The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 434

t.i.tANIA, the wife of Oberon and the queen of the fairies.

t.i.tANIUM, a rare, very hard metal, always found in combination.

t.i.tANS, in the Greek mythology sons of Uranos and Gaia, beings of gigantic strength, and of the dynasty prior to that of Zeus, who made war on Zeus, and hoped to scale heaven by piling mountain on mountain, but were overpowered by the thunderbolts of Zeus, and consigned to a limbo below the lowest depths of Tartarus; they represent the primitive powers of nature, as with seeming reluctance submissive to the world-order established by Zeus, and symbolise the vain efforts of mere strength to subvert the ordinance of heaven; they are not to be confounded with the Giants, nor with their offspring, who had learned wisdom from the failure of their fathers, and who, Prometheus one of them, represented the idea that the world was made for man and not man for the world, and that all the powers of it, from highest to lowest, were there for his behoof.

t.i.tHONUS, in the Greek mythology son of Laomedon, who was wedded to Eos, who begged Zeus to confer on him immortality but forgot to beg for youth, so that his decrepitude in old age became a burden to him; he was changed into a cicada.

t.i.tIAN, VECELLIO, great Italian painter, born at Capo del Cadore, the prince of colourists and head of the Venetian school; studied at Venice, and came under the influence of Giorgione; he was a master of his art from the very first, and his fame led to employment in all directions over Italy, Germany, and Spain; his works were numerous, and rich in variety; he was much in request as a portrait-painter, and he painted most of the great people he knew; he ranks with Michael Angelo and Raphael as the head of the Italian renaissance; lived to a great age (1477-1576).

t.i.tIENS, TERESA, a famous operatic singer, born of Hungarian parents in Hamburg; made her _debut_ in 1849 at Altona, in the character of Lucrezia Borgia (1849), and soon took rank as the foremost singer on the German lyric stage; appeared with triumphant success in London (1858), and henceforth made her home in England, a.s.sociated herself with the management of Mapleson; visited America in 1875; her commanding physique and powerful acting, together with her splendid voice, made her an ideal interpreter of such tragic characters as Norma, Fidelio, Margarita, Ortrud, &c. (1834-1877).

t.i.tMARSH, MICHAEL ANGELO, pseudonym a.s.sumed for a series of years by Thackeray.

t.i.tUS, a convert of St. Paul, a Greek by birth, appears to have accompanied St Paul on his last journey, and to have been with him at his death; Paul's Epistle to him was to instruct and encourage him during his ministry in Crete.

t.i.tUS, FLAVIUS VESPASIa.n.u.s, Roman emperor, born at Rome, the son of Vespasian, served in Germany and Britain, and under his father in Judaea; on his father's elevation to the throne persecuted the Jews, laid siege to Jerusalem, and took the city in A.D. 70; on his accession to the throne he addressed himself to works of public beneficence, and became the idol of the citizens; his death was sudden, and his reign lasted only three years; during that short period he won for himself the t.i.tle of the "Delight of Mankind" (40-81).

t.i.tYUS, a giant whose body covered nine acres of land, son of Zeus and Gaia, who for attempting to force Latona was punished in the nether world by two vultures continually gnawing at his liver.

TIVERTON (11), an interesting old town of Devons.h.i.+re, pleasantly situated between the Exe and Loman, 12 m. N. by E. of Exeter; possesses public baths, a.s.sembly rooms, almshouses, and a 17th-century grammar-school; noted for its lace manufactures.

TIVOLI (9), a town of Italy, known to the ancients as Tibur, beautifully situated on the Teverone, 18 m. E. of Rome; was much resorted to by the wealthy Roman citizens, and is celebrated by Horace; is full of interesting remains.

TLAXCALA (138), a State of North Mexico, and formerly an Aztec republic; capital, Tlaxcala (4); has woollen manufactures.

TOBAGO (21), one of the WINDWARD ISLANDS (q. v.), the most southerly of the group; a British possession since 1763, politically attached to Trinidad; is hilly, picturesque, and volcanic; exports rum, mola.s.ses, and live-stock.

TOBIT, THE BOOK OF, a book of the Apocrypha giving account of the life and vicissitudes of a pious Israelitish family in the a.s.syrian captivity, that consisted of Tobit, Anna his wife, and Tobias his son; all three are held up to honour for their strict observance of the Law of the Lord and their deeds of charity to such as loved it, and notable for the prominence given in it to the ministry of angels, both good and bad, among the former Raphael and among the latter Asmodeus, and is the work of a Jew whose mind was imbued with Oriental imagery.

TOBOLSK (20), a town and government (1,313), of W. Siberia, picturesquely planted at the confluence of the Irtish and Tobol, 2000 m.

E. of St. Petersburg; has a cathedral, barracks, theatre, prison for Siberian slaves, &c.

TOBY, UNCLE, the hero of Sterne's "Tristram Shandy," a retired captain, distinguished for his kindness, gallantry, and simplicity.

TOCANTINS, one of the great rivers of Brazil, rises in the State of Goyaz; flows northwards, and after a course of 1500 m. enters the estuary of the Para, one of the mouths of the Amazon, 138 m. from the Atlantic; receives the Araguay from the S., an affluent 1600 m. long.

TOCQUEVILLE, ALEXIS CLeREL DE, French economist, born at Verneuil, of an old Norman family, bred to the bar, and specially distinguished as the author of two works in high repute, "La Democratie en Amerique" and "L'Ancien Regime et la Revolution"; died at Cannes, leaving much of his work unfinished (1805-1861).

TODHUNTER, ISAAC, mathematician, born at Rye; educated at University College, London, and at Cambridge, where he graduated senior wrangler and Smith's prizeman in 1848; elected Fellow and princ.i.p.al mathematical lecturer of his college (St. John's), and soon became widely known in educational circles by his various and excellent handbooks and treatises on mathematical subjects (1820-1884).

TODLEBEN, EDUARD IVANOVITCH, a noted Russian general of German descent, who, trained in the engineer corps, greatly distinguished himself by his defensive operations at Sebastopol during its siege by the French and English in the Crimean War, and subsequently by the reduction of Plevna, his greatest achievement, which brought to a close the war with Turkey in 1877; subsequently became commander-in-chief in Bulgaria (1818-1884).

TODMORDEN (25), a cotton town prettily situated amid hills on the border of Lancas.h.i.+re and Yorks.h.i.+re, on the Calder, 21 m. NE. of Manchester; coal abounds in the vicinity.

TOGA, an outer garment, usually of white wool like a large blanket, folded about the person in a variety of ways, but generally with the right arm free, thrown over the left shoulder, and hanging down the back; it was at once the badge of manhood and Roman citizens.h.i.+p.

TOGOLAND, a German protectorate on the Slave Coast, in Upper Guinea, Gold Coast Colony on the W., and Dahomey on the E.; exports palm-oil and ivory.

TOKAY (5), a Hungarian town on the Theiss, 130 m. NE. of Pesth; greatly celebrated for its wines, of which it manufactures 34 different sorts.

TOKYO or TOKEI (1,376), formerly called Yeddo, capital of the j.a.panese Empire, situated on a bay of the same name on the SE. coast of Hondo, and partly built on the delta of the river Sumida; is for the most part flat and intersected by ca.n.a.ls and narrow irregular streets, and has a finely-wooded river-side avenue 5 m. long; on account of frequent earthquakes most of the houses are of light bamboo structure, which, however, renders them liable to destructive fires; has a fine castle, government offices, university, and some 700 schools and colleges; as the political, commercial, and literary metropolis it possesses an overshadowing influence over the national life of the empire. Yokohama, 17 m. distant, is the port of entry.

TOLA, a weight in India for gold and silver, equal to 180 grains troy.

TOLAND, JOHN, political and deistical writer, born in Derry, of Catholic parents; abandoned the Catholic faith; studied at Leyden and Oxford; his first work, "Christianity not Mysterious," which created a great stir, and was burned in Ireland by the common hangman; it was succeeded, along with others, by "Nazarenus," which traced Christianity to conflicting elements in the early Church; he was a disciple of Locke (1669-1722).

TOLEDO (20), a city of Spain, capital of a province (360), and former capital of the kingdom, occupies a commanding site amid hills, on the Tagus, 40 m. SW. of Madrid; within and without presents a sombre and imposing appearance; is the see of the primate of Spain, and possesses a n.o.ble Gothic cathedral, ruins of the Cid's castle, and remains of the Moorish occupation (712-1085); the manufacture of sword-blades, famous in Roman times, is still carried on in a government establishment a mile out of the city.

TOLEDO (131), capital of Lucas County, Ohio, on the Maumee River, 80 m. W. of Lake Erie; is a busy centre of iron manufactures, and does a large trade in grain, flour, lumber, &c., facilitated by a fine harbour, ca.n.a.l, and railway systems.

TOLERATION ACT, a statute pa.s.sed in 1689 to relieve all Dissenters from certain penalties, except Roman Catholics and Unitarians.

TOLSTOI, COUNT LEO, novelist, social reformer, and religious mystic, born in Tula, of a n.o.ble family; served for a time in the army, soon retired from it, and travelled; married, and settled on his estate near Moscow in 1862; his two great works are "War and Peace" (1865-68) and "Anna Karenina" (1875-78); has written many works since, all more or less in a religious vein, and in the keenest, deepest sympathy with the soul-oppression of the world, finding the secret of Christianity to lie in the precept of Christ, "Resist not evil," and exemplifying that as the principle of his own life; _b_. 1828.

TOMMY ATKINS, the British soldier, as Jack Tar is the British sailor, from a hypothetical name inserted in a War Office schedule at one time issued to each soldier.