T A M 
of Naples, in the province of Molise. It falls into the 
Calone. 
TAMMERFORS, a petty town of European Russia, in 
the government of Finland; 42 miles north-north-west of 
Tavasthus. Population 600. 
TAMMTOUL, a small village of Scotland, in Banffshire, 
which lies on the banks of the Avon, on the great road to 
Inverness. It is entirely composed of turf-covered hovels, 
except the parish church, and a neat Catholic chapel. It 
contains about 230 inhabitants. 
TAMOOK, a small island in the Sooloo archipelago. 
Lat. 6. 21. N. long. 121. 58. E. 
TAMPANAGOS, said to be a lake in North America, the 
existence of which, however, is doubted. It is reported to 
commence, according to father Esculante, in the 40th de¬ 
gree of north latitude, and to have been explored to the 42d 
degree in a north-west direction, where it enlarged its di¬ 
mensions, after which the discoverer made no further 
researches. 
To TA'MPER, v. n. [of uncertain derivation, derived 
by Skinner from tempera, Lat.] To be busy with physic. 
’Tis in vain 
To tamper with your crazy brain, 
Without trepanning of your skull 
As often as the moon’s at full. Hudibras. 
He tried washes to bring him to a better complexion, but 
there was no good to be done ; the very tampering cast him 
into a disease.— UEstrange. —To meddle; to have to do 
without fitness or necessity.—That key of knowledge, which 
should give us entrance into the recesses of religion, is by so 
much tampering and wrenching made useless. Dec. of Chr. 
Piety. —To deal; to practise secretly. 
Others tamper'd 
For Fleetwood, Desborough, and Lambert. Hudibras. 
TAMPICO, an abundant river of Mexico, in a small dis¬ 
trict of the same name, and on the southern frontier of the 
intendancy of San Luis de Potosi, which runs into the gulf 
of Mexico. At the mouth of the river is a watch-house to 
explore the coast. 
TAMPICO, a town of Mexico, capital of a district of the 
same name, situate near the sea, on a neck of land formed 
by the lake of its name, and the lake of Tamiagua, about 
214 miles north-west of Vera Cruz. 
TAMRUCK, a small fortress of the south of European 
Russia, in the government of Taurida, on the coast of the 
sea of Azoph, between the mouths of the river Kuban; 156 
miles south-south-west of Azoph. 
TAMSVVEG, a small town of Upper Austria, in the 
circle of Salzburg; 58 miles south-south-east of Salzburg, 
and 16 west of Muhrau. Population 800. 
TAMUL, the name of a Hindoo tribe of the south of 
India, whose language is spoken in the south-east districts of 
the peninsula. 
TAMUS [of Pliny. Derivation unknown], in Botany, a 
genus of the class dioecia, order hexandria, natural order of 
sarmentaceae asparagi (Juss.) —Generic Character.—Male. 
Calyx: perianth six-parted: leaflets ovate-lanceolate, spread¬ 
ing more at top. Corolla none. Stamina: filaments six, 
simple, shorter than the calyx. Anthers erect—Female. 
Calyx: perianth one-leafed, six-parted, beil-shaped, spread¬ 
ing : segments lanceolate: superior, deciduous. Corolla : 
petals none. Nectaries an oblong point, fastened internally, 
to each calycine segment at the base. Pistil: germ ovate- 
oblong, large, smooth, inferior. Style cylindrical, length of 
the calyx. Stigmas, three, reflexed, emarginate, acute. 
Pericarp : berry ovate, three-celled. Seeds two, globular.— 
Essential Character. Calyx six-parted. Corolla none. 
—Female. Style trifid. Berry three-celled, inferior. Seeds 
two. 
1. Tamus communis, or common black bryony.—Root 
very large, tuberous, blackish externally, whence its old Latin 
and English names. Stems smooth, twining about every 
thing in their way, and thus ascending without the aid of 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1611. 
T A M 837 
tendrils, to the height of ten or twelve feet in hedges or 
among bushes, which their festoons of tawny leaves and red 
berries decorate in autumn. The male flowers soon fall off; 
but the female flowers are succeeded by ovate smooth berries. 
These are insipid. The root is acrid, and its pulp scraped 
has been formerly used as a stimulating plaister. The young 
shoots are said to be good eating, when dressed like aspa¬ 
ragus. The Moors eat them boiled with oil and salt_ 
Native of Europe, but not in the north, in shady thickets, 
hedges and woods ; also of the Levant, and about Algiers, 
in hedges. It is called, wild vine, and our ladies seal. The 
latter name is from the French, le sccau de la Vierge. 
2. Tamus Cretica, or Cretan black bryony.—Leaves three- 
lobed. This has a rounder root than the other ; the stalks 
twine in the same manner.—It was discovered in the island 
of Crete or Candia. 
Propagation and Culture .—Sow the seeds soon after 
they are ripe under the shelter of bushes, where, in the 
spring, the plants will come up, and require no farther care. 
The roots will abide many years. 
TAMWORTII, a market town and borough of England, 
in the county of Stafford, situated in the south-east angle of 
the county, at the confluence of the rivers Thame and Anker, 
and near the great navigable canal. The Thame runs 
through the town, and divides it into nearly equal parts, 
one of which is in Warwickshire, and the other in Stafford¬ 
shire. The town is large and well built, and its situation 
uncommonly fine, being surrounded on all sides by rich and 
luxuriant meadows, through which the Thame and Anker 
glide along in the most picturesque manner. The two 
bridges, which are thrown across these rivers, add consider¬ 
ably to the general beauty of the scenery. The church of 
Tamworth, which is dedicated to St. Editha, is supposed to 
occupy the site of a nunnery. It is a very spacious build¬ 
ing; and from the different styles of its architecture, it 
seems to have undergone very material alterations and repairs 
at different periods. Besides the church, here are several 
meeting-houses for dissenters. The hospital was founded 
and endowed by Guy, the opulent bookseller to whom the 
borough of Southwark is indebted for the noble institution 
of Guy’s Hospital. The grammar school, founded by queen 
Elizabeth, is still an excellent and flourishing institution. 
Tamworth castle is still in existence, and till the commence¬ 
ment of the last century, was the seat of its lords, the first of 
whom was Robert Marmion, lord of Fontenoy, in Norman¬ 
dy, and a celebrated chieftain in the army of William the 
Conqueror. The castle, to a modern eye, appears dull and 
heavy, but the elevation of its site throws around it an air of 
considerable grandeur. The exterior is still kept in tolerable 
repair; but the inside is much injured. The apartments are 
for the most part extremely inconvenient and irregular. Tam¬ 
worth carries on a variety of manufactures: the chief of these 
was formerly the manufacture of superfine narrow woollen 
cloths ; but this trade, though still considerable, has much 
decreased. The printing of calicoes, and the tanneries, on 
the other hand, are branches of business which have greatly 
advanced. The ale breweries form likewise considerable 
sources of wealth to the inhabitants. Tamworth was incor¬ 
porated in the third year of the reign of Elizabeth, and first 
sent representatives to parliament two years after this. The 
right of voting is vested in the inhabitants paying scot and 
lot. The number of voters is about 250, and the members 
are returned by the sheriffs of Warwickshire and Stafford¬ 
shire jointly. The corporation consists of two bailiffs, a recor¬ 
der, and 24 capital burgesses. One of the bailiffs is chosen 
from each county. They have the power of holding a three 
weeks court of record, and acting as justices of the peace 
within the borough. They have likewise a court leet once a 
year, a jail, and a common seal. Tamworth seems to have 
been a town of considerable note at a very early period. In 
the time of the Mercians, it was a royal village, and the 
favourite residence of their monarchs. The celebrated Ofa 
dates a charter to the monks at Worcester, from his palace 
here, in 781. Several of his successors, in the next century, 
10 D date 
