The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 435

TOMSK (37), a town and government (1,300) of W. Siberia, on the Tom, 55 m. from its confluence with the Obi; has a university, and is an important depot on the trade-route to China.

TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE, Irish patriot, born in Dublin; called to the bar in 1789; found a congenial sphere for his restless, reckless nature in the disturbed politics of his time, and was active in founding the "United Irishmen," whose intrigues with France got him into trouble, and forced him to seek refuge in America, and subsequently France, where he schemed for a French invasion of Ireland; eventually was captured by the English while on his way with a small French squadron against Ireland; was condemned at Dublin, but escaped a death on the gallows by committing suicide in prison (1763-1798).

TONGA ISLANDS or FRIENDLY ISLANDS (19), an archipelago in the S. Pacific, 250 m. SE. of Fiji; Tonga-tabu is the largest; volcanic and fruit-bearing; missionary enterprise (Wesleyan Methodist) has done much to improve the mental, moral, and material condition of the natives, who belong to the fair Polynesian stock, and are a superior race to the other natives of Polynesia, but are diminis.h.i.+ng in numbers. See FRIENDLY ISLANDS.

TONGALAND (100), a native State on the E. coast of South Africa, stretching N. of Zululand.

TONGKING, TONQUIN, or TONKIN (9,000), a fertile northern province of ANNAM (q. v.), ceded to France in 1884; is richly productive of rice, cotton, sugar, spices, &c., but has an unhealthy climate.

TONGRES (9), an episcopal city of Belgium, 12 m. NW. of Liege; its church of Notre Dame dates from 1240.

TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE, the name given to certain duties first levied in Edward II.'s reign on every _tun_ of imported wine, and on every _pound_ weight of merchandise exported or imported; Charles I.'s attempt to levy these without parliamentary sanction was one of the complaints of his Long Parliament; were swept away by the Customs Consolidation Act of 1787.

TOOKE, JOHN HORNE, baptismal name JOHN HORNE, born, the son of a well-to-do poulterer, in London; graduated at Cambridge, and to please his father took holy orders in 1760, but after some years, during which he had tutored abroad, zealously a.s.sisted Wilkes in his election to Parliament, and successfully encountered "Junius"; he abandoned the Church and studied for the bar, to which, on account of his holy orders, he was refused a call; became an active political free-lance, and acquired great popularity as a strenuous advocate of parliamentary reform; entered Parliament in 1801, but in the following year was excluded by an Act making it illegal for any one in priest's orders to be returned; inherited the fortune and a.s.sumed the name of his friend William Tooke of Purley; is best known as the author of the "Diversions of Purley," "a witty medley of etymology, grammar, metaphysics, and politics" (1736-1812).

TOOLE, JOHN LAWRENCE, a celebrated comedian, born in London, where he was educated at the City School, and afterwards put to business, but soon took to the stage, serving his apprentices.h.i.+p and gaining a considerable reputation in the provinces before making his appearance at St. James's Theatre in London in 1854; became the leading low-comedian of his day, and in 1880 took over the management of the Folly Theatre, which he re-named Toole's Theatre; has unrivalled powers of blending pathos with burlesque, and in such characters as Paul Pry, Caleb Plummer, Chawles, &c., is a special favourite all over the English-speaking world; _b_. 1832.

TOOM TABARD. See TABARD.

TOPE, the popular name in Buddhist countries for a species of cupola-shaped tumulus surmounted by a finial, in shape like an open parasol, the emblem of Hindu royalty; these parasol finials were often placed one upon the top of the other until a great height was reached; one in Ceylon attains a height of 249 ft., with a diameter of 360 ft.; were used to preserve relics or to commemorate some event.

TOPEKA (34), capital of Kansas, on the Kansas River, 67 m. W. of Kansas City; is a s.p.a.cious, well laid out town, the seat of an Episcopal bishop, well supplied with schools and colleges, and busy with the manufacture of flour, heavy iron goods, &c.

ToPFFER, RUDOLF, caricaturist and novelist of Geneva, where he founded a boarding-school, and became professor of Rhetoric in the Geneva Academy; author of some charming novels, "Nouvelles Genevoises," "La Bibliotheque de mon Oncle," &c. (1799-1846).

TOPLADY, AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE, hymn-writer, born at Farnham, Surrey; became vicar of Broad Hembury, Devons.h.i.+re, in 1768; was an uncompromising Calvinist, and opponent of the Methodists; survives as the author of "Rock of Ages," besides which he wrote "Poems on Sacred Subjects," and compiled "Psalms and Hymns," of which a few are his own (1740-1778).

TORGAU (11), a fortified town of Prussia, on the Elbe, 70 m. SW. of Berlin; has a church consecrated by Luther, and in the town-church the wife of the great reformer lies buried; scene of a victory of Frederick the Great over the Austrians in November 1760.

TORONTO (181), the second city of Canada, and metropolis of the W.

and NW. regions, capital of Ontario; situated on a small bay on the NW.

coast of Lake Ontario, 315 m. SW. of Montreal; is a s.p.a.cious and handsomely built city, with fine churches, a splendidly equipped university, Parliament buildings, law courts, theological colleges, schools of medicine and music, libraries, &c.; does a large s.h.i.+pping and railway trade in lumber, fruit, grain, coal, &c.

TORQUAY (26), a popular watering-place of South Devon, on Tor Bay, 23 m. S. of Exeter; with a fine climate and beautiful surroundings, has since the beginning of the century grown from a little fis.h.i.+ng village to be "the Queen of English watering-places"; a great yachting centre, &c.

TORQUEMADA, THOMAS DE, a prior of a Dominican monastery who became in 1483, during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, head of the Inquisition, a "holy office" he administered with merciless cruelty (1420-1498).

TORRES STRAIT separates Australia from New Guinea, 80 m. broad, and from its numerous islands, shoals, and reefs is exceedingly difficult to navigate.

TORRES-VEDRAS (5), a town of Portugal, 26 m. N. of Lisbon; celebrated for the great lines of defence Wellington constructed in 1810, and behind which he successfully withstood the siege of the French under Ma.s.sena, thus saving Lisbon, and preparing the way for his subsequent expulsion of the French from the Peninsula.

TORRICELLI, EVANGELISTA, a celebrated Italian physicist; devoted himself to science, and attracted the attention of Galileo, whom he subsequently succeeded as professor at the Florentine Academy; discovered the scientific principle of the barometer, which is sometimes called the Torricellian tube, and made notable advances in mathematical and physical science (1608-1647).

TORRINGTON (3), a market-town of North Devon, built on an eminence overlooking the Torridge, 10 m. SW. of Barnstaple; manufactures gloves; was the scene of a Parliamentary victory in 1646, during the great rebellion.

TORTURE, JUDICIAL, torture to extort a confession, practised in England till 1588, and in Scotland by thumbscrews and the boot till 1690.

TORY, the old name for a Conservative in politics, generally of very decided type; originally denoted an Irish robber of the English in Ireland.

TOTEMISM, division of a race into tribes, each of which has its own Totem, or animal, as the symbol of it and the name, and as such treated with superst.i.tious veneration, as involving religious obligation.

TOTNES (4), a quaint old market-town of Devons.h.i.+re, overlooking the Dart, 29 m. SW. of Plymouth; has interesting Norman and other remains; a centre of agricultural industry.

TOUL (12), a strongly-fortified town of France, on the Moselle, 20 m. W. of Nancy; has a n.o.ble Gothic cathedral and lace and hat manufactures; was captured by the Germans in 1870.

TOULON (74), chief naval station of France, on the Mediterranean, situated 42 m. SE. of Ma.r.s.eilles; lies at the foot of the Pharon Hills, the heights of which are strongly fortified; has a splendid 11th-century cathedral, and theatre, forts, citadel, 240 acres of dockyard, a.r.s.enal, cannon foundry, &c.; here in 1793 Napoleon Bonaparte, then an artillery officer, first distinguished himself in a successful attack upon the English and Spaniards.

TOULOUSE (136), a historic and important city of South France, capital of Haute-Garonne, pleasantly situated on a plain and touching on one side the Garonne (here spanned by a fine bridge) and on the other the Ca.n.a.l du Midi, 160 m. SE. of Bordeaux; notable buildings are the cathedral and Palais de Justice; is the seat of an archbishop, schools of medicine, law, and artillery, various academies, and a Roman Catholic university; manufactures woollens, silks, &c.; in 1814 was the scene of a victory of Wellington over Soult and the French. Under the name of Tolosa it figures in Roman and mediaeval times as a centre of learning and literature, and was for a time capital of the kingdom of the Visigoths.

TOURCOING (65), a thriving textile manufacturing town of France, 9 m. NE. of Lille.

TOURNAMENTS, real or mock fights by knights on horseback in proof of skill in the use of arms and in contests of honour.

TOURNAY (35), a town of Hainault, Belgium, on the Scheldt, 35 m. SW.

of Brussels; in the 5th century was the seat of the Merovingian kings, but now presents a handsome modern appearance; has a fine Romanesque cathedral and flouris.h.i.+ng manufactures of hosiery, linen, carpets, and porcelain.

TOURNEUR, CYRIL, a later Elizabethan dramatist, who seems to have led an adventurous life, and whose "Atheist's Tragedy" and "Revenger's Tragedy" reach a high level of dramatic power, and have been greatly praised by Swinburne; wrote also the "Transformed Metamorphosis" and other poems; lived into James I.'s reign; almost nothing is known of his life.