905 



TANSILLO, LUIGI. 



TARQUINIUS. 



906 



toft, iu Suffolk ; and a third edition, considerably improved, by the 

 Rev. James Nasmith, appeared at Cambridge, in the eame form, in 

 1787. The greater part of this last impression having been consumed 

 in a fire which happened in Mr. Nichols's printing-house on the night 

 of Monday, the 8th of February 1808, the book is very scarce. But 

 Tanner's literary reputation rests principally on his great biographical 

 and bibliographical work, entitled ' Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, 

 sive de Soriptoribus qui iu Auglia, Scotia, et Hibernia, ad Saeculi xvii. 

 initium noruerunt, literarum ordine, juxta familiarum noiuina, dispo- 

 sitis, ComnientariuB,' which had been the labour of his leisure for 

 forty years, and which was published in folio at London in 1748, 

 under the care of the Rev. Dr. David Wilkins. It is a work of exten- 

 sive research and great general accuracy. Bishop Tanner had made 

 large collections of charters, grants, deeds, and other instruments 

 relating to the national antiquities, which he bequeathed to the 

 Bodleiau Library. Some letters from him are published in Dr. Bliss's 

 collection of ' Letters written by Eminent Persons,' &c., 2 vols. 8vo, 

 Lon.lon, 1813. 



TANSI'LLO, LUIGI, born of a noble family at Nola, in the king- 

 dom of Naples, about the year 1510, wrote in his youth a licentious 

 poem, entitled 'II Vendemmiatore," or 'the Vintager,' wherein he 

 deals largely in the obscene jokes and scurrilities in which the peasantry 

 of his country indulge during the vintage season, something after the 

 manner of the ancient Saturnalia. This poem, which the author did 

 not intend for the press, was published by some friend through an 

 abuse of confidence. In order to make amends, Tansillo wrote a pious 

 poem, entitled ' Le Lagrime di San Pietro,' of which a part only was 

 published before his death. A more complete edition of it was pub- 

 lished in 1606. Malherbe made a translation, or rather wrote an 

 imitation of it, entitled ' Les Larmes de St. Pierre, iinite'es du Tansille, 

 au Rot Henry III.,' 1587. Tausillo resided chiefly at Naples, at the 

 court of the Spanish viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo and his son Don 

 Garcia. He accompanied the viceroy in an expedition against the 

 Barbary power. He died about 1584. He wrote also a georgical 

 poem, entitled ' II Podere,' and another didactic poem, entitled ' La 

 Balia,' besides sonnets, canzoni, and other lyric poems, in which he 

 has displayed great poetical powers. He has been compared by some 

 with Petrarca. A complete edition of Tansillo's works was published 

 at Venice in 1738, in 4to. (Tiraboschi, Storia delta, Letteratura, Ita- 

 liana ; Corniani, Secoli delta Letteratura Italiana.) 

 TANSKA, KLEMENTYNA. [HOHFMAXOWA.] 

 TAR1K. [RODERIC.] 



TARLTON, RICHARD, a comic actor of great celebrity in the 

 reign of Queen Elizabeth, was born in the hundred of Condover, in 

 Shropshire. The date of his birth is not known. He died in 1588, 

 and was buried (September 3) at St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, London. 



Tarlton was especially distinguished for his performance of the 

 clowns of the old English drama, in which he is spoken of as having 

 been unrivalled, and seems besides to have been one of those clowns 

 who spoke ' more than was set down for them : ' he was famous for 

 his extempore wit, which indeed must have been an important addi- 

 tion to the dull and vulgar speeches generally assigned to the clowns 

 before Shakspere's time he interlarded with his wit the lean and 

 hungry prose. Dr. Cave, 'De Politica,' Oxford, 4to, 1588, says, (we 

 translate Cave's Latin), "We English have our Tarlton, in whose voice 

 and countenance dwells every kind of comic expression, and whose 

 eccentric brain is filled with humorous and witty conceptions." 



Stow mentions that Tarlton was one of the twelve actors whom 

 Queen Elizabeth, in 1583, constituted grooms of the chamber at Barn 

 Elms : he seems indeed to have been one of her especial favourites ; 

 for Fuller says, that " when Queen Elizabeth was serious (I dare not 

 say sullen), and out of good humour, he could undumpish her at his 

 pleasure. Her highest favourites would, in some cases, go to Tarlton 

 before they would go to the queen, and he was their usher to prepare 

 their advantageous access to her." 



One of Tarlton's last performances was in ' The Famous Victories 

 of Henry V. ; ' this was in 1588, at the Bull in Bishopsgate Street, to 

 which theatre he seems to have been generally attached. Of this play, 

 which is a much earlier one than Shakspere's ' Henry V.,' a full account 

 is given in the introductory notice to ' Henry VI., Part I. and II.,' in 

 Knight's ' Pictorial Shakspere.' It is one of the ' Six Old Plays, 

 printed by Nichols in 1779. Tarlton is known to have written at least 

 one play, ' The Seven Deadly Sins,' which, though never printed, anc 

 now lost, was much admired. Gabriel Hervey, in his ' Four Letters 

 and certaine sonnets especially touching Robert Greene and other 

 Parties by him abused,' 4to, 1792, speaks of a work written by Thomas 

 Nashe, ' right formally conveyed according to the stile and tenour o 

 Tarlton's president, his famous playe of ' The Seven Deadly Sinnes, 

 which he designates as a ' most deadly but most lively playe." 



There is a portrait of Tarlton, in his clown's dress, with his pipe 

 and tabor, in the Harl. manuscript 3885 ; and a similar portrait o: 

 him (probably the one is a copy of the other) in the title page of a 

 pamphlet called 'Tarlton's Jests,' 4to, 1611. A copy of the former 

 portrait is given in Knight's ' Shakspere,' at the end of ' Twelfth 

 Night.' The peculiar flatness of his nose is said to have been occa 

 sioned by an inj ury which that feature received in parting some dogs 

 and bears. 



(Baker's Eiographia Dramatica, by Reed and Jones.) 



TARQU'INIUS. According to the early Roman history the family 

 )f the Tarquinii gave two kings and one consul to Rome. Its origin 

 vas traced to the town of Tarquinii in Etruria, and thence to Greece. 

 Vtodern investigations however have shown that the Tarquinii did not 

 ome from Etruria, but must originally have belonged to Latium, and 

 hat from the earliest times there existed at Rome a gena Tarquiuia. 

 Niebuhr, ' Hist, of Rome,' i. p. 373, &c.) We subjoin a list of those 

 members of the house of the Tarquius who play a prominent part in 

 he early history of Rome. 



Lucius TARQUINIUS PRISCUS. The old story concerning his birth 

 md his arrival in Rome ran thua : During the tyranny of Cypselus 

 it Corinth, Demaratus, a wealthy merchant who belonged to the noble 

 "amily of the Bacchiads, was obliged by the tyrant to quit hia native 

 nty. He sailed to Etruria, which ho had often visited before on his 

 mercantile voyages, and took up hia residence at Tarquinii. Here he 

 married a woman of noble rank, who bore him two eons, Lucumo and 

 Aruns. (Dionys., iii. 46 ; Liv., L 34 ; Polyb., vi. 2.) Aa an aspiring 

 'oreigner could never hope to satisfy his ambition in Etruria, Lucumo, 

 after the death of his father and brother, resolved to emigrate with 

 us wife Tanaquil and a numerous band of friends to Rome, where 

 several strangers had already obtained the highest honours. He was 

 Confirmed in his expectations by a miraculous occurrence which 

 lappened just when he was approaching the city, and by the interpre- 

 iation of it by bis wife, who was well skilled in augury. At Rome 

 Lucumo was favourably received by King Ancua Marcius, and lands 

 were assigned to him. To omit nothing on hia part which might 

 characterise him as a complete Roman, he adopted the name of Lucius 

 Tarquinius, to which subsequently the name Priscus was added to 

 distinguish him fr )m other members of his house. His wealth and 

 arudence induced King Ancus to allow Tarquin to take part in all 

 he affairs of state, and in his will he made him the guardian of his 

 children, who were yet under age. [ANGUS MAHCIUS.] Tarquin him- 

 self aspired to become king of Rome. Accordingly, on the death of 

 Ancus, he sent the young princes out hunting, and during their 

 absence he held the comitia, for electing a successor to Ancus, and 

 succeeded in persuading the people to elect him, to the exclusion of 

 the sons of Ancus, B.C. 616. 



This is the common story of the descent of the fifth king of Rome, 

 of the manner in which he came to Rome, and was raised to the 

 throne. How much there may be historical in the tradition cannot be 

 ascertained. Thus much however appears certain, that the arrival of 

 Demaratus in Etruria cannot have been contemporaneous with the 

 tyranny of Cypselus, and that, as stated above, Tarquinius was not a 

 foreigner, but belonged to a Latin gens Tarquinia. (Nieb., i. 373, &c.) 



L. Tarquinius Priscus distinguished himself during his reign no less 

 in war than in the peaceful administration of the state. His first war 

 was against the Latins, from whom he took great spoil. With equal 

 success he carried on war with the Sabines, whom he defeated in two 

 great battles, and from whom he took the town of Collatia with its 

 territory. After this he again made war on the Latins, and after he 

 had subdued them and made himself master of many of then? towns, 

 he concluded a peace with them. During the intervals between these 

 wars he introduced various improvements into the constitution of the 

 state, which were intended to organise the body of the plebeians, and 

 perhaps to place them on an equality with the patricians. But he 

 could only partially carry his schemes into effect, as he was thwarted 

 by the augur Attus Navius, who probably acted at the instigation of 

 the patricians. After his first Latin war Tarquin built the Circus 

 Maximus for the exhibition of the public spectacles, and is said to 

 have been the founder of the Roman or great games (Ludi Magni or 

 Romani). He also assigned the ground round the forum to private 

 individuals, that they might there build porticoes and places for 

 transacting business ; and lastly, he is said to have formed the plan of 

 inclosing the city by a stone wall, which he was prevented from accom- 

 plishing by the outbreak of the Sabine war. After the second war 

 against the Latins, he recurred to his plan, and is said to have made 

 actual preparations for building the wall; but the completion of it 

 was reserved for his successor, Servius Tullius. The greatest work at 

 Rome which owes its origin to Tarquin, and which has survived all 

 the vicissitudes of the city, are the gigantic sewers (cloacae) in the 

 lower districts of Rome. 



The sons of Ancus Marcius, who had been deprived of the throne 

 by their guardian Tarquin, never forgot the injury, and when they 

 discovered that it was his and Tanaquil's intention to secure the suc- 

 cession to Servius Tullius, they formed the design of murdering 

 Tarquin. [SERVIUS TULLIUS.] For this purpose they hired two sturdy 

 shepherds, who went to the king's palace, and there conducted them- 

 selves as if they were engaged in a violent quarrel. At last the king 

 himself appeared to settle their dispute ; but while he was listening 

 to one of them, the other split the king's head with an axe. Thus 

 died L. Tarquinius Priscus, after a reign of thirty-eight years, in 

 B.C. 578. The queen kept his death secret until the succession was 

 secured to Servius Tullius. The assassins were seized, and the sons of 

 Ancus fled to Suessa Pometia. (Livy, i. 34-42 ; Dionysius, iii. 46-73.) 

 Tarquinius Priscus left two sons, Lucius and Aruns Tarquinius. 



During the reign of this kiug Rome appears as a powerful state in 

 comparison with what it is said to have been before him. According 

 to the historians this greatness was not the result of his reign, but is 



