TERTIARIANS TESTAMENT. 



571 



TERTIARIANS. See Orders, Religious. . 



TERTIARY FORMATIONS. See Geology. 



TERTULLIAN, QUINTUS SEPTIMIUS FLOEENS, 

 considered the most early Latin father extant, was 

 born at Carthage, about the middle of the second 

 century. His father was a centurion under the 

 proconsul of Africa; and Tertullian was at first a 

 pagan, although when or where he embraced the 

 Christian religion does not appear. He received 

 a liberal education, and was well versed in Greek 

 and Roman literature, and learned in the Roman 

 law. He flourished chiefly under the reigns of the 

 emperors Severus and Caracalla; and Jerome men- 

 tions a report that he lived to a very advanced 

 age. He employed himself vigorously in the cause 

 of Christianity, but, towards the latter part of his 

 life, quitted the Catholic church to join the Mon- 

 tanists, out of which he formed a sect of his own, 

 named Tertullianists. (See Montanus.} The ground 

 of his separation related rather to discipline than 

 doctrine, being favourable to the austerities incul- 

 cated by Montanus. Of the personal history of 

 Tertullian, little is known. Of his writings, the 

 most noted is his Apology for the Christian Reli- 

 gion, which contains much information on the 

 manners and conduct of the early Christians, and 

 asserts the falsehood of the calumnies by which 

 they were assailed, and the injustice of persecuting 

 them. Connected with this work are his two 

 books Ad Nationes, in which, with his character- 

 istic vehemence, he carries his attack into the 

 quarters of his opponents. He also wrote against 

 various heresies, and several tracts on baptism, on 

 idolatry, &c. In one of these, upon Public Spec- 

 tacles, he dissuades Christians from attending 

 shows and festivals, as partaking of idolatry; and 

 he luxuriates in the anticipation of the transport 

 with which he shall survey the torments of per- 

 secutors, philosophers, poets, and tragedians in 

 another world. This father was a man of lively 

 parts, but he displays little judgment in his reason- 

 ing ; and, while led by his temper to violence and 

 exaggeration, he was at the same time credulous 

 and austere. His style is concise and figurative, 

 but harsh, unpolished, and obscure. His works 

 have been frequently edited, both collectively and 

 separately, particularly his Apology. Of the entire 

 works, the editions of Rigaltius (Paris, 1641), and 

 of Semler (Halle, 6 vols., 1770), are esteemed the 

 best. The best edition of the Apology is that by 

 Havercamp (Leyden, 1718, 8vo.). He is not to 

 be confounded with St. Tertullian, who suffered 

 martyrdom in 360. 



TESCHEN; a town of Austrian Silesia, which 

 gives name to a circle ; thirty miles east of Trop- 

 pau ; Ion. 18 41' E. ; lat. 49 43' N. ; population, 

 5379. The inhabitants carry on some commerce 

 in leather, wood, and wine. Here is a manufacture 

 of fire-arms, of a particular kind, called, from the 

 town, teschine. In the year 1779 (May 13), a 

 treaty of peace was concluded here between the 

 emperor Joseph II. and the king of Prussia, Frederic 

 II., which put an end to the war for the Bavarian 

 succession. See Bavaria, Maria Theresa, and 

 Confederation of the Princes. 



TESSELLATED PAVEMENT (Lat. tessella, 

 diminutive of tessera) ; a pavement of rich mosaic 

 work, made of curious square marbles, bricks, or 

 tiles, in shape and disposition resembling dice. 

 Various ancient specimens of these have been from 

 time to time exhumed in Italy and other countries 

 of Europe. 



TESSIN, OR TICINO; one of the Swiss can- 

 tons, bounded north by Uri, north-east by Orisons, 

 south-east and south by Austrian Italy, south-west 

 by Sardinian Milanese, and west by Valais. (See 

 Switzerland.) The inhabitants are mostly Italians 

 and Catholics. It is composed of what were for- 

 merly called the Italian bailiwicks, which, though 

 long subject to Switzerland, were not formed into 

 a canton till 1815. Bellinzona is the capital. It 

 is extremely mountainous, the ramifications of the 

 Alps dividing it into more than twenty distinct 

 valleys. It has a mild climate; is well watered 

 and fertile; and no country is more remarkable for 

 scenery, at one time rich and beautiful, at another 

 awful and sublime. The government has hereto- 

 fore been unfavourable, the inhabitants ignorant 

 and indolent, and agriculture and manufactures in 

 a backward state. The first demands of reform in 

 the cantonal administrations, in 1830, proceeded 

 from Tessin, in which there had been many abuses 

 in the government. 



TESSIN, CHARLES GUSTAVUS, count of, was 

 born at Stockholm, in 1695, and travelled, from 

 1714 to 1719, in Germany, France, and Italy. In 

 the political discussions which arose in Sweden 

 after the death of Charles XII., he declared for the 

 party of the Hats, of which his influence caused the 

 decided triumph. He was nominated president of 

 the assembly of nobility in the diet of 1738. From 

 1739 to 1742, he resided as ambassador at Paris. 

 From 1747 to 1752, the count had the direction of 

 foreign affairs as president of the chancery ; and, 

 at the same time, he was appointed governor of 

 the prince Royal, afterwards Gustavus III. He 

 addressed to his pupil a series of letters relative to 

 morals, politics, and administration, which have 

 been translated into English and other languages. 

 The English version is entitled Letters to a Young 

 Prince (London, 1755, 8ro.). In 1761, he re- 

 signed all his employments, and settled at his estate 

 of Akeroe, in Sudermania, where he died in 1770. 

 He promoted the establishment of the academy of 

 sciences at Stockholm; and besides his Letters, he 

 wrote a number of discourses and essays. A de- 

 scription of a cabinet of natural history which he 

 had formed, was published in 1753, under the title 

 of Museum. Tessinianum. 



TEST ACT. See Corporation and Test Acts. 



TESTACEA. See Conchology. 



TESTAMENT, OLD AND NEW. The prac- 

 tice of calling the Hebrew and Christian sacred 

 writings the books of the Qld and New Testament, 

 arose from the language of the old Latin transla- 

 tion of these books (the versio vulgata or vulgate). 

 The Latin word testamentum (will) was considered 

 to correspond to the Greek li*6*xv, which often 

 occurs bot'h in the Alexandrian version of the 

 Hebrew Scriptures, and in the sacred books of the 

 Christian rerelation, and which, properly, signifies 

 a covenant, a league. As early as the patriarchal 

 age, the divine revelations and instructions with 

 which the Hebrews were blessed, were considered 

 in the elevated light of a covenant between God 

 and the patriarchs, and afterwards between God 

 and the whole Hebrew nation. See the fifteenth 

 chapter of Genesis, in which God confirms to 

 Abraham the promise of the birth of Isaac and of 

 the possession of Palestine by his descendants, by 

 a solemn covenant. The law given on mount 

 Sinai, and the whole Mosaic system of religious 

 doctrines and ceremonies, were closely connected 

 with these divine promises to the patriarchs and 



