TENESSEE RIVERTENURES. 



563 



1790, North Carolina ceded the whole of what is 

 now Tennessee to the United States; and the same 

 year, in May, it was made the territory south-west 

 of the Ohio. The territorial government continued 

 until June, 1795, when, the inhabitants of both 

 Tennessees being found to amount to 77,262, a 

 convention was called, which met at Knoxville, 

 January 11, 1796, and, on February 9, reported a 

 constitution for the new state, which, on June 1 of 

 the same year, was formally received into the con- 

 federacy as an independent member. 



TENNESSEE RIVER rises in the Alleghany 

 mountains, traverses East Tennessee, crosses nearly 

 the whole northern part of Alabama, then turns to 

 the northward, and crosses Tennessee and Ken- 

 tucky, and unites with the Ohio, thirteen miles 

 below the mouth of the Cumberland, and fifty- 

 seven above the mouth of the Ohio. Its length by 

 its meanders is about 1200 miles, which is consider- 

 ably greater than that of the Ohio from Pittsburg 

 to the Mississippi, and about as great as that of the 

 Ohio including either of its head branches. Many 

 suppose that the Tennessee contributes as much 

 water as the Ohio. The Tennessee is susceptible 

 of navigation for at least 1000 miles, and has no 

 considerable obstructions. Its head branches are 

 Holston, Nolachucky, French Broad, Tellico, Rich- 

 land, and Clinch. In its whole course, it is con- 

 tinually receiving rivers that have courses in the 

 mountains. The principal of these are Powell's, 

 Sequalchee, Elk, and Duck. The country through 

 which it flows is remarkable for its fertility, and a 

 great part of it is healthy. 



TENNIS; a pastime, or game at ball, which 

 seems to have been introduced into England in the 

 beginning of the thirteenth century, by persons of 

 rank, who erected courts, or oblong edifices, for the 

 performance of it. The origin of the name is un- 

 certain The celebrated oath of the tennis court 

 (jeu de paume') was taken by the members of the 

 national assembly in a tennis court at Versailles, 

 May 20, 1789, (when the doors of the hall had 

 been shut against them by the royal command), 

 binding themselves never to separate until they 

 had given a constitution to France. 



TENOCHTITLAN. See Mexico. 



TENOR (in Italian, tenore) is one of the four 

 chief descriptions of the human voice. It is the 

 more delicate of the two voices which belong to 

 the riper age of the male singer, and its compass 

 generally extends from d, in the small octave, to 

 the single-marked f or g. For a solo tenor, a 

 greater depth and height is requisite (from c, in 

 the small octave, to a and b, in the descant octave) ; 

 and the voice, at this height, is generally in falsetto. 

 The qualities of the tenor render it suitable to the 

 expression of tender and delicate sentiments. In 

 the common song of four voices, the tenor forms 

 the second middle voice, as it is deeper than the 

 alto, but its compass must, notwithstanding, extend 

 above the melody of the base ; but in the song of 

 four male voices, the tenor, as the first voice, leads 

 the chief melody, and, as the second, the higher 

 middle voice. The clef of this voice is the C clef. 

 The tenor is more rare in Germany than the base, 

 on which account it is particularly valued. The 

 French call it taille, and esteem it particularly. 



TENTER ; a railing used in the cloth manufac- 

 ture, to stretch out the pieces of cloth, stuff, &r., 

 or only to make them even, and set them square. 

 It is usually about four feet and a half high, and in 

 length exceeds the longest piece of cloth. It con- 



sists of several long pieces of wood, placed so that 

 the lower cross piece may be raised or lowered, as 

 is found requisite, to be fixed at any height by 

 means of pins. Along the cross pieces, both the 

 upper and under one, are hooked nails, called 

 tenter-hooks, from space to space. In England, it 

 is made felony, without benefit of clergy, to steal 

 cloth on the tenters in the night time, by 22 Car. 

 II., c. 5 ; and having in possession any cloth stolen 

 from the tenters, and riot giving a good account of 

 the manner of becoming possessed, is subjected to 

 transportation by 15 Geo. II., c. 27. 



TENTYRA, OK TENTYRIS. See Denderah. 



TENURES. As the system of tenures, under 

 the feudal system, is of much interest, we shall 

 give a considerable part of Blackstone's chapter on 

 the ancient English tenures. Almost all the real 

 property of England is, by the laws, supposed to 

 be granted by, dependent upon, and holden of, 

 some superior lord, by and in consideration of cer- 

 tain services to be rendered to the lord, by the 

 tenant or possessor of this property. The thing 

 holden is therefore styled a tenement, the possessors 

 thereof tenants, and the manner of their possession 

 a tenure. Thus all the land in the kingdom is 

 supposed to be holden, mediately or immediately, 

 of the king, who is styled the lord paramount, or 

 above all. Such tenants as held under the king 

 immediately, when they granted out portions of 

 their lands to inferior persons, became also lords 

 with respect to those inferior persons, as they were 

 still tenants with respect to the king, and, thus 

 partaking of a middle nature, were called mesne, or 

 middle, lords. In this manner are all the lands of 

 the kingdom holden, which are in the hands of sub- 

 jects. All tenures being thus derived, or supposed 

 to be derived, from the king, those that held im- 

 mediately under him, in right of his crown and dig- 

 nity, were called his tenants in capite, or in chief. 

 There seem to have subsisted four principal species 

 of lay tenures, to which all others may be reduced ; 

 the grand criteria of which were the natures of the 

 several services or renders, that were due to the 

 lords from their tenants. The services, in respect 

 of their quality, were either free or base services ; 

 in respect of their quantity, and the time of exact- 

 ing them, were either certain or uncertain. Free 

 services were such as were not unbecoming the 

 character of a soldier or a freeman to perform ; as, 

 to serve under his lord in the wars, to pay a 

 sum of money, and the like. Base services were 

 such as were fit only for peasants, or persons of a 

 servile rank ; as to plough the lord's land, to make 

 his hedges, to carry out his dung, or other mean 

 employments. The certain services, whether free 

 or bfise, were such as were stinted in quantity, and 

 could not be exceeded on any pretence ; as to pay a 

 stated annual rent, or to plough such a field for 

 three days. The uncertain depended upon unknown 

 contingencies ; as to do military service in person, 

 or pay an assessment in lieu of it, when called upon, 

 or to wind a horn whenever the Scots invaded the 

 realm, which are free services; or to do whatever 

 the lord should command, which is a base or villein 

 service. From the various combinations of these 

 services have arisen the four kinds of lay tenure, 

 which subsisted in England till the middle of the 

 last century, and three of which subsist to this day. 

 Where the service was free, but uncertain, as mili- 

 tary service with homage, that tenure was called 

 the tenure in chivalry, per servitium militare, or by 

 knight-service. Secondly, where the service was 

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