as a distinguished portrait, historical, and genre
painter; but long struggles with adversity
drove him to suicide. His principal produc-
tions include "The Funeral of Dagobert at St.
Denis" (for the museum of Versailles), "Death
of Correggio,'
," "The Slave Merchant," "Diana
at the Bath," and "The Old Musician."

TASSO, Bernardo, an Italian poet, born in Bergamo, Nov. 11, 1493, died in Ostiglia in September, 1569. He became in 1531 secretary to the prince of Salerno, and accompanied him in several expeditions of Charles V. In 1539 he settled at Sorrento with his bride, the celebrated Porzia de' Rossi. After her death he fled from the inquisition, became connected with the courts of Urbino and Mantua, and ended his life as governor of Ostiglia. He wrote a heroic poem entitled L'Amadigi, founded on the story of Amadis de Gaul, containing 100 cantos. One of the episodes was expanded into a poem called Floridante, published after his death by his son. He also wrote sonnets, odes, and lyrics, a "Discourse on Poetry," and "Three Books of Letters."

on his return to Ferrara he was received with the wonted cordiality. He was now living in perpetual fear of his enemies, whose numbers had increased with his fame, and of emissaries of the inquisition, although that tribunal had absolved him from the charge of heresy to which he had long fancied himself liable on account of some passages in the Gerusalemme. At length he found his correspondence intercepted, and had a violent altercation with a deceitful friend who had purloined his private papers, with a view, he suspected, of giving the duke evidence of his relations with Eleonora, and he was charged with referring to his love for her in the episode of Sofronia and Olindo in his epic. But the duke expressed no other feeling about him excepting an anxiety for the restoration of his mind, which he regarded, or feigned to regard, as diseased. Even after a murderous assault said to have been committed by Tasso in one of his frantic fits upon Lucrezia's servant, the duke released him after a brief confinement and permitted him to retire to a convent (June, TASSO, Torquato, an Italian poet, son of the 1577), where he was to remain till the restopreceding, born in Sorrento, March 11, 1544, ration of his health. Tasso, however, fled in died in Rome, April 25, 1595. He received July to Sorrento, and reached his sister Corhis first education at Naples, and studied in nelia's house in the disguise of a shepherd and Rome, Urbino, Venice, Padua, and Bologna. in a wretched condition. Having regained his In 1562 he wrote his charming romantic poem health, he became anxious to return, and at the Rinaldo, and about the same time began to instance of his friends the cardinals Albano and prepare his epic on the delivery of Jerusalem Gonzaga, the duke permitted him do so on by Godfrey of Bouillon. In 1565 he went to condition of his putting himself under medical Ferrara as a gentleman in the suite of Car- treatment. New indignities awaited him at dinal d'Este, whose brother, the duke Alfon- Ferrara (February, 1578), despite the friendly so II., received Tasso with great distinction. disposition of Eleonora. He failed to recover His grave and melancholy beauty, eloquence, his manuscripts, and, shunned by everybody, and varied accomplishments enlisted general he fled again from city to city, everywhere readmiration, and endeared him to the duke's garded as a maniac. At the court of Urbino sisters Lucrezia, the future duchess of Urbi- he had a short interval of rest, but his appreno, and Eleonora, who became known as the hensions of danger drove him to Turin. Here special object of his adoration. After about he was befriended by Eleonora's brother the a year's residence with the cardinal in Paris, marquis d'Este, and might have lived in peace; where Charles IX., Catharine de' Medici, and but he hastened back to Ferrara in the vain the French poets showed him marked atten- hope that the celebration of the duke's third tions, he became estranged from his patron, marriage with a princess of Mantua (early in and, mainly through the influence of the prin- 1579) would prove auspicious for a reconciliacesses, was in 1572 formally attached to the tion. He was not permitted to see any memcourt of Ferrara, with a salary but without ber of the ducal family, and the courtiers and specific duties. His celebrated pastoral drama lackeys insulted him so grossly that he broke Aminta was performed in 1573 with great out in vehement denunciations, and was comsplendor at the court, and afterward at Urbi-mitted to the hospital of Santa Anna. Here no. In 1575 he completed his great epic poem under the title of Il Goffredo, which was afterward changed to Gerusalemme liberata. The duke, Eleonora, and Lucrezia (who had separated from her husband) gave him new evidences of their regard, and would hardly permit him to leave them. Yet in November, 1575, he went to Rome to submit his epic to Scipione Gonzaga, and received an invitation to enter the service of the Medici family, which he ultimately declined; but the hostility between the Medici and Estes made him ever afterward believe that the duke had taken umbrage at his negotiation with them, although

he was surrounded by maniacs of the worst description, and treated with a harshness which excited the pity of Montaigne and other visitors. A garbled publication of the Gerusalemme in 1580 was followed in 1581 by genuine editions, which had a prodigious circulation, and gave such a prestige to his name that his situation was slightly improved, and many of his admirers availed themselves of the easier access to his cell. The death of Eleonora in 1581, which Lucrezia thought would make the duke relent, had no such effect; and while fortunes were made by the sale of his epic, Tasso lingered in prison. He was not released

His prose

ap-markable for pathetic sweetness.
dialogues, moral treatises, and other minor
works are also entitled to more attention than
they have received. The most complete edi-
tion of his works is by Rosini (33 vols., Pisa,
1821-32). A good select edition appeared at
Milan (5 vols., 1823-25). His principal biog-
raphers in Italian are his friend Manso (Naples,
1619) and Serassi, whose work is the most
complete (Rome, 1785; new ed., Florence,
1858); and in English, Black (2 vols. 4to, Ed-
inburgh, 1810) and R. Milman (2 vols., Lon-
don, 1850). See also "Conjectures and Re-
searches concerning the Love, Madness, and
Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso," by Rich-
ard Henry Wilde (2 vols. 12mo, New York,
1842); Sulla causa finora ignota delle sventure
di Tasso, by Capponi (2 vols., Florence, 1840-
'46); a complete chronological edition of his
correspondence, by C. Guasti (5 vols., 1852-'5);
and Degli amore e della prigione di Tasso, by
L. Cibrario (Turin, 1862).

until July, 1586, and only after repeated
peals from the most influential quarters and
after his health had reached its lowest ebb,
and then solely on condition of remaining in
charge of Duke William of Mantua, who showed
him much kindness. After William's death he
made in 1587 ineffectual attempts to better his
fortunes in Rome, and in 1588 to recover his
patrimony at Naples. For the rest of his life
he almost continually travelled from Naples to
Rome and from Rome to Naples, enjoying in
the latter city his residence at the monastery of
Mount Olivet; but he was finally obliged to
live in a charitable asylum at Rome until the
grand duke of Tuscany came to his rescue and
invited him to visit Florence (1590). Here,
as everywhere else, he received distinguished
though empty honors. In a subsequent jour- |
ney to Rome, the famous brigand Sciarra re-
frained from molesting him and his travelling
companions, and showed great deference for
his genius. In 1593 appeared his Gerusalemme
conquistata, a remodelled form of his first
epic, to which he alone regarded it as supe-
rior. It was dedicated to Cardinal Cinzio
Aldobrandini, who thereupon induced Pope
Clement VIII. to crown Tasso in the capitol.
He reached the Vatican on Nov. 10, 1594, but
after a relapse of his fever he was taken at
his request to the monastery of St. Onofrio,
on the Janiculum, where he died before the
time assigned for his coronation.-The tribula-
tions of the poet, the peculiar condition of his
mind, his relations with the princess Eleonora,
and the duke's proceedings against him, have
given rise to many conflicting statements, and
thrown a pathetic halo over his life and ge-
nius. Goethe has made him the hero of a cel-
ebrated drama; Hallam regarded him as su-
perior to Virgil in grace, though inferior in
vigor; Ranke and other eminent scholars have
written on him extensively; Lamartine has
called him "the crusader of poetry;" and Fried-
rich Schlegel places him above Ariosto on ac-
count of his melodious versification and pic-
turesque and impassioned delineations of love.
The academy della Crusca, however, bitterly
contested at the time Tasso's superiority over
Ariosto. The most complete of the early gen-
uine editions of the epic appeared at Parma
(4to, 1581), and the most correctly printed
among the latest editions is that of Padua (3
vols. 24mo, 1827-'8). It has been translated
into most Italian dialects and into Latin, re-
peatedly into English, French, German, Span-
ish, Portuguese, Polish, and Russian, and in
1875 into modern Greek. The best transla-
tion into English is by Edward Fairfax (Lon-
don, 1600; latest American ed., New York,
1855); and the most recent English version is
by Sir J. K. James (2 vols., 1865). The Ge-
rusalemme has cast Tasso's other works into
the shade, although his Rime or lyrical poems
are unsurpassed in their descriptions of disap-
pointed love, and the choruses in his other-
wise unsuccessful tragedy Torrismondo are

TASTE, the sense by which we distinguish the sapid properties of bodies, through the sensory apparatus in the mouth. Though the tongue takes the principal cognizance of gustatory sensations, the soft palate and its arches and the fauces share in this office. The nerves of taste are the lingual branch of the trifacial or fifth pair of cerebral nerves, distributed to the mucous membrane of the anterior two thirds of the tongue, and the glosso-pharyngeal nerve, which supplies the base of the tongue, the soft palate, pillars of the fauces, and upper part of the pharynx. The glossopharyngeal nerve is also regarded as the channel by which disagreeable impressions producing nausea and vomiting are propagated to the medulla oblongata. The exact seat of the sense of taste has been determined by placing in contact with various parts of the mucous membrane small sponges moistened with some sweet or bitter fluid, like a solution of sugar or quinine. It is thus found that the power of perceiving savors resides in the whole upper surface (dorsum) of the tongue, its point and edges, the soft palate, the fauces, and part of the pharynx. The most acute sensibility to taste is found in the base, tip, and edges of the tongue, while it is less marked in the middle of its upper surface, and almost or entirely wanting in its inferior surface. These parts are also supplied with general sensibility by the same nerves which communicate to them the sense of taste; and in the tip and edges of the tongue the general sensibility is even unusually acute, as compared with the external integument or other mucous membranes. (See TONGUE.)-Owing to the existence of these two kinds of sensibility in the organs of taste, we must distinguish between the different impressions produced upon them by foreign substances. The sapid qualities, properly speaking, which we distinguish by the sense of taste alone, are such as we designate by the terms re-sweet, sour, alkaline, salt, bitter, &c., besides

dients, and cause them to penetrate readily the substance of the mucous membrane. The sense of taste is also materially aided by the movements in mastication, and particularly by those of the tongue; since a combination of movement and pressure is always favorable to the absorption of fluids by the animal membranes. The full effect of sapid substances is not obtained until the moment of actual deglutition. It is only after mastication is com

tary grasp of the fauces and pharynx, to be swallowed into the stomach, that all parts of the gustatory mucous membrane are brought in contact with it at once, and their sensibility heightened by the simultaneous contraction of the muscles of deglutition.

TATE, a N. W. county of Mississippi, formed in 1873 from De Soto and Marshall counties; area, 406 sq. m.; pop. about 12,000. It is drained by Coldwater river, and traversed by the Mississippi and Tennessee railroad. The surface is undulating, and the soil fertile. The chief crops are wheat, Indian corn, sweet potatoes, and cotton. Capital, Senatobia.

ors.

various compound savors, like those of cooked | meats, vegetables, and fruit. But other physical qualities are often mingled with these, which are of a different character, and are perceived by the general sensibility of the mucous membrane, here developed to an unusual degree. Thus, what is called a viscid, watery, or oleaginous taste is simply a certain modification in consistency of the substance under examination. An oil may have a well marked taste; but this is in consequence of its partial ran-plete, and the food is actually in the involuncidity, or of its containing other impurities or sapid ingredients. An oil which is perfectly pure and fresh is almost or entirely destitute of taste, and conveys to the mucous membrane of the mouth only the sense of its oleaginous consistency. Other substances have an irritating or pungent quality, like alcohol, red pepper, and mustard; and this pungency is also perceived by the general sensibility of the mucous membrane. Most of the condiments in ordinary use produce their effect principally by means of their pungency, mingled with a small proportion of true sapid qualities. Many articles of food also have their taste modified or heightened by the presence of volatile ingredients perceived by the sense of smell; and this mixture of sapid and odoriferous qualities gives to the substances in question the properties which we know as their flavors. In this way are produced the flavors of wines, of tea and coffee, of cooked meats, &c. How much of the effect produced by these substances upon the senses is due to their odoriferous qualities, may be ascertained by holding the nose while swallowing them, so as to prevent the passage of air through the nasal passages.-An essential condition of the sense of taste is, that the sapid substance should be in a state of solution. In the solid form a substance even of well marked sapid quality, like crystallized sugar, produces no effect upon the taste, and is perceived when applied to the tongue only as the physical contact of a foreign body. It is only when it is presented in the liquid form, or is gradually dissolved in the fluids of the mouth, that it impresses the nerves of taste, and its sapid qualities are accordingly perceived. This is probably because sapid substances excite the sense of taste only by being actually absorbed by the mucous membrane, and thus coming in contact with the extremities of the gustatory nerves. This absorption requires time for its accomplishment, and especially requires that the substance, to be taken up by the mucous membrane, should be in a proper condition of fluidity. It is also on this account that a free secretion of saliva is so essential an aid to the sense of taste. When the internal surface of the mouth is in a dry condition, the savor of the food is imperfectly perceived. The sali-converted to Christianity. After the death of vary fluids, being themselves partly composed of organic materials, are especially adapted for rapid absorption, and, as they penetrate the mass of the food undergoing mastication, they become impregnated with its sapid ingre

TATE, Nahum, an English poet, born in Dublin in 1652, died in Southwark, Aug. 12, 1715. He went to London, succeeded Shadwell in 1692 as poet laureate, and died in the precincts of the mint, a privileged place for debtHe was associated with Dryden in the authorship of "Absalom and Achitophel," the second part of which is mostly his composition. He wrote "Memorials for the Learned, collected out of eminent Authors in History" (1686); "Miscellanea Sacra, or Poems on Divine and Moral Subjects" (1698); and "Panacea, a Poem on Tea" (1700). He also produced an alteration of "King Lear" from Shakespeare, which long held the stage to the exclusion of the original. But he is chiefly remembered by his version of the Psalms, made in conjunction with Brady, which is still retained in the "Book of Common Prayer." It was first published under the title of an "Essay of a New Version of the Psalms of David, consisting of the first Twenty, by N. Brady and N. Tate" (8vo, 1695). This was succeeded by "The Book of Psalms, a New Version in Metre, fitted to the Tunes used in the Churches, by N. Tate and N. Brady" (1696), and a "Supplement of Church Hymns" (1700).

TATIAN (TATIANUS), an ecclesiastical writer of the 2d century, the time and place of whose birth and death are uncertain, though he calls himself an Assyrian. He had received the education of a Greek, and been a teacher in the pagan schools before he went to Rome, where he practised as a teacher of eloquence, became the associate of Justin Martyr, and was

Justin (about 165), he seems to have returned to the East, and adopted views resembling those of the Gnostic Marcion on the dual principle of good and evil, and on the essential depravity of matter. He became the founder

of a sect known as Tatianists, forbade mar-| being mounted on long legs, and appearing as riage, animal food, and wine, substituted water if on horseback. The nest is on the ground, for wine in the eucharist, and required the giv- usually near water, and the young quit it as ing up of worldly goods as the evidence of soon as hatched; in the breeding season they Christian sanctity. His "Discourse to the keep in pairs, and the families remain togethGreeks" (Ilpòç "E2λnvas), written while he was er until spring.-The tell-tale tattler or greater still orthodox, has passed through many edi- yellow-legs (gambetta melanoleuca, Bonap.) is tions, the earliest being that of Zürich in 1546, about 14 in. long, 25 in. in alar extent, with and the best that of Oxford (8vo, 1700). The the bill 24 in.; wings long, first quill the longaccount of Tatian and his opinions is best given est; tail short; legs yellow and long; hind by Le Nourry in Worth's edition of his works; toe small. Above it is cinereous of various by the Benedictine Ceillier, in vol. ii. of his shades, with lines, spots, and edgings of dull Auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques; and by Daniel white; lower back brownish black; rump and in Tatian der Apologet (Halle, 1837). upper tail coverts white with more or less perfect brownish bands; white below, with brownish stripes on neck and bars of spots on breast; quills brownish black; tail white, with brownish black bands. This bird, sometimes called stone snipe, is found throughout temperate North America and Mexico, preferring large soft marshes and the vicinity of fresh

TATIUS, Achilles. See ACHILLES TATIUS. TATKELEFF, Vogisny. See supplement. TATNALL, a S. E. county of Georgia, bounded S. by the Altamaha and N. E. by the Cannouchee, and intersected by the Great Ohoopee river; area, about 1,200 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 4,860, of whom 1,280 were colored. The surface is level, and the soil sandy and mostly poor. The chief productions in 1870 were 74,684 bushels of Indian corn, 28,117 of oats, 25,386 of sweet potatoes, 314 bales of cotton, 23,834 lbs. of wool, and 120,012 of rice. There were 699 horses, 700 mules and asses, 4,567 milch cows, 15,138 other cattle, 12,030 sheep, and 13,420 swine. Capital, Reidsville.

TATTA, a town of British India, in Sinde, on the W. bank of the Indus a few miles above the head of the delta, 48 m. S. S. W. of Hydrabad; pop. about 10,000. It stands on ground slightly elevated by ruins, which are exceedingly abundant in the vicinity, and include an old cemetery said to contain 1,000,000 tombs. The town is much decayed. During the season when the river overflows its banks it is almost completely surrounded by water. There are some manufactures of cotton and silk goods, but the trade is not very extensive. Tatta is supposed to be the ancient Pattala. The Portuguese plundered it in 1555, and the British established a factory there in 1758.

TATTLER, the proper name of the wading birds of the snipe family, of the division totanea, as distinguished from the tringea or sandpipers; they are often called sandpipers, in England gambets, and in France chevaliers or totanes. The bill is slender, nearly straight, about as long as the tarsus, pointed, not grooved for the terminal fourth, gape extending beyond the culmen, terminal half hard and horny, and base covered with a soft skin; wings long; legs and neck elongated; toes connected anteriorly by membrane; tail almost always strongly barred. They are genuine waders, frequenting the water's edge, picking up insects, mollusks, &c.; they are swift fliers and runners, and some species take readily to the water; they perform migrations of considerable extent, going north to breed in spring, and returning through the temperate regions in early autumn, at which time the flesh is fat, juicy, and much esteemed. The French name is derived from the body

water; it lives with other waders and the smaller ducks; the common name is derived from the habit of uttering its shrill whistle of four loud and rapidly repeated notes at the least sign of danger, giving the alarm to all the ducks and other game birds in the neighborhood; its notes are easily imitated, calling the bird within gun-shot; the flesh in autumn is excellent eating; the eggs are four, 24 by 14 in., pale greenish yellow, with brown and purplish gray blotches. The common yellowlegs and the willet will be noticed under those titles.-The spotted tattler or peet-weet (tringoides macularius, Gray) is 7 to 8 in. long, 13 in. in alar extent, with the bill 1 in., and the tarsus rather less; the bill has both mandibles grooved and is tapering; lower third of tibiæ naked; tail much rounded; outer toe webbed to first joint. It is brownish olivegreen above, with bronzed lustre and lines and spots of brownish black; line over eyes and