T A L 



17 



T A L 



as well as simple records of matters of account. They 

 consisted of squared rods of hazel or other wood, upon 

 one side of which was marked, by notches, the sum for 

 which the tally was an acknowledgment ; one kind of 

 notch standing for 1000/., another for 1001., another for 

 20/., and others for 20.s., 1*., &c. On two other sides of 

 the tally, opposite to each other, the amount of the sum, 

 the name of the payer, and the date of the transaction, 

 were written by an officer called the writer of the tallies ; 

 and, after this was done, the stick was cleft longitudinally 

 in such a manner that each piece retained one of the 

 written sides, and one-half of every notch cut in the tally. 

 One piece was then delivered to the person who had paid 

 in the money, for which it was a receipt or acquittance, 

 while the other was preserved in the Exchequer. Madox 

 observes respecting these rude and primitive records, ' The 

 use of them was very antient ; coeval, for aught I know, 

 with the Exchequer itself in England.' They were finally 

 discontinued at the remodelling of the Exchequer in 1834; 

 and it is worthy of recollection that the fire by which the 

 Houses of Parliament were destroyed was supposed to have 

 originated in the over-heating of the flues in which the 

 di-carded tallies were being burnt. Clumsy as the con- 

 trivance may appear, tallies were effectual in the preven- 

 tion of forgery, since no ingenuity could produce a false 

 tally which should perfectly correspond with the counter- 

 tally preserved at the Exchequer; and no alteration of 

 the sum expressed by the notches and the inscription 

 could pass undetected when the two parts of the stick 

 were fitted together. A correspondent of the ' Gentle- 

 man's Magazine' for November, 1834 (p. 480), states that 

 forgeries were attempted immediately alter the discontinu- 

 ance of tally receipts. The officers of the Exchequer 

 commonly called tellers (talliers), as well as several other 

 functionaries, derived their name from the word tally. 



Many different kinds of tally are used in gardens and 

 trboretums, to bear either numbers referring to a cata- 

 logue, or the names of the plants near which they are 

 placed. Loudon describes several sorts, of wood, metal, 

 earthenware, brick, &c., in his ' Encyclopaedia of Garden- 

 in?.' Wooden tallies are sometimes marked by notches 

 instead of writing or painting; particular forms or com- 

 binations of notches being used to represent either Arabic 

 numerals or the Roman letters commonly employed in 

 numeration. Tallies formed of brick-earth, witn a recess 

 for containing a printed card, which is sheltered by a piece 

 of glass, have been introduced of late years, and are par- 

 ticularly recommended for use in arboretums. Instead of 

 being stuck in the ground, like tallies of wood and metal, 

 these brick tallies are formed with a broad base, which 

 rests upon its surface. 



I'ictorial Bible, note on Ezek. xxxvii. 20 ; Madox's 

 Hi^i',1 1/ i if the Exchequer, fyc. A popular history of 

 tallies is given in vol. xxiv. of the Mirror (pp. 325 and 

 341), partly condensed from the Times newspaper.) 



TALMA, FRANQ9IS JOSEPH, an eminent French 

 tragedian, was born in Paris, January loth, 1763. His 

 lather, who was a dentist, went to England shortly after 

 the birth of his son, and practised his profession for some 

 years in London. At nine years of age young Talma re- 

 turned to France, and was placed in a school at Chaillot, 

 which was kept by Monsieur Lamarguiere, a great ad- 

 mirer of the drama, who delighted to discover and 

 encourage a similar taste in any of his pupils. A year 

 alter Talma had joined the school he was intrusted with a 

 part in an old tragedy, called 'Simois, Fils de Tamer- 

 lane,' which Monsieur Lamarguiere had selected for per- 

 formance by his scholars ; and so deeply did the future 

 tragedian enter into the feeling of the character, that he 

 burst into a flood of tears at the recital of the sorrows of 

 the hero, whose brother he represented. At the age of 

 twelve he wrote a little drama, in the composition of 

 which he further developed his knowledge of the stage. 

 He again visited London, and returned a second time to 

 Paris at the latter end of the year 1781, when he com- 

 menced the study of logic in the College Mazarin. In 

 17X! he made a coup d'essai at the Th6atre de Doyen, in 

 the character of Seide, in the tragedy of 'Mahomet.' A 

 council of friends, appointed by himself, to judge of his 

 performance, pronounced it a failure : ' He had not le, feu 

 Talma deferred to this unfavourable opinion, and 

 quietly resumed the study of his father's profession ; but a 

 few years afterwards the very same friends were called 

 P. C., No. 1400. 



j' 



I.! 



upon to reverse their judgment and confess their mistake. 

 On the 21st of November, 1787, he made his debut at the 

 Theatre Franeais, and in 1789 created a great sensation by 

 his performance of Charles IX. At the commencement of 

 the French Revolution he nearly fell a prey to a severe 

 nervous disorder. On his recovery and the retirement of 

 Larive, Talma became the principal tragic actor. He re- 

 formed the costume of the stage, and first played the part 

 of Titus in a Roman toga. During the reign of Napoleon 

 he enjoyed the emperor's friendship ; and was no less 

 honoured or esteemed by Louis XVIII. In 1825 he pub- 

 lished some ' Reflections ' on his favourite art ; and on the 

 llth of June, 1826, appeared for the last time on the stage 

 in the part of Charles VI. During his last illness the 

 audiences of the Theatre Frai^ais every evening called for 

 an official account of the state of his health previously to 

 the commencement of the performances. He died on the 

 19th of October following, and was buried in the cemetery 

 of Pere la Chaise, in presence of an immense crowd. MM. 

 Arnault, Jouy, and Lalour pronounced orations over his 

 grave. The Theatre Fran<;ais remained closed for three 

 evenings, and the Opera Comique and Odeon were also 

 closed on the day of his funeral. The actors of the Brus- 

 sels theatre (of which company he was an associate) wore 

 mourning for him for forty days, and a variety of honours 

 were paid to his memory at the principal theatres through- 

 out France and the Netherlands. Talma is said to have 

 created seventy-one characters, amongst the most popular 

 of which were those of Orestes, CEdipus, Nero, Manlius, 

 Ciesar, Cinna, Augustus, Coriolanus, Hector, Macbeth, 

 Hamlet, Othello, Leicester, Sylla, Regulus, Danville (in 

 L'Ecole dcs Vieillards';, Leomdas, Charles VI., and Henry 

 VIII. He has been accused, remarks one of his biogra 

 phers, of having spoken the verse of tragedy as though it 

 were prose ; but this avoidance of the jingle of rhyme was 

 one of the greatest improvements which he introduced 

 upon the French stage. In person he was about the 

 middle height, square-built, and with a most expressive 

 and noble countenance. His voice was exceedingly fine 

 and powerful, his attitudes dignified and graceful. In 

 private life he was distinguished for his manly frankness, 

 his kind disposition, and unaffected manners. He spoke 

 English perfectly, and was a great admirer of England 

 and her institutions. He was the friend and guest of 

 John Kemble, and was present in Covent Garden Theatre 

 when that great actor took his leave of the stage. 



(Almanach des Spectacles, 1827; Biographie Nouvelle 

 des Conte inporains ; Xeio Monthly Mug.; Personal Re- 

 collections.) 



TALMUD. [HEBREW LANGUAGE.] 



TALPA. [TAIPID*.] 



. TALPASO'REX, M. Lesson's name for a genus of So- 

 HECID.*, comprising the Shrew-mole. [Vol. xxii., p. 265.] 



TA'LPID/E, the family of Moles. 



The genus Talpa of Linnaeus, as it stands in the 12th 

 edition of the Systema Natures, between the genera Di- 

 dclphis and Sorex, comprises two species only, Talpa 

 Europeea, the Common Mole, and Talpa Asiatica. [CHRY- 

 SOCHLORIS.] 



Cuvier places the Moles, confining them to the genus 

 Tallin, between Sorex [SORECID/E] and CONDYLURA. 



Mr. Swainson places the genus Ta/pa between C/iryso- 

 chloris and Centenes. [TENKEC.] 



ORGANIZATION. 

 Skeleton. The cranium is elongated and pointed, and 



Skull of Mo'.e. 



there is a peculiar bone for the support and working of 

 the muzzle. The part which extends from the internal 



VOL. XXIV. D 



