T A C 
of the high province of Samen. It then enters the district 
of Waldubba, and afterwards enters the territory of Sennaar, 
in its progress through which it receives the great river 
Mareb, and, swelled by its waters, joins the Nile near Goos, 
in lat. 17. 45. N. 
TACCA [adopted by Forster from Rumphius], in 
Botany, a genus of the class hexandria, order monogynia, 
natural order of coronarise, narcissi (Ju.ss.J —Generic 
Character. Calyx: perianth one-leafed, six-parted: segments 
oblong. Corolla: petals six. Stamina: filaments scarcely 
any. Anthers six, oblong. Pistil: germ inferior. Style 
short, straight, thick. Stigma orbicular, stellate: rays six, 
bluntish, convex above. Pericarp : berry dry, subglobular, 
six-ribbed, hexangular, one celled, crowned with the calyx. 
Seeds many, ovate.— Essential Character. Calyx, six- 
parted. Corolla, six-petalled. Stigma stellate. Berry 
dry, hexangular, many-seeded. 
1. Tacca pinnatifida.—Root tuberous. Radical leaf 
subsolitary, petioled, ternate or biternate; leaflets laciniate, 
pinnatifid, acute, even, spreading, decurrent a little along the 
sides of the petioles, a long span or a foot in length. Scape 
half a fathom in height, herbaceous, fistular, grooved 
towards the top, erect. Umbel terminating, sessile, quite 
simple.—Native of the East Indies, China, Cochin-china, 
Banda and the Society isles. 
TACCORARY, a small Dutch settlement, in Ahanta, on 
the Gold coast of Africa. 
TACHAU, a small town in the west of Bohemia, on the 
river Mies, with 2800 inhabitants; 79 miles west-south-west 
of Prague. 
TACHE, s. [from tack ; which was the old word: “ talc, 
or button.” Prompt. Parv.] Any thing taken hold of; a 
catch; a loop; a button.—Make fifty taches of gold, and 
couple the curtains together with the laches. Exodus. 
TACHEN-SEE, a lake of Upper Austria, in the circle of 
Salzburg, near the borders of Bavaria, and the small town 
of Wageningen. 
TACHINA, a river of Brazil, in the captainship of San 
Vicente, which runs west, and enters the Uruguay at its 
source. 
TACHIRA, San Antonio de, a settlement of New 
Granada ; 32 miles nearly north, with a slight inclination 
east of Pampeluna. 
TACHIRA, a river of New Granada, in the province of 
Maracaibo, which runs into the great lake of Maracaibo. 
TACHY'GRAPHY, s. [t and yoafco, Gr.] The art 
or practice of quick writing. 
TA'CIT, adj. [ tacitus , Lat.] Silent; implied; not ex¬ 
pressed by words.—As there are formal and written leagues 
respective to certain enemies, so is there a natural and tacit 
confederation amongst all men, against the common enemy 
of human society, pirates. Bacon. 
TA'CITLY, adv. Silently; without oral expression.— 
While they are exposing another’s weaknesses, they are ta¬ 
citly aiming at their own commendations. Addison. 
TA'CITURN, adj. [ taciturnus , Lat.] Silent; uttering 
little.—Grieve was very submissive, respectful, and remark¬ 
ably taciturn. Smollett. 
TACITU'RNITY, 5. [taciturnite, Fr.; taciturnitas, 
Lat.] Habitual silence. 
The secretest of natures 
Have not more gift in taciturnity. Shahspeare. 
TACITUS (Caius Cornelius), a well known historian, 
was born about the year of the Christian era 57, at Interamna, 
or the modern Terni. His father was a Roman knight, and 
procurator of Belgic Gaul. Devoted from his youth to the 
cultivation of literature and rhetoric, his reputation at maturity 
was so well established, that he was permitted by Julius 
Agricola, at the expiration of his consulate, which occurred 
in the year 77, to form a matrimonial connection with his 
daughter. Thus introduced into public life, he was honoured 
by the patronage of Vespasian, Titus, Domitian and Nerva. 
The principal works of Tacitus were his “ Annals,” and 
his “ History.” The former comprehended the Roman 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1610. 
T A C 821 
affairs from the death of Augustus to that of Nero; but it 
has been transmitted to us in a very mutilated state. The 
latter comprised the period from the end of Nero to the 
death of Domitian; and now exists in an imperfect state, 
as the narrative does not extend far beyond the accession of 
Vespasian. His other works are, a “ Life of Agricola,” 
and a treatise “ On the Manners of the Germans.” The 
style of his writings is singularly concise, abrupt, and ellipti¬ 
cal, so that the reader is often at a loss to comprehend his 
meaning. His aim seems to have been to comprize much 
in a small compass, and he has thus furnished a great variety 
of political maxims, which, by the brevity with which they 
are expressed, are peculiarly adapted to impress the memory. 
It is observed, however, by one of his biographers, that he 
occasionally discovers “ an affectation of converting com¬ 
mon remarks into aphorisms, and of philosophizing when 
he was only required to narrate.” Nevertheless, no prose 
writer in any language surpasses or perhaps equals him in 
force of description, and the choice of circumstances by 
which he dramatizes a scene, and brings it before the eyes of 
his reader; and no want of perspicuity appears in his style 
when employed in the relation of striking events. 
TACITUS (M. Claudius), an emperor of Rome. See 
Rome. 
To TACK, v. a. [ taclier , Breton.] To fasten to any 
thing. It has now a sense approaching to contempt. 
Of what supreme almighty pow’r 
Is thy great arm, which spans the East and West, 
And tacks the centre to the sphere! Herbert. 
To join; to unite; to stitch together.—I tack'd two plays 
together for the pleasure of variety. Dry den. 
To TACK, v. n. To turn a ship. 
On either side they nimbly tack. 
Both strive to intercept and guide the wind. Dryden. 
TACK, s. A small nail. The act of turning ships at 
sea. 
At each tack our little fleet grows less, 
And, like maim’d fowl, swim lagging on the main. Dryden. 
Addition; supplement.—Some tacks had been made to 
money-bills in King Charles’s time. Burnet.—[tacke , Fr.] 
A spot; a stain.—You do not the thing that you would; 
that is perhaps perfectly, purely without some tack or mix¬ 
ture. Hammond. 
To hold Tack. To last; to hold out. Tack is still retained 
in Scotland, and denotes hold or persevering cohesion. 
If this twig be made of wood 
That will hold tack. I’ll make the fur 
Fly ’bout the ears of that old cur. Hudibras. 
TA'CKET, 5. A small nail. Barret, Alv. 1580. Used 
in Scotland. See Jamieson. 
TA'CKLE, s. \taccl, Welsh, an arrow; tacclau, ar¬ 
mour or accoutrements, arrows; tacle, old Fr.; any headed 
shaft or bolt, whose feathers are not waxed, but glued on. 
Cotgravei] An arrow.—The takil smote, and in it went. 
Chaucer. —Weapons; instruments of action. 
She to her tackle fell, 
And on the knight let fall a peal 
Of blows so fierce, and press’d so home, 
That he retir’d. Hudibras. 
[ tacclau , Welsh; tackel, Su. Goth.; ornamenta navis, 
rudentes, Ihre; taeckcl, Dutch.] The ropes of a ship: in 
a looser sense, all the instruments of sailing. 
At the helm 
A seeming mermaid steers; the silken tackles 
Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands 
That yarely frame the office. Shakspeare. 
To TA'CKLE, v. a. To supply with tackle. 
My ships ride in the bay. 
Ready to disembogue, tackled and mann’d, 
Ev’n to my wishes. Beaum. and El. 
TA'CKLED, adj. Made of ropes tacked together. 
9 Z My 
