T A V 



106 



T A \ 



. . ompare .ll'ic-hcr. .]//- 



.. i\.. p. li 



TAI'TOIIIUOV iTixu: Of DKMKNT.] 



T.UTdl.lTK, H mineral which rytallimi. 



Primary I'onn u right rhombic prism. Fiacture conchoi- 

 dal, uneven. Hardness (i-r> in 7. Very brittle. Colour 

 xelxet blai-k : streak grey. Lustre VltfeOm Opaque. 

 Specific gravity 3-8G6. 



Before- tin- blow-pipe on charcoal, melts into a blackish 

 scoria, which is attracted by tin- magnet : with borax it 

 forms ;i clear green glass. 



It does not appear to hve been accurate'l-. 

 but is slated to lie probably silicate- of protoxide of iron, 

 and silicate of magnesia. It is femnel in the volcanic- rocks 

 of the Lake ol' I.aaeh. near Bonn, on the Rhine. 



TAVKRNIKR. JEAN HAI'TISTK. BARON IVAf- 

 BONNK. the son of an Antwerp engnver who had settle-d 

 at Pnris and dealt in ma]>s, was born in ](>O.~i. Hi- was 

 a timelier from bis boyhood. The sight of the maps with 

 whirl) he was surrounded and the coux citation of the 

 geographers who frequented his father's shop inspired 

 him with a passion for seeing foreign countries, whieh 

 he soon contrived to gratify, it does not very i-lcarly ap- 

 pear by what means or in what eapaeity. 



Between 1020 and the close of 1680 he visited most of 

 the countries of Europe : this may be considered ns his 

 iiticeship to the profession of a traveller. Between 

 KUiU and lli(is) he made six journeys to the Kast : this was 

 the poit ion of his Hie devoted to preiductixc (nil. The 

 story of the remainder of his life, from 1070 to KiHO, im- 

 v. ith the idea of an elastic and untiri-d spirit. 

 which, stimulated in part by his dilapidated fortune, but 

 still more bv an incapacity of repose, sunk in an attempt 

 tore-enter that world of actix e exertion in which hi< place- 

 had been occupied by younger men. To appreciate Taver- 

 nier, it is necessary to examine his character as it dis- 

 played itself in each of these three periods. 



He appears to have left his paternal home before lie 

 had completed his fifteenth year; for he tells us that after 

 visiting England, Antwerp. Amsterdam, Frankfort -on-t he- 

 Main, Augsburg, and Niirnberg, he was induced, by what 

 he heaid at the last-mentioned place of the mustering of 

 armies in Bohemia, to repair to tin- theatre of war. About 

 a day's journey from Niirnberg, he met Colonel Brunei-, 

 son of the governor of Vienna, who took him into his ser- 

 vice. Tavernier was present at the battle of Prague. 

 8th November, 1G'2U. Some years later, he followed his 

 master to Vienna, and was presented by him to his uncle, 

 the governor of Raab, at that time xiccreiy of Hungary. 

 who received the young Frenchman into his family in the 

 capacity of a page. With this nobleman Tavernier re- 

 mained four years and a half, and ultimately obtained his 

 dismissal with a \ie\v to entering the sen ice of the Prince 

 of Mantua. Something appears to have made him change 

 this determination, for alter a brief stay in Mantua he left. 

 it, about Christmas, 1629; and after making a short lourin 

 Italy, and visiting his friends at Paris, returned to Ger- 

 many. During the summer of 1G29 he made an excur- 

 sion into Poland ; on his ret urn from which he at t ached him- 

 bl a si. ml time to the family of Colonel Butler, 'who 

 afterwards killed Wallenstcin.' Hearing a report that the 

 ion of the emperor l-Vidinand II. i.ait nperorhitD- 



self, with the title Ferdinand III.) was to be crowned king 

 of Hi. in Rcgeiisburg. Ta\crnier who hail 



:it at that piince's election a-, king of Ilur, 



and his coronation as king of Bohemia (1627), wuhed to 



be present at this thiid solemnity also, and with this % lew- 

 threw up his appointment ^whatever it \vasj in Butler's 

 household. 



Tavernier has nowhere explicitly stated what were his 

 rank and occupations while he ltd this unsettled life. No 

 expre iiini to intimate; that he at any time' 



found himself at a loss lor money. The appoints 

 page in the family of a nobleman holding the high office 

 ol viceroy of Hungary was generally tin to the 



command of a troop. Yet there is a -. in the 



language of Tavernier while speaking of this pait of hi* 

 history, which leads us to suspect thai hi. more 



of a menial character. His lively and enterpriaing disposi- 

 tion seems however to have, made him a general favourite, 

 and , Miig himself not \ery elegantly. 



if we are to jnd/c from his Kr.-nch. yet intelligibly in 

 ki-veral European languages, rendered Jiiin an eligible at- 



tendant. TIis position \\n^ meist probubly that of u; 

 tlu- ready-handed, quick-witted, not orer-ocrupulou 

 tendants. with whom men of hiiih rank in .mill 



it necessary to surround tin From bii. : 



in ditt'erent parts of ! it is highly probable that 



he had picked up some money in the want: he had ac- 

 quired some knowledge- of the military art : he knew senne- 

 thing of watch-making and jewellery; and, abuse nil, he 1 

 had learned to shirt lor himself. Beyond 

 acquaintance with maps anel geography as he had |u 



up in his lather's shop, he possessed no lit i 



licati;i. rtes and habits were those of the 



young rultters of his age. A naturally frank and kindly 

 though somewhat beiisU-rous temper had done much to 

 neutralize the worst impressions of the. lax school i:i which 

 lie- had been ediie-atcil. 



: such preliminary trainmir, and with a cha:. 

 thus far developed. Ta\ ernier commenced his travels in 

 the Kast. He 1 had already been turning his eyes in that 

 direction, anil making interest to ! I into the 



suite of a new ambassador the emperor was about te> de- 

 spatch to the grand seignior, when the' confidential agent 

 of Richelieu, Father Jose-ph, who had known him at Paris, 

 proposed that he- should accompany two young French 

 noblemen who were travelling to Palestine "by the v 



.utino])le. Taxcrnier closed with the oft'cr. anel in 

 company with his cm ' city during the 



winter o'f Ki.'iO-lil. A recent biographer has stalci 

 he besran hi> tirst journe-y in 1(>M: the origin eif the mis- 

 take is as apparent as that it is a mistake, 

 alter the cere'inony of the' coronation was linishcd,' and 

 Ferdinand 111. was not crowned kinir of the Romans till 

 Dcremlier. KiUli. Tavernier gives no dates in li 

 of Ins iirst journey; but we know that, be embarked at 



die for bis second in September, 1638; and w. 

 kneiw that be armed at Home em his re-turn from bis tirst 

 \oyaire em the day of Easter. lie was detained eleven 

 months at Constantinople waiting for a caravan, and 

 seven weeks by a so\ ere attack of sickm-s at Alcpp 

 if \vc assume he set out freim Keircnsbiirii in December, 

 ]<i:>(i. we ha\e- only three mouths left for the overland 

 journey from Resreiisburg to Dre-den. Vie-ima. Constan- 

 tiueiple, Erzroum. Tabri/., Ispahan. Bagdad. Aleppo, and 

 Scanderoon. anel the- voyage from Se-anderoon to Rome, 

 ll is ini])ossible that Tax i i jeiurncy could haxe 



been RMeqnenl to Ferdinand's coronation as kinc of the 

 Reimans. But a stronsr elforl xxas made by that prince's 

 lather to haxe him e-rowne-d at. the close e>i' the diet held 

 at Regeiisbiirg in l(i;i() ; and Tavernier, writing from me- 

 mory forty years later, may haxe- imasruu-d that thtc festi- 

 vities he" xvitnesse-d at that, time were' in honour of ?v 

 coronation which xxas expected lei take place, but elid neit. 

 Two passages in his Traxcl.-. si-em to place it beyond a 

 doubt that the visit, te> Regeiisbnn: which le-d to hi 

 journey took place in HW(). In his tirst volume p. < 

 "the Paris edition of 1U7(H the expression occurs -in 

 lii.'l'J on the road from Ispahan to Ba^elat.' He only tra- 

 \elled that road once, ami that xxas on his return from his 

 first expedition into Persia. It xvoulel be: unsafe to rely 

 upon the- exiele'iice of a figure in a book not very correctly 

 printed : but in the- account of his tirst journey to Ispahan 

 lie mentions having sc i n at 'focal the- xi/ir, who was exe- 

 cute-d a lew days later, after being obliged to raise- the- 

 sie-ge of Bagdad. This can emly n lei to Khosrew i 



about the end of April, lb':i'2. 



This date being ascertained, the e-luouologv of th- 

 suing foilv years of Tax ernie-r's life may be 1 gleaned from 

 his tiavels xxith teilerable accuracy, lie began his liist 

 jouniey to the- |-'.a>t from Regeiisbiirg. in December. Ki.'tO; 

 |)enetriiteil by way eif ( 'oiistantinople andTalni< to Ispa- 

 han, and retained by Bagdad and Aleppo to Kurope c-arly 

 in the summer of 'Hsi.'i. From this date till the com 

 mcnccmcnt. of his second voyage his histoiy wemld lie a 

 complete blank, had he not told in a parenilu-sis that he 



jipointeel comptroller in the- lieiuseholel of the due 

 d'Orle'-ans. xxho gave him leaxe of al)-cucc during his 



, - to the Kast. Oil the' 1,'ilh of! r, Ili.'K he 



embarked at Marseille in a Dutch ve-sse-1. and landing at 



BoMderoon, proceeded by way -of Aleppo anel the' 



i of the Euphrates to Ha- a. There In: e'ni- 

 Oinnu. anel landing at 



liushirc. proee-eded through Shiia/ to Is]iahan. After some 

 stay in that capital, he traxellcd by Slmax and Lars to 



