TIGRANES TILLOTSON. 



615 



count of the magnificence of its flowers. It belongs 

 to the same natural family as the iris. The root is 

 a scaly bulb : the leaves are radical, sword-shaped, 

 and tapering towards the point of insertion ; the 

 stein is about a foot in height, slightly zigzag, divid- 

 ing into two or three branches, and bearing a few 

 alternate, distant leaves : the flowers are solitary, 

 terminal, very large, of a singular form, and very 

 evanescent. The three exterior divisions of the 

 corolla are much the largest, of a fine orange-red 

 towards the extremity ; whitish or yellowish, and 

 beautifully spotted, at the base. It is tolerably 

 hardy, and is increased by seed or offsets. 



TIGRANES; a celebrated king of Armenia 

 Major, who reigned in the last century before Christ. 

 He was delivered, by his father, Artaxias, as a 

 hostage to the Parthians, who, upon the death of 

 his father, restored him to the throne, upon condi- 

 tion that he should cede to them a portion of his 

 dominions. With Mithridates, whose daughter 

 Cleopatra he married, he entered into an alliance 

 against the Romans ; and, having conquered Cap- 

 padocia, his success induced the Syrians, wearied 

 out by the continual family discords of their rulers 

 of the house of the Seleucidae, to invite him to take 

 possession of their country. He did so, and subdued 

 a great part of Cilicia and Syria, but would not en- 

 ter into a second alliance with Mithridates against 

 the Romans. He preferred attacking the Parthians; 

 recovered that part of his dominions which he had 

 surrendered to them, and conquered Mesopotamia 

 and Mygdonia ; then took from the Seleucidae the 

 portion of Syria yet possessed by them, and a great 

 part of Phoenicia, and assumed the arrogant title of 

 king of kings. But the Roman consul Lucullus 

 soon required him to deliver up Mithridates, who 

 had fled to him for protection. Upon his refusal, 

 a war ensued, in which Tigranes was defeated. 

 He now committed to Mithridates the conduct of 

 the war ; but they were both conquered in a pitched 

 battle. In the following year, however, the two 

 kings, taking advantage of the dissensions which 

 had broken out among the Romans, subdued Ar- 

 menia and Cappadocia. But the son of Tigranes 

 rebelled against his father, who was thus compelled 

 to divide his army. He, however, defeated his son, 

 and obliged him to fly into Parthia. The Parthians 

 now took part with the son, and made an incursion 

 into Armenia, at the same time that Mithridates 

 was defeated by the Romans, who were eventually 

 joined by the son of Tigranes. Tigranes, relying 

 upon the magnanimity of Pompey, resolved to sur- 

 render to him ; whereupon Pompey gave him a por- 

 tion of Armenia, and likewise of Mesopotamia. But 

 the son of Tigranes having again engaged in a con- 

 spiracy against his father, as well as against the 

 Romans, Pompey sent him in chains to Rome ; but 

 his father, in consequence of the friendly disposition 

 which he manifested towards the Romans, was al- 

 lowed to retain the title of their friend and ally, 

 and died as such in the eighty-fifth year of his age. 



TIGRIS ; a river of Asia, which rises in the 

 mountains of Armenia, about fifteen miles east of 

 the source of the Euphrates, and, flowing along to- 

 wards the eastern frontiers of Turkey, on the west 

 side of Curdistan, in a south-south-east direction, 

 joins the Euphrates at Corna, sixty miles north- 

 west of Bassora. The country included between 

 the Tigris and Euphrates, was anciently called Me- 

 sopotamia; in modern times, Diarbekir, and Al- 

 Gezira. This river was particularly famed in anti- 

 quity ; and on its banks were the cities of Nineveh, 



Ctesiphon and Seleucia. In modern times, it can 

 boast the famous city of Bagdad, and the secondary 

 ones of Diarbekir and Mosul. Its course is gene- 

 rally rapid. Between Corna and Bagdad, it is about 

 two hundred yards wide, and navigable for boats of 

 twenty or thirty tons. Small boats descend from 

 Diarbekir. 



TILLEMONT, Louis SEBASTIAN LE NAIN DE, 

 an eminent historian, born at Paris, in 1637, was 

 the son of a master of requests, and received bis 

 education at the Port Royal. He assumed the 

 name of Tillemont on entering the priesthood, de- 

 voted himself to study, and, by his extraordinary 

 industry and accuracy of research, gained a high re- 

 putation as a historical writer. His death took 

 place in 1698. He was the author of Memoires 

 pour servir a VHistoire Ecclcsiastique des six premi- 

 ers Sticks (16 vols., 4to., 16931712), and His- 

 toire des Empereurs et des autres Princes qui ont 

 regne durant les six premiers Siecles de I'Eglise (6 

 vols., 4to., 16901738). 



TILLER. See Helm. 



TILLOCH, ALEXANDER, LL.D., an ingenious 

 writer on science and mechanics, was the son of a 

 tobacconist in Glasgow, and born in 1759. He 

 was intended by his father to follow his own busi- 

 ness ; but a strong bias towards mechanics soon di- 

 verted his attention from commercial pursuits. In 

 1736, a jeweller of Edinburgh, named Gedd, had de- 

 vised the art of printing from plates, and produced 

 an edition of Sallust so printed ; but the art was 

 undervalued, and perished with him. Doctor Til- 

 loch revived it, and carried it to the state of prac- 

 tical utility which it now exhibits, having himself 

 again made the discovery without any previous ac- 

 quaintance with Gedd's attempts. In this new pro- 

 cess, Mr Foulis of Glasgow, a printer, joined him ; 

 and a patent in their names was taken out, both in 

 England and Scotland. Circumstances, however, 

 induced them to lay aside the business for a time ; 

 and it never was renewed by them as a speculation. 

 In 1787, doctor Tilloch removed to London, and 

 purchased the Star, an evening paper, which he 

 continued to edit till within four years of his death. 

 In June, 1797, he projected and established the 

 Philosophical Magazine, to which, besides editing 

 it, he contributed many articles. Only fifteen days 

 before his death, he had obtained a patent for an 

 improvement on the steam-engine. The last work 

 which he was engaged to superintend, was the Me- 

 chanics' Oracle, published in numbers at the Caxton 

 press. In his religious opinions, doctor Tilloch 

 was a dissenter from the established church, and 

 preached occasionally. He died in 1825. Mr Gait, 

 the novelist, is married to a daughter of Dr Tilloch. 



TILLOTSON, JOHN, an English prelate, son of 

 a clothier, near Halifax, was born in 1630. His 

 father, a strict Calvinist, brought up his son in the 

 same principles, and sent him a pensioner to Clare 

 hall, Cambridge, of which he was elected a fellow 

 in 1651. It is not known when he entered into 

 orders ; but his first sermon which appeared in print 

 is dated 1661, at which time he was still among 

 the Presbyterians. When the act of uniformity 

 passed, in the following year, he submitted to it, 

 and, becoming celebrated for his pulpit oratory, was 

 chosen preacher to the society of Lincoln's inn. In 

 1666, he took the degree of D.D., and was made 

 king's chaplain, and presented to a prebend of Can- 

 terbury. When Charles II., in 1672, issued a do- 

 claration for liberty of conscience, for the purpose 

 of favouring the Roman Catholics, he preached 



