526 



TARPAWLING TARTAIUC ACID. 



by them to Spain, or by the crusaders to Italy, &c. 

 the French and German cards, and the games 

 founded on them, must be explained from national 

 customs ; but the taroc would seem to have re- 

 mained in a great degree faithful to its Oriental 

 origin. The difference between the taroc-cards 

 and the common French consists in those twenty- 

 two tarocs and four others, between the queen and 

 knave, called cavals. 



TARPAWLING ; a broad piece of canvass, 

 well daubed with tar, and used to cover the hatch- 

 ways of a ship at sea, to prevent the penetration of 

 the rain or sea-water which may at times rush over 

 the decks. 



TARPEIA, the daughter of Tarpeius. the go- 

 vernor of the citadel of Rome, promised to open 

 the gates of the city to the Sabines, provided they 

 gave her their gold bracelets, or, as she expressed 

 it, what they carried on their left bands. The 

 Sabines consented, and, as they entered the gates, 

 threw not only their bracelets, but their shields, 

 upon Tarpeia, who was crushed under the weight. 

 She was buried in the capitol, which, from her, 

 was called the Tarpeian rock ; and there Roman 

 malefactors wete afterwards thrown down a deep 

 precipice. 



TARQUINIUS, Lccius, surnamed Prisons, or 

 the Elder, fifth king of Rome, was the son of a 

 merchant of Corinth, who settled at Tarquinii, in 

 Etruria. His wife, Tanaquil, urged him to repair 

 to Rome, where he ingratiated himself both with 

 the king Ancus Martius, and the people ; and the 

 former conferred on him the guardianship of his 

 two sons. These he superseded on their father's 

 death, and procured the suffrages of the people for 

 himself. His first step was to admit two hundred 

 plebeians into the senate ; after which he engaged 

 in a war with the Latins, and, having finally de- 

 feated a confederacy between them and the Sabines 

 and Etrurians, obliged them to sue for peace. For 

 this success, he was honoured with a triumph ; 

 and he employed the spoils of war in erecting the 

 Circus Maximus. (See Circus.) A confederacy 

 of all the Etrurian tribes against the Romans fol- 

 lowed, which, after a war of nine years' duration, 

 terminated in the Etrurians acknowledging him for 

 their sovereign. Tarquin enclosed the city with 

 walls, and constructed those celebrated sewers, 

 which, even at the summit of the Roman splendour, 

 were viewed with admiration. (See Cloaca.) A 

 new war breaking out with the Sabines, he obliged 

 them to purchase peace by the surrender of all their 

 fortresses. Tarquin, who had vowed a temple to 

 Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, now commenced it on 

 the Tarpeian rock, and thus founded the principal 

 seat of the Roman religion. (See Capitol.) He 

 had reached his eightieth year, when the sons of 

 Ancus procured his assassination (B. C. 576). 

 Tanaquil kept his death a secret until the succes- 

 sion was secured to her son-in-law. 



Servius Tullius Tarquinius, named Superbus, or 

 the Proud, is supposed to have been grandson to 

 Tarquinius Priscus. Servius Tullius married his 

 two daughters to the brothers Aruns and Tarquin ; 

 the latter of whom was violent and ambitious, 

 while his brother was mild and unaspiring. Their 

 characters were reversed in their respective wives. 

 The tragical deaths of Aruns and the wife of Tar- 

 quin, and a criminal union between the latter and 

 his sister-in-law Tullia, followed, and, finally, the 

 murder of Servius, and the accession of Tarquin to 

 the sovereignty, B. C. 534. He supported his 



usurpation by a band of foreign mercenaries; many 

 of the senators went into bunislimi-nt, and the 

 plebeians found the yoke press as hardly on them- 

 selves. He undertook a war against the Volscians, 

 as also against the Sabines, and was victorious in 

 both instances. Returning to Rome, he twice 

 triumphed, and employed the idle populace in 

 finishing the great circus and sewers commenced 

 by his grandfather. It was in the reign of this 

 Tarquin that the Sibylline books were brought to 

 Rome, where they were for many years resorted to 

 for the purposes of superstition or state policy. 

 Brutus, taking advantage of the anger of the people 

 by the unhappy fate of Lucrctia, procured a decree 

 for the banishment of Tarquin and his son ; and the 

 king, at the age of seventy-six (B. C. 509), was 

 obliged to abandon his capital, and take refuge in 

 Etruria. The Tarquins interested some of the 

 neighbouring states in their favour, and Porsenna, 

 king of the Clusini, an Etrurian tribe, invested 

 Rome in their behalf, but, discovering treachery in 

 their conduct, renounced their cause. The Latins 

 also took arms in their favour ; but the new republic 

 finally triumphed over all its enemies. Tarquin at 

 length, having seen all his sons perish in the field, 

 retired to Cuma?, where he died in the ninetieth 

 year of his age, and the fourteenth of his exile. 

 For a critical examination of the history of the Tar- 

 quins, as here given, see Niebuhr's History of Home. 



TARRAGONA (anciently Tarraco) ; a town in 

 Spain, in Catalonia ; Ion. 1 15' E. ; lat. 41 9' N. ; 

 population, 7500. It is situated on the coast ot 

 the Mediterranean, surrounded with walls nn<] 

 turrets, and has a magnificent Gothic cathedral. 

 Under the Romans, it was the capital of the pro- 

 vince Tarraconensis, and was, at one time, one ot 

 the chief cities of Spain. In 516, a council was 

 held here. It was besieged and sacked, in 1811, 

 by the French, under marshal Suchet. 



TARRAS. See Cements. 



TARSUS, an ancient city of Asia Minor, the 

 capital of Cilicia, is said by Strabo to have been 

 founded by Sardanapalus. It was adorned by a 

 number of magnificent temples, as well as with a 

 gymnasium and theatre. Its inhabitants enjoyed 

 the privileges of Roman citizens, and the city rose 

 to such distinction as to rival Athens, Antioch, 

 and Alexandria in wealth and grandeur, as well as 

 in the arts and sciences. It is venerable as the 

 birth-place of St Paul. It is now a poor village. 



TARSUS OF BIRDS. See Ornithology. 



TARTAGLIA; a mask in the Neapolitan 

 comedy. 



TARTAR, CREAM OF. See Cream oj 

 Tartar. 



TARTARIC ACID. This acid, as it exists in 

 vegetables, is usually combined with potash, form- 

 ing a salt with an excess of acid the super-tartrate 

 or bi-tartrate of potash. This salt is deposited in 

 considerable quantity from the juice of the grape 

 during its conversion into wine, or rather from the 

 wine during the slow fermentation which it suffers 

 in the cask. It does not appear to be a product of 

 the fermentative process, but exists before this in 

 the juice of the grape, and is merely separated. It 

 also exists in other fruits, particularly in the tama- 

 rind, of which it forms a considerable part. As 

 deposited from wine, it is impure, having mingled 

 with it colouring matter and tartrate of lime. In 

 this state, it forms the crude tartar of commerce, 

 named white or red tartar, according to its colour. 

 It is purified by boiling it in water, with the addi- 



