510 



TALESMEN TALL ART. 



rived. The earliest collection of Italian novelle 

 was the Cento Novelle Antichc, made not long 

 after the date of the Gestu Romanorum, and com- 

 posed of anecdotes and stories from the romances 

 of chivalry, the fabliaux of the French trouveurs, 

 and chronicles, together with incidents and jests, 

 gathered from tradition, or of contemporaneous 

 origin. Then came Boccaccio (q. v.), who gave a 

 more dramatic form, and more grace of style to his 

 Decameron. He was followed by Sacchetti, Ser 

 Giovanni, Bandello, Massuccio, &c. They were 

 imitated in France in the Cent Nouvelles, tales full 

 of imagination and gayety, supposed to be related 

 at the Burgundian court. The Cent Nouvelles of 

 Margaret of Valois (q. v.) were of a similar cha- 

 racter. The tales of the trouveurs (q. v.), which 

 were recited at festival meetings among the Nor- 

 thern French, are of still earlier origin than the 

 Italian novelle. Le Grand has published a collec- 

 tion of them under the title of Fabliaux ou Contes 

 du XII. et XIII. Siecle (Paris, 1779, 5 vols), from 

 which a selection has been translated into English by 

 Way (Tales of the XII. and XIII. Centuries, second 

 edition, with notes, by Ellis). A more recent col- 

 lection of these fabliaux was published at Paris, in 

 1823, in 2 vols. (Nouveau Recueil de Fabliaux et 

 Contes, du XIII. et XIV. Siecle, by Meon). In 

 England, the first important work which marks the 

 complete transition from Anglo-Norman to English 

 literature, is that of Chaucer (q. v.), whose Can- 

 terbury Tales were borrowed from the same 

 sources as the narratives of the Italian novelists 

 and the French fa bliers, or immediately from these 

 latter productions themselves. (On the sources of 

 Chaucer, see Ritson's edition of Warton's History 

 of English Poetry.) Of a different character from 

 the foregoing, are the fairy tales and popular stories 

 of the nursery. Of the former, we have given an 

 account in the article Fairies. Our common nur- 

 sery tales are found to exist in the popular tradi- 

 tions of all the Teutonic nations, and seem to be of 

 much higher antiquity than romances and poems of 

 much greater pretensions. " Jack the Giant-Killer 

 and Tom Thumb," observes an English writer, 

 " landed in England with Hengist and Horsa;"and 

 the brothers Grimm (q. v.), who have recently 

 thrown much light on nursery literature in their 

 Kinder-und Haus-Marchen (second edition, 3 vols., 

 1820), do not hesitate to refer the origin of these 

 stories to the Scandinavian sagas. See, on this 

 subject, the article Antiquities of Nursery Litera- 

 ture, in the Quarterly Review, volume twenty-first. 



TALESMEN. See Jury. 



TALIACOTIUS, OR TAGLIACOZZI. See 

 Rhinoplastic. 



TALIESIN; the most celebrated of the ancient 

 British poets, and therefore termed Pen Beirdd, or 

 the chief of the bards. He flourished between 520 

 and 570; and many of his compositions are extant, 

 and have been printed in the Welsh Archaeology. 

 He was ranked with the two Merlins, under the 

 appellation of the three principal Christian Bards. 

 Tradition represents him as an orphan exposed by 

 the side of a river, where he was found by Elfin, 

 the son of Gwyddno, by whom he was educated and 

 patronised. He studied in the school of the famous 

 Cadog at Llanveithin, in Glamorganshire, and, in 

 the mature part of his life, was the bard of Urien 

 Rheged, a Welsh prince, as appears by many of his 

 poems -addressed to that chieftain. See Bard. 



TALISMAN ( Arabic, figure') is a figure cast or 

 cut in metal or stone, and made, with certain 



superstitions ceremonies, at some particular mo- 

 mentof time, as when a certain star is at its culmi- 

 nating point, or when certain planets are in con- 

 junction. The talisman thus prepared is supposed 

 to exercise extraordinary influences over the liearer, 

 particularly in averting disease. In a more exten- 

 sive sense, the word is used to denote any object 

 of nature or art, the presence of which checks the 

 power of spirits or demons, and defends the wearer 

 from their malice. The amulet (q. v.) is much tin- 

 same as the talisman, though, according to some, it 

 is more limited in its virtues. As they were both 

 used most frequently, and perhaps, originally, to 

 avert disease, we find them placing a conspicuous 

 part in the history of medicine, among all nations, 

 irom the earliest to the most recent periods. The 

 nature of the talisman has been very different 

 among different nations. The Egyptians made 

 use of images of their gods and of sacred animals, 

 such as the ibis and the scarabteus; the Greeks n-. <l 

 little tablets, inscribed with the Ephesian words, 

 &c. ; the Romans employed various idols, which 

 they suspended upon the body by chains; the Ara- 

 bians and Turks make use of sentences from the 

 Koran; and we also find, in the East, medals of 

 particular metals struck under a particular constel- 

 lation, and marked with magical signs; in the mid- 

 dle ages, relics, consecrated candles, and rods, ro- 

 saries, images of saints, &c., were employed, and 

 still are, in some parts of Christendom; among 

 some savage nations, the fetich (q. v.), and, among 

 the American Indians (see Indians'), the medicine, 

 are of a similar character. In the middle ages, 

 astrology, and the knowledge of the virtues of talis- 

 mans and amulets, formed an important part of 

 medical science; and the quacks of modern times 

 sometimes have recourse to similar means. See 

 Magic. 



TALLAHASSEE, the seat of government of 

 Florida Territory, is situated in Middle Florida, 

 about twenty-five miles north of Apalachee bay (lat. 

 30 28' N. ; Ion. 84 36' W.), and is 870 miles from 

 Washington. The position of this town was fixed 

 upon as the seat of government in 1824. It was 

 divided into lots in 1825, and immediately in- 

 corporated as a city. In two years after the erec- 

 tion of the first building, its population was 800. 

 In 1830, it contained about 1200; and the county 

 of Lean, in which it was situated, contained 6493. 

 The situation of Tallahassee is remarkably pleasant, 

 and is supposed to be healthy. The ground is con- 

 siderably elevated, and the country around is high 

 and rolling. St Marks, situated near the head of the 

 bay, is the nearest seaport. An elevated chain of 

 rolling hills bounds the shores of the Mexican gulf; 

 and Tallahassee is three miles north of this ridge. 

 The country around it is generally fertile, and is 

 suited to the cultivation of sugar. At present, it 

 is mostly covered with oak, hickory, pine, wild 

 cherry, gum, ash, dogwood, mahogany, and magno- 

 lia. The mahogany is nearly equal to that from 

 Honduras. Fish abound in the neighbouring lakes, 

 and game is abundant in the forests. 



TALLART, CAMILLE D'HosxcN, Duke de, 

 marshal of France, descended of an ancient family 

 of Dauphiny, was born in 1652, entered young into 

 the army, and, after serving under the great Conde 

 in Holland, and under Turenne in Alsace, was en- 

 gaged in the brilliant campaigns of 1674 and 1675. 

 He distinguished himself subsequently on various 

 occasions, and, in 1693, was made a lieutenant- 

 general. In 1697, he was sent ambassador to Eng- 



