T A V 



have been ranked, as they are by Morley, with thofe of a 

 much higher clafs, at a later period. 



We can venture to give a charader of Taverner, from an 

 adual fur\'ey of his principal \v«rks which have been pro- 

 ferved, and which we have taken the pains to fcore. Thus 

 author is in general very fond of flow notes, fo that all his 

 pieces which we have fecn, are nd longam, or, at quickeft, 

 alia irtrvc. Long notes in vocal miific, unlefs they are to 

 difplay a very fine voice, have httle meaning, and are wholly 

 dellruAive of poetr)- and accent ; but our old compofers 

 have no fcruples of that kind ; and being as great enemies 

 to Jhort fyllables, as U>Jhort notes, exerciled the lungs of a 

 linger as frequently upon one as the other. 



As the firil eflays at harmony were made in extemporary 

 difcant, upon a plain-fong, fo in written counterpoint, it 

 was long a favourite and ufcful excrcife, to build the feveral 

 parts of a movement upon fome favourite chant, making it 

 tlic ground-work of the compofition. And this cuftom an- 

 fwered feveral purpofes : it excited ingenuity in the con- 

 tlruAion of the parts ; it regulated and retrained the mo- 

 dulation within the ecclefiaftical limits ; and as the plain- 

 fong had been long ufed in the church, by the priefts and 

 people, it was ftill eafy for the mufical members of the 

 congregation, to join the chorus in finging this fimple and 

 effential part, while the chorifters and choirmen by profeffion, 

 performed the new and more difficult melodies, v.liich had 

 been fuperadded to it by the compofer. The firil reformers, 

 or at leaft their followers, who were perhaps no great mu- 

 ficians, wilhed to bani/h every fpecies of art from the 

 church ; and either retaining fmall portions of ancient 

 chants, or making melodies, in the fame plain and fimple 

 ftyle, for their hymns and pfalms, threw afide all figurative 

 harmony and florid counterpoint ; and fung in notes of equal 

 duration, and generally in mere unifon, thofe tunes which 

 are ftill retained by the Calvinifts, and in moft of the re- 

 formed churches of Chriftendom. At the latter end of the 

 fifteenth, and during the whole of the fixteenth century, as 

 fome chant or tune was the foundation upon which the har- 

 mony of almoll every movement of a mafs or motet was 

 built, the additional parts were the fuperior, medius, counter- 

 tenor, tenor, to which was given the plain-fong in fquare 

 black notes, of equal lengths to femibreves in alia breve 

 time, and bafles. The clofe or final movement of one of 

 thefe mafies is inferted in Burney's General Hiftory of Mu- 

 fic, vol. ii. p. 557. 



TAVERNES, in Geography, a town ef France, and 

 chief place of a canton, in the department of the Var, and 

 dift.rift of BrignoUes. The place contains 1536, and the 

 canton 4529 inhabitants, on a territory of 280 kiUometres, 

 and 9 communes ; 3 miles N. of Barjols. 



TAVERNIER, John Baptist, in Biography, 3 dif- 

 tinguifhed traveller, was the fon of a native of Antwerp, and 

 born at Paris in the year 1605. The frequent infpcftion 

 of the maps and charts fold by his father, infpired him with 

 a paffion for travelling ; fo that at the age of twenty-two he 

 had made tours through France, England, the Low 

 Countries, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, and 

 Italy. In his bufinefs as a jeweller he was eminently (l<ilful ; 

 and he employed 40 years in fix journies in Turkey, Perfia, 

 and the Eaft Indies, by all the prafticable routes. Having 

 acquired great wealth, on his return from his fixth journey 

 in 1668, he determined as a Proteftant to live under a free 

 government ; and, with this view, purchafed the barony of 

 Aubonne, near the lake of Geneva. But having fuffered 

 very confiderable lofs of property by the mifconduft of a 

 fiephew, he fold his barony in 1687, and commenced a fe- 



T A V 



ver.th journey, wliich terminated his life at Mafcow in 16817, 

 at the age of 84. Deftitute of talents for writing, he cm- 

 ployed Sam. Chappuzeau of Geneva to arrange his memoirs, 

 which is faid to have been no eafy talk. The fruit of this 

 labour was given to the public in two volumes, defcribing 

 liis fix journies, in 1679; and another was added in 168 1, 

 by La Chapelle, containing an account of Japan and Ton- 

 quin, with a hiflory of the colony of the Dutch in the Eaft 

 Indies. Thefe memoirs of Tavcrnier, notwithftanding re- 

 fleftions on his veracity, and charges of plagiarifm, have 

 been often cited as authority by later wTiters. Gibbon re- 

 prefents him as " the jewelbr who faw fo much and fo well." 

 Bayle. Morei-i. Ger.. Biog. 



Tavernier Key, in Geography, a fmall iHand on the north 

 coaft of Cuba, near Tortuga. 



TAVERNY, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Seine and Oife ; 6 miles E. of Pontoife. 



TAVETCH, a community which, with that of Di- 

 fentis, forms one of the high jurifdiftions of the Grey 

 League in Switzerland. Tliefe two communities occupy 

 the weftern extremity of the valley of Sopra Selva, ftretch- 

 ing as far as the confines of Uri. Tavetch is a pleafant 

 valley, lying at the foot of the Alps, which feparate the 

 Grifons from the canton of Uri. The vnllages are numerous, 

 confiiling of fcattered cottages chiefly conftrufted of wood. 

 This valley produces palUire, hemp, and flax,, and a fmall 

 quantity of rye and barley. The trees are chiefly firs and 

 pines, and their number gradually dim.inilhes towards the 

 extremity of the vale. 



TAVETSCHE, a town of the country of the Grifons ; 

 13 m.iles from Ilantz, the capital. — Alfo, a mountain of 

 the fame country ; 5 miles S.W. of Ilantz. 



TAUFFERS, a town of the county of Tyrol ; 6 miles 

 S.S.W. of Glurentz. 



TAUGHT, or Tau't, Tight, in the Sea Language, de- 

 notes the ftate of being extended or ttretched out. Thus 

 they fay, fet taught the flirouds, the flays, or any other 

 ropes, when they are too flack and loofe. 



TAVI, in Geography, a town of Sicily, in the valley of 

 Noto ; 7 miles N.E. of Cailro Giovanni. 



TAVIANO, a town of Naples, in the province of 

 Otranto ; 1 1 miles W.N.W. of Alefano. 



TAUJEPOUR, a town of Bengal; 60 miles S.S.W. 



of Calcutta. N. lat. 21° 52'. E. long. 87° 45' Alfo, a 



town of Bengal ; 32 miles E. of Purneah. N. lat. 25° 48'. 

 E. long. 88'^ 11'. — Alfo, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar ; 

 15 miles N. of Chuprah. N. lat. 26= 2'. E. long. 84° 50'. 



TAVIGNANO, a river of Corfica, which runs into the 

 fea, 1 5 miles S. of Cervione. 



TAUILA, a town of Arabia, in the province of Yemen j 

 24 miles W. of Tana. 



TAUILE, a town of Egypt, on the Nile ; 2 miles N. 

 of Manfora. 



TAVIRA, or Tavila, a fea-port town of Portugal, 

 in the province of Algarve, furrounded with walls, and de- 

 fended by a callle ; the harbour is protected by two forts. 

 It contains two churches, an hofpital, five convents, and 

 about 5000 inhabitants ; in miles S.S.E. of Lifbon. N. 

 lat. 37° 7'. W. long. 7° 35'. 



TAVISTOCK, an ancient borough and market-town, 

 in a hundred of the fame name, in the county of Devon, 

 England, is fituated on the banks of the river Tavy, 34 

 miles W.S.W. from Exeter, and 206 miles in the fame 

 bearing from London. Its origin and growth feem to have 

 arifen from the foundation and eiiabliflimcnt of a magnificent 

 abbey in the tenth century, by Ordgar, earl of Devon, and 



his 



