T H A 



T H A 



it, obliquely, in the manner of the tool uftd Ly giirdrners in 

 heating turf. The face of the legget is fet with large- 

 headed nails, to render it rough, and make it lay hold of the 

 butts of the reeds. Then another layer of ixcd is laid on, 

 and bound down by another fway, fomewhat (liorter than 

 the lail, and placed eighteen or twenty iiicht. s above it ; and 

 above this another, and another, continuing to fhorten the 

 fvvays, until they be brought off to nothing, and a triangular 

 corner of thatching formed. After this the fways are ufed 

 their whole length, whatever it happens to be, until the 

 workman arrives at the fniilhing corner. 



In order to give a liniih to the ridge, a cap (provincially a 

 " roof") of ftraw is fet on in a mafterly, but in an expenfive 

 manner. In this operation, the workman begins, it is ob- 

 ferved, by bringing the roof to an angle, with llraw laid the 

 long way upon the ridge, in the manner in whicli a rick is 

 topt up ; and to render it firm, to keep it in its place, and to 

 prevent the wind from blowing it off, or ruffling it, he pegs it 

 down nightly with " double broaches ;" namely, cleft twigs, 

 two feet long, and as thick as the finger, fliarpened at both 

 ends, bent double, and perhaps with the twilling of the 

 crown, and perhaps barbed, by partial chops on the fides, to 

 make them hold in the better. This done, the workman 

 lays a coat of ftraight ftraw, fix or eight inches thick, acrofs 

 the ridge ; beginning, on either fide, at the nppermoft butts 

 of the reed, and finifliing with ftraight handfuls evenly acrofs 

 the top of the ridge. Having laid a length of about four 

 feet in this manner, he proceeds to faften it firmly down, fo 

 as to render it proof againft wind and rain. This is done by 

 laying a " broachen ligger" (a quarter-cleft rod as thick as 

 the finger, and four feet in length) along the middle of the 

 ridge, pegging it down at every four inches with a double 

 broach, wiiich is firft thruft down with the hands, and after- 

 wards driven witli the legget, or with a mallet ufed for this 

 purpofe. The middle ligger being firmly laid, the thatcher 

 fmooths down the ftraw with a rake and his hands, about 

 eiglit or nine inches on one fide, and at fix inches from the 

 firft lays another ligger, and pegs it down with a fimilar 

 number of double broaches, thus proceeding to fmooth the 

 ftraw, and to faften on liggers at every fix inches, until he 

 reach the bottom of the cap. One fide finiftied, the other 

 is treated in the fame manner ; and the firft length being 

 completed, another and another length is laid, and finiftied 

 as the firft, until the other end of the ridge be reached. He 

 then cuts off the tails of the ftraw fquare and neatly with a 

 pair of fiiears, level with the uppermoft butts of the reed ; 

 above which the cap (or moil properly the rooflel) fiiews an 

 eaves of about fix inches thick. And laftly, he fweeps the 

 fides of the main roof with a bow of holly, when the work 

 is completed. This, when well performed, muft be a 

 durable and ufeful mode of thatching, and at the fame time 

 one which has a neat appearance. 



In thatching with heather, that material moftly under- 

 goes fome fort of preparation, fo as to render it as equal as 

 poffible in fizeand ilrength, being laid and faftened upon the 

 roofs then in fomewhat the fame manner as that of ftraw. 

 It is afterwards fvvept, cleaned, and finiftied off in a neat and 

 exaft manner, fo as to look extremely well. 



In fome of the more expofcd fituations in the northern 

 parts of the ifland, they have other modes and praftices of 

 thatching buildings with ftraw in ufe, fuch as performing 

 it with clay, or thin turf and that material. 



If the roof be covered with thin turf or divots, the work- 

 man is to twift the upper part of the ftraw into a fort of 

 knot ; then, with a ftick prepared for the purpofe, to force 

 the knot thus forrr^d either under or through the turves or 

 divots, fo that it may have a firm hold of the roof ; after 



\Thich, to fpread the lower part of the bundle of flraw nicely 

 on the roof, continuing to do the fame to the very top 

 of the roof ; and then to clay it all over, and begin an- 

 other tier, gang, or row of the thatch. In this way, the 

 thatch fliould not be laid tliinner than fix inches, and when 

 it is laid eight inches thick, it is the more durable. Thin 

 turf, or divots, were originally thought the beft foundation ; 

 but it has been fince found by experience, that they rot the 

 ftraw, and that ftraw alone, when ftilched on with rope-yarn, 

 lafts much longer. If ftraw alone be ufed in this manner, it 

 will laft twenty years ; but the ftraw muft be laic^on two inches 

 thicker than when clay is added. A roof that is thatchecf 

 with divots, ftraw, and clay, in the common way, will laft 

 from feventeen to twenty years ; and is alfo capable of being 

 mended witliout raifing any part of the roof that is entire. 

 The above kind of roof is much lefs liable to catch fi-re than 

 ftraw roofs without clay. The clay that anfwers the pur- 

 pofe beft is that which has a due proportion of fand in it. 

 If lliff clay fliould be ufed, it will be neceffary to add one 

 cart-load of fand to every two of the clay. 



This fort of claying may, of courfe, be ufeful and advan- 

 tageous in thatching the roofs of buildings in many fitua- 

 tions and places. 



THAU, in Geography, a lake of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Herault, near the Mediterranean, between 

 Frontignan and Agde. 



THAUANA, in Ancient Geography, a town fituated in 

 the interior of Arabia Felix. 



THAUBA, a town in the interior of Arabia Felix. 

 Ptol. 



THAUGHTS, or Thoughts, in a Boat, are the 

 benches on which the rowers fit to row. 



THAUMASIUS Mons, in Ancient Geography, a 

 mountain of Arcadia, N.W. of Mantinea, above the river 

 Moloffus. 



THAUMATURGUS, formed from ^xv,^:^, rjjondcrjul 

 thing, and ^fyov, tvork, luorher of miracles ; an appellation 

 which the Romanifts gave to feveral of their faints, eminent 

 for the number and greatnefs of their miracles. 



St. Gregory, called Thaiimaturgus, or Gregory of Neo- 

 C2;farea, was a difciple of Origen about the year 223, and 

 afterwards bifhop of Casfarea, in Pontus ; and in that ca- 

 pacity he affifted at the firft council of Antioch, and at that 

 of Ephefus, againft Paulus Samofatenus. St. Leo of Ca- 

 tanea is alfo called Leo Thaiimaturgus. He lived in the eighth 

 century ; and his body is ftill honoured at Rome, in the 

 church of St. Martin de Tours. St. Francis Paul, and 

 St. Francis Xavier, are the great Thaumaturgi of thefe lalt 

 ages. 



THAWING, the refolution of ice into its former fl.uid 

 ftate, by the warmth of the air. 



THAXTED, in Geography, an ancient market-town in 

 the hundred of Dunmow, and county of Effex, England, 

 is fituated 19 miles N.N.W. from Chelmsford, and 43 miles 

 N.N.E. from London. The town was known in the Saxon 

 times, as the church is recorded to have belonged, in the 

 reign of Edward the Confeffor, to the college of St. John 

 Baptift, at Clare, in Suffolk. Thaxted was incorporated 

 by charter of Philip and Mary, which was confirmed by 

 queen Elizabeth ; under this the civil government is veiled 

 in a mayor, recorder, two bailiffs, and twenty principal 

 burgeffes. In the reign of James II. the corporation ex- 

 perienced a temporary iufpenfion ; for being ferved with a 

 writ of quo warranto, the corporate officers, eiti<er through 

 fear or poverty, thought fit to retire from their offices. 

 The market was granted by Edward II., but was difcon- 

 tinued for a long period : it h;is been recently revived, and 



is 



