fidelity. He is always blundering, and always brewing mischief, with the most innocent intentions. His bulls and blunders are amusing and characteristic.--Sir Robert Howard, _The Committee_ (1670), altered by T. Knight into _The Honest Thieves._

Who...has not a recollection of the incomparable Johnstone [_Irish
Johnstone_] in “Teague,” picturesquely draped in his blanket, and
pouring forth his exquisite humor and mellifluous brogue in equal
measure.--Mrs. C. Mathews, _Tea Table Talk._

=Tearless Battle= (_The_), a battle fought B. C. 367, between the Lacedæmonians and the combined armies of the Arcadians and Argives (_2 syl._). Not one of the Spartans fell, so that, as Plutarch says, they called it “The Tearless Battle.”

⁂ Not one was killed in the Abyssinian expedition under Sir R. Napier (1867-8).

=Tears--Amber.= The tears shed by the sisters of Pha´ëton were converted into amber.--_Greek Fable._

According to Pliny (_Natural History_, xxxvii. 2, 11), amber is a concretion of birds’ tears, but the birds were the sisters of Meleāger, who never ceased weeping for his untimely death.

=Tearsheet= (_Doll_), a common courtezan.--Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ (1598).

=Teazle= (_Sir Peter_), a man who, in old age, married a country girl who proved extravagant, fond of pleasure, selfish and vain. Sir Peter was for ever nagging at her for her inferior birth and rustic ways, but secretly loving her and admiring her _naïveté_. He says to Rowley, “I am the sweetest-tempered man alive, and hate a teasing temper, and so I tell her ladyship a hundred times a day.”

_Lady Teazle_, a lively, innocent, country maiden, who married Sir Peter, old enough to be her grandfather. Planted in London in the whirl of the season, she formed a liaison with Joseph Surface, but, being saved from disgrace, repented and reformed.--R. B. Sheridan, _School for Scandal_ (1777).

=Teeth.= Rigord, an historian of the thirteenth century, tells that when Chosroës, the Persian, carried away the true cross discovered by St. Helĕna, the number of teeth in the human race was reduced. Before that time, Christians were furnished with thirty, and in some cases with thirty-two teeth, but since then no human being has had more than twenty-three teeth.--See _Historiens de France_, xviii.

⁂ The normal number of teeth is thirty-two still. This “historic fact” is of a piece with that which ascribes to woman one more rib than to man.

=Teetotal.= The origin of this word is ascribed to Richard (_Dicky_) Turner, who, in addressing a temperance meeting in September, 1833, reduplicated the word _total_ to give it emphasis: “We not only want _total_ abstinence, we want more, we want t-total abstinence.” The novelty and force of the expression took the meeting by storm.

It is not correct to ascribe the word to Mr. Swindlehurst, of Preston, who is erroneously said to have stuttered.

=Te´ian Muse=, Anacreon, born at Teïos, in Ionia, and called by Ovid (_Tristia_, ii. 364) Teïa Musa (B.C. 563-478).

The Scian and the Teian Muse ... [_Simonidês and Anacreon_] Have found the fame your shores refuse. Byron, _Don Juan_, iii. 86 (“The Isles of Greece,” 1820).

⁂ Probably Byron meant Simonidês of Ceos. Horace (_Carmĭna_, ii. 1, 38) speaks of “Ceæ munera neniæ,” meaning Simonidês; but Scios, or Scio, properly means Chios, one of the seven places which laid claim to Homer. Both Ceos and Chios, are isles of Greece.

=Tei´lo= (_St._), a Welsh saint, who took an active part against the Pelagian heresy. When he died, three cities contended for his body, but happily the strife was ended by the multiplication of the dead body into three St. Teilos. Capgrave insists that the _ipsissime_ body was possessed by Llandaff.--_English Martyrology._

=Teirtu’s Harp=, which played of itself, merely by being asked to do so, and when desired to cease playing, did so.--_The Mabinogion_ (“Kilhwch and Olwen,” twelfth century).

St. Dunstan’s harp discoursed most enchanting music without being struck by any player.

The harp of the giant, in the tale of _Jack and the Bean-Stalk_, played of itself. In one of the old Welsh tales, the dwarf named Dewryn Fychan, stole from a giant a similar harp.

=Telamachus,= the only son of Ulysses and Penelŏpê. When Ulysses had been absent from home nearly twenty years, Telemachus went to Pylos and Sparta, to gain information about him. Nestor received him hospitably at Pylos, and sent him to Sparta, where Menelāus told him the prophecy of Proteus (2 _syl._), concerning Ulysses. He then returned home, where he found his father, and assisted him in slaying the suitors. Telemachus was accompanied in his voyage by the goddess of wisdom, under the form of Mentor, one of his father’s friends. (See TELEMAQUE.)--_Greek Fable._

=Télémaque= (_Les Aventures de_) a French prose epic, in twenty-four books, by Fénelon (1699). The first six books contain the story of the hero’s adventures, told to Calypso, as Ænēas told the story of the burning of Troy and his travels from Troy to Carthage to Queen Dido. Télémaque says to the goddess that he started with Mentor from Ithăca, in search of his father, who had been absent from home for nearly twenty years. He first went to inquire of old Nestor if he could give him any information on the subject, and Nestor told him to go to Sparta, and have an interview with Menelāus. On leaving Lacedæmonia, he was shipwrecked off the coast of Sicily, but was kindly treated by King Acestês, who furnished him with a ship to take him home (bk. i.). This ship fell into the hands of some Egyptians; he was parted from Mentor, and sent to feed sheep in Egypt. King Sesostris, conceiving a high opinion of the young man, would have sent him home, but died, and Télémaque was incarcerated by his successor in a dungeon overlooking the sea (bk. ii.). After a time he was released and sent to Tyre. Here he would have been put to death by Pygmalīon, had he not been rescued by Astarbê, the king’s mistress (bk. iii.). Again he embarked, reached Cyprus, and sailed thence to Crete. In this passage he saw Amphitrītê, the wife of the sea-god, in her magnificent chariot, drawn by sea-horses (bk. iv.). On landing in Crete, he was told the tale of King Idomĕneus (4 _syl._), who made a vow if he reached home in safety, after the siege of Troy, that he would offer in sacrifice the first living being that came to meet him. This happened to be his own son; but when Idomeneus proceeded to do according to his vow, the Cretans were so indignant that they drove him from the island. Being without a ruler, the islanders asked Télémaque to be their king (bk. v.). This he declined, but Mentor advised the Cretans to place the reigns of government in the hands of Aristodēmus. On leaving Crete, the vessel was again wrecked, and Télémaque, with Mentor, was cast on the island of Calypso (bk vi.). Here the narrative closes, and the rest of the story gives the several adventures of Télémaque from this point till he reaches Ithaca. Calypso, having fallen in love with the young prince, tried to detain him in her island, and even burnt the ship which Mentor had built to carry them home; but Mentor determined to quit the island, threw Télémaque from a crag into the sea, and then leaped in after him. They had now to swim for their lives, and they kept themselves afloat till they were picked up by some Tyrians (bk. vii.). The captain of the ship was very friendly to Télémaque, and promised to take him with his friend to Ithaca, but the pilot by mistake landed them on Salentum (bk. ix.). Here Télémaque, being told that his father was dead, determined to go down to the infernal regions to see him (bk. xviii.). In Hadês he was informed that Ulysses was still alive (bk. xix.). So he returned to the upper earth (bk. xxii.), embarked again, and this time reached Ithaca, where he found his father, and Mentor left him.

=Tell= (_William_), a famous chief of the confederates of the forest cantons of Switzerland, and son-in-law of Walter Furst. Having refused to salute the Austrian cap which Gessler, the Austrian governor, had set up in the market-place of Altorf, he was condemned to shoot an apple from the head of his own son. He succeeded in this perilous task, but letting fall a concealed arrow, was asked by Gessler with what object he had secreted it. “To kill thee, tyrant,” he replied, “if I had failed.” The governor now ordered him to be carried in chains across the Lake Lucerne to Küssnacht Castle, “there to be devoured alive by reptiles;” but, a violent storm having arisen on the lake, he was unchained, that he might take the helm. Gessler was on board, and when the vessel neared the castle, Tell leapt ashore, gave the boat a push into the lake, and shot the governor. After this he liberated his country from the Austrian yoke (1307).

This story of William Tell is told of a host of persons. For example: Egil, the brother of Wayland Smith, was commanded by King Nidung to shoot an apple from the head of his son. Egil, like Tell, took two arrows, and being asked why, replied, as Tell did to Gessler, “To shoot thee, tyrant, if I fail in my task.”

A similar story is told of Olaf and Eindridi, in Norway. King Olaf dared Eindridi to a trial of skill. An apple was placed on the head of Eindridi’s son, and the king shooting at it grazed the boy’s head, but the father carried off the apple clean. Eindridi had concealed an arrow to aim at the king, if the boy had been injured.

Another Norse tale is told of Hemingr and Harald, son of Sigurd (1066). After various trials of skill, Harald told Hemingr to shoot a nut from the head of Bjorn, his younger brother. In this he succeeded, not with an arrow, but with a spear.

A similar tale is related of Geyti, son of Aslak, and the same Harald. The place of trial was the Faroe Isles. In this case also it was a nut placed on the head of Bjorn.

Saxo Grammatĭcus tells nearly the same story of Toki, the Danish hero, and Harald; but in this trial of skill Toki killed Harald.--_Danorum Regum Heroumque Historia_ (1514).

Reginald Scot says that Puncher shot a penny placed on his son’s head, but made ready another arrow to slay the Duke Remgrave who had set him the task (1584).

⁂ It is said of Domitian, the Roman emperor, that if a boy held up his hands with the fingers spread, he could shoot eight arrows in succession through the spaces without touching one of the fingers.

William of Cloudesley, to show the king his skill in shooting, bound his eldest son to a stake, put an apple on his head, and, at the distance of 300 feet, cleft the apple in two without touching the boy.

I have a son is seven years old,
He is to me full dear,
I will hym tye to a stake ...
And lay an apple upon his head,
And go six score paces hym fro,
And I myselfe with a broad arrow
Will cleve the apple in two.
Percy, _Reliques_.

Similar feats of skill are told of Adam Bell and Clym of the Clough.

In Altorf market-place, the spot is still pointed out where Tell shot the apple from his son’s head, and a plaster statue stands where the patriot stood when he took his aim.

See Roman fire in Hampden’s bosom swell,
And fate and freedom in the shaft of Tell.
Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, i. (1799).

⁂ The legend of William Tell has furnished Florian with the subject of a novel in French (1788); A. M. Lemierre with his tragedy of _Guillaume Tell_ (1766); Schiller with a tragedy in German, _Wilhelm Tell_ (1804); Knowles with a tragedy in English, _William Tell_ (1840); and Rossini with the opera of _Guglielmo Tell_, in Italian (1829).

=Tellus’s Son,= Antæos, son of Posei´don and Gê, a giant wrestler of Lib´ya, whose strength was irresistible so long as he touched his mother (_earth_). Herculês, knowing this, lifted him into the air, and crushed him to death. Near the town of Tingis, in Mauritania, is a hill in the shape of a man, called “The Hill of Antæos,” and said to be his tomb.

So some have feigned that Tellus’ giant son
Drew many new-born lives from his dead mother;
Another rose as soon as one was done,
And twenty lost, yet still remained another.
For when he fell and kissed the barren heath,
His parent straight inspired successive breath,
And tho’ herself was dead, yet ransomed him from death.
Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, ix. (1633).

⁂ Similarly, Bernardo del Carpio lifted Orlando in his arms, and squeezed him to death, because his body was proof against any instrument of war.

=Temliha,= king of the serpents, in the island of serpents. King Temliha was “a small yellow serpent, of a glowing color,” with the gift of human speech, like the serpent which tempted Eve.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“History of Aboutaleb,” 1743).

=Tem´ora=, the longest of the Ossianic prose-poems, in eight books. The subject is the dethronement of the kings of Connaught, and consolidation of the two Irish kingdoms in that of Ulster. It must be borne in mind that there were two colonies in Ireland--one the Fir-bolg, or British Belgæ, settled in the south, whose king was called the “lord of Atha,” from Atha, in Connaught, the seat of government; and the other the Cael, from Caledonia, in Scotland, whose seat of government was Temŏra, in Ulster. When Crothar was “lord of Atha,” he wished to unite the two kingdoms, and, with this view, carried off Conlāma, only child of the rival king, and married her. The Caledonians of Scotland interfered, and Conar, the brother of Fingal, was sent with an army against the usurper, conquered him, reduced the south to a tributary state, and restored, in his own person, the kingdom of Ulster. After a few years, Cormac II. (a minor) became king of Ulster and over-lord of Connaught. The Fir-bolg, seizing this opportunity of revolt, Cairbar, “lord of Atha,” threw off his subjection, and murdered the young king in his palace of Temora. Fingal interfered in behalf of the Caels; but no sooner had he landed in Ireland than Cairbar invited Oscar (Fingal’s grandson) to a banquet, picked a quarrel with him in the banquet hall, and both fell dead, each by the other’s hand. On the death of Cairbar, Faldath became leader of the Fir-bolg, but was slain by Fillan, son of Fingal. Fillan, in turn, was slain by Clathmor, brother of Cairbar. Fingal now took the lead of his army in person, slew Clathmor, reduced the Fir-bolg to submission, and placed on the throne Ferad-Artho, the only surviving descendant of Conar (first of the kings of Ulster of Caledonian race).