T R A 



rias, her filler. The operas which he then compofed at 

 Parma were entirely in the French tafte, which was that of 

 the court. The chorufes and the ballets are not yet for- 

 gotten. It is this totality that unites the charms of all the 

 fine arts together. The Itahans have long known and ap- 

 plauded fuch fplendid fpeftacles, and often exhibited them 

 fuccefsfuUy in the laft and preceding century ; but with 

 them the occafions cannot be frequent. A great capital, like 

 Paris, is neceffarv, which conftantly furnilhes an audience 

 and fpeftators able to pay for their amufements all the year 

 round ; or magnificent courts, fuch as thofe of the princes 

 of the houfe of Efte, Medici, Farnefe, and Parma, in 

 former times. 



" The firft of the fix operas which Traetta compofed in 

 this ftyle, was ' Ipohto and Aricia,' written by the famous 

 poet, the abate Frugoni, in 17^9. At this period Traetta 

 was twice called to Vienna to compofe ' Armida' and ' Ifi- 

 genia,' two grand operas with chorufes and ballets, which 

 were crowned with the greateft fuccefs. (This was five 

 years previous to the performance of Gluck's " Orfeo" at 

 Vienna.) 



" Thefe two operas were afterwards reprefented at Milan, 

 Florence, Mantua, and Naples. After the deceafe of the 

 infant Don Philip, Traetta was called to Venice, where he 

 was appointed maeftro to the confervatorio ot I'Ofpida- 

 letto ; but he could not there refill the propofals made to 

 him from all parts of Europe. After two years' refidence 

 at Venice, he fuffered himfelf to be attrafted to Peterfburgh, 

 where he was engaged for five years ; at the end of which 

 period he was detained two years longer, during which pe- 

 riods he compofed feven operas, and many cantatas." 



England wiihed to have him in its turn ; but he arrived 

 there too late ; his health was fo impaired, that he feemed 

 never to have enjoyed a day's eafe and comfort while he was 

 here. And Sacchini, who was fliill in London, had taken 

 fuch pofTeffion of our hearts, and fo firmly eftablilhed him- 

 felf in the favour of the public, that he was not to be fup- 

 planted by a compofer in the fame ftyle, neither fo young, 

 fo graceful, nor fo fanciful as himfelf. 



Sacchini's perfon and addrefs had contributed towards 

 endearing him to the Englifh ; but, on the contrary, Traetta's 

 countenance and general appearance were fo chilling as to be 

 almoft frightful. A fl<in extremely aduft, a fettled gravity, 

 difcontent and gloom covered his vifage fo conftantly, as to 

 make a beholder ftirink at the fight of him, and imagine it 

 impoflible that any thing pleafing, even to rapture, ftiould 

 flow from its mafter. But all this only proves that Horace, 

 who fays, " Fronti nulla fides," was a much better phy- 

 fiognomift than Lavater. 



Though many excellent fongs and fcenes of his compofi- 

 tion had been introduced in palliccio operas on our ftage, 

 yet we can remember but two entire dramas of this mafter 

 that were executed here, " Germondo," a ferious opera ; 

 and " La Serva rivale," a burletta. But the dramas which 

 he compofed in and for different parts of Europe, muft 

 amount to more than fifty. 



On quitting England, he returned to Italy in an alarming 

 ftate of health ; however, we find that, in 1778, he produced 

 two operas there : " La Disfatta di Dario," and " II Ca- 

 valiere Mante;" but 1779 was the laft year of this admirable 

 mufician's exiftence. 



TRAFAGNOL, in Gtography, a river of Germany, in 

 the county of Tyrol, which runs into the Lavis, 4 miles 

 N. of Caftellier. 



TRAFALGAR, Cape, a cape of Spain, on the coaft 

 of Andalufia j about 60 miles E. of Cadiz. N. lat. 



T R A 



^6^ 10'. W. long. 6° 8'. This cape has been rendered 

 famous by the complete viftory obtained Oftober 21, 

 1805, by the Britifh fleet, commanded by lord Nelfon, 

 over the combined fleets of France and Spain ofi" this 

 cape. ( See the biographical article of Nelson. ) Among 

 the Arabians there is a tradition, that the province of El 

 Garb, in Morocco (fee Garb), was originally united 

 to Trafalgar and Gibraltar, (hutting up tlie Mediterranean 

 fea, the waters from which pafled into the Weftern ocean by 

 a fubterraneous pafTage : and at this day they call Trafalgar 

 Traf-el-garb, i. e. the piece or part of El Garb ; and 

 Gibraltar, Jibbel-traf, i. e. the mountain of the piece, or 

 part of El Garb. 



TRAFARIA, a fort of Portugal, in the province of 

 Eftremadura, on the fouth fide of the Tagus ; 6 miles S.W. 

 of Lifljon. 



TRAFFICK. See Trade and Commerce. 



The word is formed from the French, trafic, and that 

 from the Italian, traffico, which is again borrowed from the 

 Arabic. 



The principal traffic in Mufcovy and the North fe in furs 

 and flcins : the great traffic of the Dutch in the Eaft is in 

 fpicet : the traffic of money is moftly carried on at the 

 Exchange. 



TRAFINE. See Trepan. 



TRAGACANTHA, in Satan's, TpayaKavSa of Diofco- 

 rides, book 3, chap. 23, is fo called from Tpayo;, a goat, 

 and anavOx, a thorn, probably becaufe of its growing in 

 mountainous fituations, frequented by goats ; or perhaps 

 from being the food of thofe animals, to whom its thorny 

 footftalks may fcarcely prove any impediment. There are 

 feveral fpecies, almoft all confounded by Linna;us under his 

 Ajlragalus Tragacantha, but diftinguiflied by Tournefort, as 

 well as more recently by Willdenow, Lamarck, and others. 

 Three of them are deftmed to appear in the Flora Graca. 

 They all produce more or lefs of the mucilaginous fub- 

 ftance called Gum-Tragacanth, or Gum-Dragon, and are 

 remarkable for their denfe bufhy thorny habit, and copious, 

 not inelegant, flowers. Tournefort, in his Corolla, p. 29, 

 30, has added nineteen Oriental fpecies to the four men- 

 tioned in his Jnjlitutienes, p. 417 ; but thefe, though for the 

 moft part truly diftinft, are fome of them probably mere 

 varieties, and are fo coafidered by Lamarck ; fee his Dk- 

 tionnaire de Botaniqite, v. I. 320; where thefe plants com- 

 pofe a feftion of the genus Ajlragalus, charafterized by 

 the permanent, finally ipinous, common footftalks of the 

 leaves. 



Tragacantha, in the Materia Mediea. The naked 

 hillocks of mount Ida, in Candia, M. Tournefort tells 

 us, produce much of the plant tragacantha, or goat's 

 thorn, which gives the gum fpontaneoufly towards the end 

 of June, and in the following month ; when the nutritious 

 juice of the plant, thickened by the heat, burfts moft of 

 the veflels in which it is contained. 



This juice coagulates in threads, which make their way 

 into the pores of the bark, where being puflied forward by 

 new juice, they get through the bark, and are at length 

 hardened in the air, either into little lumps, or into twifted 

 pieces in foriri of httle worms, more or lefs long, according 

 to the quantity of the matter of which they are foinned. 



It (hould feem, too, that the contraftion of the fibres 

 contributes to the expreffion of the gum ; thofe fine fibr«s, 

 like the fibres of hemp, laid bare and trampled under foot 

 by men and horfes, contraft themfelves, and facilitate the 

 expreffion of the extravafated juice. The plant grows alfo 

 in feveral places of the Levant, particularly about Aleppo. 

 O I M. de 



