r A s 



T A S 



a (light of woodiTi fteps, edged with plates of iron, and tlie 

 other, which is tfie grand entrance on the ea(t front, afcended 

 by a flight of (lone Heps. Even with thefo is a fpacious 

 gateway, witli two malTy doors, fortified with knobs of iron, 

 and fecnred when (hut by a large bar of timber that Hides 

 within the mafonry. Witliin is the central fquare building, 

 •which may be denominated the citadel, and which is the refi- 

 dence of the fupreme Lama. It contains alfo the chief of 

 their idols, Maliomoonie, amidft a multitude of otlicrs of in- 

 ferior note. To the right and the left are avenues that lead 

 to fpacious fquares, paved witli flat ftones, and to the apart- 

 ments of the Lama. The citadel is feven ftories high, each 

 from fifteen to eighteen feet, and covered with ;. roof of low 

 pitch, compofed of fir timber ; from the centre arifes a 

 fquare piece of mafonry, fupporting a canopy of copper, 

 riclily gilt, which is fuppofed to be direftly over the great 

 idol, Mahomoonie. The raja lives upon the fourth floor from 

 the ground ; above that are two other ftories ; and the fe- 

 venth ladder reaches to the temple of Mahomoonie. The eaft, 

 weft, and fouth angles of the building correfpond with each 

 other, and have apartments on the ground floor appropriated 

 for depofiting all kinds of ftores. A covered gallery runs 

 all round them, beneath which are fubterraneous places ferv- 

 ing for kitchens. A range of good rooms, with boarded 

 floors, on the firft ftory, accommodates all the officers of 

 ftate attendant on the raja, and thofe towards tlie fquare 

 are fkirted by a varande, Supported by a row of handfome 

 pillars, whofe capitals are ornamented with carved work and 

 gilding, and their fides painted with vermilion. Over this 

 ftory is a fort of terrace of cement, with rooms more 

 roughly finifhed for the inferior officers, called Zeenkerbs. 

 For further pai-ticulars we refer to Turner's Embaffy, in 

 which is an engraving of the palace, and of the refidence of 

 Lama Glafletoo in its vicinity. The road from Bengal to 

 Taflafudon lies chiefly over the fummits of flupendous moun- 

 tains, or along the borders of craggy precipices : and be- 

 tween this city and Peridroog is a chain of mountains ftill 

 higher than the other. Thefe are vifible from the plains of 

 Bengal, at the diftance of 1 50 miles, and are commonly co- 

 vered with fnow. They are a continuation of the mountains 

 Emodus and Paropamifus of the ancients ; 206 miles S.W. 

 of Laffa. N. lat. 27° 48'. E. long. 89^ 12'. 



TASSEL, a fort of pendent ornament, at the corners of 

 a cufliion, or tlie like thing. — Alfo, a fmall ribband of filk 

 fev/ed to a book, to be put between the leaves. 



Tassels, in a Building, thofe pieces of board that lie 

 under the ends of the mantle-trees. 



Tassel, or Tiercelet, is alfo ufed in Falconry for a male 

 hawk. 



Tassels are alfo a kind of hard burrs ufed by cloth-workers 

 in dreffing of cloth ; they are the heads of the manured 

 teafel. 



TASSES, or Tassets, in yincient Armoury, appendages 

 to the corfelet, confifting of flcirts of iron that covered the 

 thighs, and that were fattened to the cuirafs with hooks. 



TASSI, Agostino, in 5io^ra/)4j),the cognomen of an artift 

 whofe real name was Buonamici. He was born at Perugia in 

 1566, and ftudiedat Rome under Paul Brill, and received fome 

 affiftance in the fchool of the Carracci. His loofe and irre- 

 gular conduft procured a feat for him on the bench of a gal- 

 ley at Leghorn ; and there, though under confinement and 

 difgrace, he occupied his leifure in painting views of the ob- 

 efts with which he was furroundcd ; and when he obtained 

 his liberty, fuch fubjefts became the favourite occupation of 

 bis pencil. His fea-ports, calms, and ftorms, were faithful 

 tranfcripts of nature, and touched with great fpirit and effi- 



cacy. His views of architeftural fubjetSs thrown into per- 

 fpetlivc, which are in the pontifical palace of Monte Ca- 

 vallo, and in that of the Lancellotti family, are admirable in 

 their kind. His greateft honour, liowever, is having beei! 

 the inftruftor of Claude de Lorraine. He died in 1642, 

 aged 76. 



TASSING, in Geography. See Taasince. 

 TASSO, V>v.v.^AnV)0,\n Biography, an eminent poet, bom 

 at Bergamo of an ancient and noble family in the year 1493, 

 became an early proficient in tlie Greek and Latin claffic^. 

 His uncle, the bithop of Recanati, who was his initruftor 

 and patron, and fupphed the place of a parent when he loft 

 his father, having been aflafllnated by robbers in 1520, Ber- 

 nardo was under a necefllty of quitting his native city,- and 

 in 1525 became feci'Ctary to count Guido Rangoni, genera! 

 of the papaliarmy. Having been for a (hort time occupied 

 in a fimilar fituation under the duchefs of Ferrara, he after- 

 wards purfued his ftudies at Padua and Venice. la 15-; I he 

 publiflied at Venice a volume of poems, which induced Fer» 

 rante Sanfeverino, prince of Salerno, to invite him to his 

 court. Having accepted this invitation, he recommended 

 himfelf to the prince, and obtained annual flipends, amount- 

 ing to 900 ducats. He accompanied his patron in feveral 

 expeditions, and accompanying iiim to Naples, he there- 

 married Porzia de' Roffi, a lady of noble family. At Sor- 

 rento, whither he removed, he for fome time led a tranqui' 

 and ftudious life ; until his patron, m 1547, incurred the dif- 

 pleafure of the imperial court by concurring in prefenting a 

 petition againll the eftabhfliment of the inquifition at Naples. 

 On this occafion the prince joined the French party, fo that 

 he was declared a rebel, and his property was confifcated. In- 

 fluenced by refpeft for his patron, Bernardo accompanied him 

 to France, where at firft he obtained encouragement, but 

 being in procefs of time deprived of all fupport, and having 

 loft his wife, lie requefted the prince's permiffion to leave 

 him ; and complying with an invitation to the court of Gui- 

 dubaldo H., dulie of Urbino, a diftinguifhed patron of 

 literary perfons, he was liberally compenfated for his paft 

 fufferings, and made a member of the celebrated Venetian 

 academy. In 1563 he became fecretary at the court of 

 Mantua, and in the fervice of this court he died in 1569, 

 being then governor of Oftiglia. Tiie duke of Mantua 

 caufed his remains to be honourably interred in that city, and 

 a marble monument to be erefted over his tomb, bearing the 

 fimple infcription, " Ofla Bernardi Taffi." Of his poems, 

 belonging to the clafs of " Romanefque," there were 

 two ; Ilia. " Amadigi," confifl;ing of roo cantos, and " II 

 Floridante," left unfiniflied, but correfted and publifiicdby 

 his fon Torquato, at Bologna, in 1587. His other works 

 are five books of " Rime," with various kinds of poems, 

 fuch as eclogues, elegies, hymns, odes, &c. He was alfo 

 the author of " A Difcourfe concerning Pocti-y," and " Let- 

 ters," of which an edition has been given in three volumes. 



Tasso, Torquato, pre-eminent as an Italian' poet, was 

 the fon of Bernardo and Porzia de Rofli, born at Sorrento 

 March II, 1544, and fent at the age of five years to the 

 Jefuits' fchool at Naples. Here his proficiency was fo rapid, 

 that in two years he recited, publicly, verfes and orations of 

 his own compofition. At Bergamo, whither the circum- 

 ftances of his family conftrained him to remove, he profe- 

 cuted the ftudy of Latin and Greek with fuch fuccefs, that 

 at the age of twelve years, he was admitted into the univer- 

 fity of Padua. Here his proficiency in vaiious branches of 

 literature was fo fignal, that in his feventeenth year he was 

 honoured with degrees in the four branches of canon and 

 civil law, theology, and philofophy. For law he had no 



predi- 



