T A S 



ture. Its wines, famous even in the time of the Lower em- 

 pire, as Chryfollom exclaimed againft the cxceffes to which 

 they gave rife at Conllaiitinople, have no longer the excellent 

 qualities which eaufed them to fetch a high price. Its popu- 

 lation has experienced the fame fate as the produftions of its 

 foil ; it is confulerably diminiOied. TafTo, however, has 

 Hill remaining a kind of wealth very important to a maritime 

 and trading nation ; this is capital wood for ihip-buildmg. 

 N. lat. 40'' 34'. E. long. 24'' 46'. 



TASSONI, AlessandRO, in Biography, an Italian 

 poet and man of letters, was born of an ancient and noble 

 familv, at Modcna, in the year 1565. Notwithllanding va- 

 rious difadvantages in early life, fuch as the lofs of his pa- 

 rents, a feeble difeafed frame, and the pcrfecution of ene- 

 mies, he fuccefsfuUy cultivated Greek and Latin hterature, 

 poetry, and eloquence. At the age of twenty he fought 

 further improvement in the univerfity of Bologna, and here, 

 as well as at Fen-ara, he directed his particular attention to 

 jurifprudence. Being under a necedlty of feeking employ- 

 ment, he went to Rome, where, being known by his writings, 

 he was admitted into the fervice of cardinal Colonne, as fecre- 

 tary, and accompanied him to Spain in the year 1 600. 

 Being afterwards domefticated with cardinal Cefi, he be- 

 came a member of the academics degli Umorifti and de' 

 Lincei, and was held in high eftimation among the lite- 

 rati of Rome. A fpecimen of his " Penfieri diverfi" 

 (Thoughts on various Subjeds) was publifhed in 1608, un- 

 der the title of " Queiiti," and the whole in 1612. His"Con- 

 fiderations on Petrarch" were firft printed in 1 609, and were 

 intended to reftrain the prevalent idolatry of this author. 

 In 1613 he entered into the fervice of Charles Emanuel, 

 duke of Savoy, in which fituation he was regarded as an 

 enemy to the Spanifli monarchy ; and he was confidercd as 

 the author of " Philippics" againlt the Spaniards, and of 

 a book entitled " EfTequie della Monarchia di Spagna." 

 In 1623 he quitted the family of Savoy ; and about this 

 time he finiflied " A Compendium of the Annals of Baro- 

 nius." In 1626 he was taken into the fervice of cardinal 

 Lodonfio, nephew of Gregory XV.; and upon Iris death, 

 in 1632, he was invited to the court of Francis I., duke of 

 Modena, who gave him a penfion and fome honorary titles. 

 Of this fituation death deprived him in 1635, at the age of 

 70. One of his biographers fays of him, that " he had a 

 prepolTefiing countenance, with a cheerful expreffion, was 

 open in convcrfation, a good fpeaker, ferious or pleafant, 

 according to the occafion, of a hvely imagination, and found 

 judgment." The work by which the memory of Tafloni is 

 chiefly preferved is his mock heroic poem " La Secchia Re- 

 pita." Tirabofchi. Gen. Biog. 



This penetrating and learned writer, in the tenth book of 

 his " Penfieri diverfi," treats of mufic, ancient and modern, 

 but not with hisufual acumen or feverity. He only retails the 

 old {lories of its miraculous powers among the ancients, and 

 tries to match them by wonders pretended to be performed 

 by its inferior perfeftions in modern times, without any re- 

 marks or refleftions which difcover a knowledge of the art, 

 or doubts of the authenticity of thcfe relations. 



After fpeaking of extraordinary dilettante compofers of 

 mufic in modern times, he fays, " among thefe we may 

 enumerate James I., king of Scotland, who not only com- 

 pofed facred mufic, but invented a new fpecies of plaintive 

 melody, different from all others ; in which he has been 

 imitated by the prince of Venofa, who, in our times, has 

 embeUiftied mufic with many admirable inventions." 



This pafTage has given birth to two capital miftakes, into 

 which the readers and writers of mufical hiilory have been 

 led, particularly in Scotland. Li the firft place, it in- 



6 



T A S 



finuates that James I. was the inventor of the national melo' 

 dies of that country ; and fecondly, that tiiefe melodies had 

 been imitated in Italy by the prince of Venofa, a voluminous 

 and celebrateddilettantecompofer of madrigals in the fixteentli 

 century. 



Unluckily for the favourers of thefe opinions, the Scots' 

 national melodies can be proved of much higher antiquity, 

 not only than David Rizzio, but the time of James I. See 

 Rizzio, Ja.mes I. of Scotltiitd, and Ossian. 



And the prince of Venofa, who was not the great mufi- 

 cian he was reported to be by learned men w ho were ignorant 

 of mufic, has not in all his works, which we have carefully- 

 examined, a fingle paffage of melody which reminds us of 

 the national tunes of Scotland ; the melodies of which re- 

 femble thofe of no other country with which we are ac- 

 quainted, except thofe of China. See Venosa, and Chinese 

 Mufic. 



Another Aleffandro Tafloni of Modena, born in 1488, 

 made a compilation of the different annals of that city, pub- 

 lifhed in Muratori's Colleftion of Italian hiflorians. 



TASSOW, in Geography, a town of Moravia, in the 

 circle of Iglau ; 30 miles S.E. of Iglau. 



TAS8U, a town of Perfia, in the province of Adir- 

 beitzan ; 60 miles W. of Tauris. 



TASTATURA, Ital., the whole range or fet of keys, 

 in an organ, harpfichord, virginal, fpinet, clavichord, or 

 piano-forte. The term is naturally formed from tajlo, a 

 touch, or key. The Italians, we believe, call tl«; finger- 

 board of the lute, guitai", viols, and all ftringed inftrumcnts 

 with a neck that is fretted, the tajlatura. 



TASTE, Savour, a fenfation excited in the foul by- 

 means of the organ of tafte, m-x.. the papillae of the tongue, 

 &c. 



Dr. Grew, in a lefture on the diverfity of taftes, befbre 

 the Royal Society, diftinguiflies them into ftmple and com- 

 pound. By ftmple taftes he underftands fuch as are fimple 

 modes of tafte, although mingled with others in the fame 

 thing : thus, the tafte of a pippin is aci-dulcis ; of rhubarb, 

 amar-aftringent, and therefore compounded, in both ; but 

 yet in the pippin the acid is one fimple tafte, and the fvveet 

 another, as diftinft as the bitter and aftringent are in the 

 rhubarb. 



Two faults, he obferves, have here been committed : 

 the firlt, a defeftive enumeration of fimple taftes ; the fecond, 

 a reckoning of them indiftintlly among fuch as are com- 

 pounded. 



Simple taftes, of which we ufually only reckon fix or fcveji 

 forts, are at leaft fixteen : i. Bitter, as in v^formwood ; 

 whofe contrary is, 2. Sweet, as in fugar. 3. Sour, as in 

 vinegar ; whofe contrary is, 4. Salt. 5. Hot, as in cloves ; 

 to which is oppofed, 6. Cold, as in fal prunellas ; for we 

 may as properly fay a cold tafte as an hot one, fince there 

 are fome bodies which do manifeftly imprefs the fenfe of cold 

 upon the tongue, though not to the touch. 7. Aromatic ; 

 to which is contrary, 8. Naufeous, or malignant. 9. Scft, 

 which are either vapid, as in water, ftarch, whites of eggs, 

 &c. or unftuous, as in oils, fat, &c. 10. Hard, of which 

 he reckons four kinds. 1 1 . Penetrant, which worketh itielf 

 into the tongue without any pungency ; as is found in the 

 root and leaves of the wild cucumber. 12. Stupefacient, as 

 in the root of black hellebore, which, being chewed, and 

 for fome time retained upon the tongue, affefts that organ 

 with a numbnefs, or paralytic ftupor. 13. Aflringent, as in 

 galls. And, 14. Pungent, as in fpirit of fal armoniac ; 

 which two laft taftes he makes contrary to the unftuous, 

 as penetrant and ftupefacient ai-e contrary to the vapid 

 one. 



The 



