850 
TAR 
TAR 
Sluggish; unwilling to action or motion. 
Behold that navy which a while before 
Provok’d the tardy English close to fight; 
Now draw their beaten vessels close to shore. 
As larks lie dar’d to shun the hobbie’s flight. 
Dryden. 
Dilatory; late; tedious. 
You shall have letters from me to my son 
In your behalf, to meet you on the way ; 
Be not ta’en tardy by unwise delay. Shakspeare. 
Unwary. A low word. 
Yield, scoundrel base, quoth she, or die. 
Thy life is mine, and liberty: 
But if thou think’st I took the tardy, 
And dar’st presume to be so hardy, 
To try thy fortune o’era-fresh. 
I’ll wave my title to thy flesh. Hudibras. 
Criminal; offending. A low word. —If they take them 
tardy , they endeavour to humble them by way.of reprisal: 
those slips and mismanagements are usually ridiculed. Collier. 
To TA'RDY, v. a. [t order, Fr.] To delay; to hinder. 
I chose 
Camillo for the minister, to poison 
My friend Polixenes; which had been done. 
But that the good mind of Camillo tardied 
My swift command. Shakspeare. 
TARE, s. [from teeren, Dutch, to consume. Skinner.] 
A weed that grows among corn.—Through hatred of tares, 
the corn in the field of God is plucked up. Hooker. —The 
common vetch.—A poor grain of oat, or tare, or barley. 
Pope. 
TARE, s. [Fr.] A mercantile word denoting the weight 
of any thing containing a commodity; also the allowance 
made for it. 
TARE, pret. of tear. —The women beat their breasts, 
their cheeks they tare. Dryden. 
TAREIRI, a river of Brazil, which runs into the Atlantic. 
Lat. 6. S. long. 34. 43. W. 
TAREM, a city of Laristan, in Persia, standing in a plain 
on the banks of a salt river. It is as populous as Lar, the 
capital of the province, but is a meanly built place, consist¬ 
ing of a mud fort, surrounded on all sides by wretched huts, 
formed of the branches of the date tree. The place contains 
many respectable merchants, who trade to Muscat, Gom¬ 
broon, and Shiras. 
TARENA, an abundant river of South America, in the 
province of Darien, which rises in the central mountains, 
runs east, collecting the waters of many other tributary 
streams, and enters the Atlantic by four mouths, forming 
three large islands in the gulf of Darien. This river also 
forms a large lake of the same name, at some distance from 
its entrance into the sea. 
TARENT, or Tarrant, a river of England, in Dorset¬ 
shire, which rises near Studhampton, and gives name to 
several villages through which it passes in its way to where it 
falls info the Stour; 3 miles south-east of Blandford. 
TARENT, an island on the western shore of the Persian 
gulf, immediately opposite Katif, which, though not so large 
as Bahrein, is a finer island. It is about seven miles both in 
length and breadth, well supplied with good fresh water, 
and embellished with many delightful gardens, which pro¬ 
duce abundance of fruit. 
TARENTUM, a town of Italy, in Magna Graecia, upon 
a small promontory of the Messapia. Tarentum was a very 
ancient city: some have ascribed its origin to the Cretans, 
before the Trojan war. In the 21st Olympiad, a powerful 
body of emigrants arrived under Phalanthus from Laconia, 
that it seemed to be refounded. Here they settled upon an 
aristocratical plan, enlarged the fortifications of the city, and 
transformed it into a near resemblance of Sparta; but as 
most of the nobles perished in a war with the Japyges, de¬ 
mocracy was introduced. The favourable situation of this 
city, when it was first founded, contributed to its rapid pros¬ 
perity. Placed in the centre of three seas, it obtained the 
whole commerce of the Adriatic Sea, of the Grecian or Ionian 
Sea, and of that portion of the Mediterranean called the 
Tyrrhenian Sea. The adjacent country was fertile in grain 
and fruit; the pastures were excellent; the flocks afforded a 
very fine wool. It is no wonder, then, that the city should 
become rich, and that riches should be succeeded by luxury. 
Philosophy was not neglected at Tarentum; and that of 
Pythagoras gained the preference. The arts were also dili¬ 
gently cultivated. Strabo mentions the gymnasium of this 
city with high commendation, and the bronze colossus of 
Jupiter, which was scarcely inferior to that of Rhodes. Fa- 
bius Maximus found here abundance of pictures and statues, 
which served to adorn his triumph. With the wealth of 
Tarentum, its power also rose above that of all the colonies 
of Magna Grecia : its land forces were estimated at 32,000 
foot and 3000 horse, in constant pay; and thirteen consider¬ 
able cities acknowledged its dominion. At sea, their fleets 
rode triumphant and unrivalled. The most brilliant epoch 
of their history was that of the government of Archytas, 
whose profound learning as a philosopher, and skill as a 
mechanic, was no impediment to his political talents and 
exertions. His virtues also commanded respect. He fre¬ 
quently led the Tarentines to battle, and always returned 
after success. With Archytas, however, terminated the pros¬ 
perity of Tarentum. At length this city partook of the hor¬ 
rors of those wars which desolated the southern part of Italy. 
The inhabitants not only exposed themselves to the Roman 
arms by some outrages committed against their ambassadors, 
but in the year 541 of Rome, Anmbal having taken posses¬ 
sion of Tarentum, the Romans sent against them a body of 
troops under Fabius Maximus, who retook it, and gained 
possession of its ample stores of wealth. In the year 664 or 
665, it was made municipal; and in process of time, it be- 
came a very pleasant city. Whilst Totila was ravaging Italy 
in the year of Christ 546, the Greeks took possession of Ta¬ 
rentum, but suddenly abandoned it at the approach of a de¬ 
tachment of troops belonging to the king of the Goths; 
which event occurred in the year 548. In 552, the troops 
of Narses retook it; but it was doomed to pass under the 
dominion of Romwald I., duke of Beneventum, in the year 
668. On the decline of the Lombard power, the Grecian 
emperors regained possession of this country, and retained it 
till Robert Guiscard drove them for ever out of Italy. It is 
now called Tarento. 
TARE YOU, a river of Brazil, in the province of Pernam¬ 
buco, which enters by the north side into the Rio Francisco. 
TAREYRAS, a settlement of Brazil, in the capitania of 
Goiaz, on the shore of the river Toccantines. 
TARF, a river of Scotland, in the stewartry of Kirkcud¬ 
bright, which rises from a small lake called Loch Whin- 
noch, in the parish of Girthon, and after a course of 21 
miles along the west side of the parish of Tongland, at the 
southern extremity of that parish, unites with the Dee. Its 
banks are in many places adorned with natural wood, and 
fertile meadows, which are enriched by the slime from the 
river, in its frequent inundations. It abounds with trout and 
salmon. 
TARF, a small river of Scotland, in Athol, Perthshire, 
which rises at Cairneilar, runs an easterly course of a few 
miles, and falls into the Tilt below the falls of Piltarflf. 
TARFF, Loch, a small lake of Scotland, in Inverness- 
shire, about 3 miles in circumference, in which are several 
beautiful wooded islands. 
TART, a river of Scotland, in Inverness-shire, which 
issues from Loch Tarf, and, after a course of 7 or 8 miles, 
falls into Loch Ness, at a small distance from the estuary of 
the Oich, between which, on the point of land, is Fort Au¬ 
gustus 
TARFOWA, a town of Tunis, in Africa, supposed to be 
the ancient Taphrura or Tapparura-, 24 miles west of 
Thainee. 
TARGE, or Ta'rget, [cap$, tapja, Saxon; targe, 
Italian; targe, French; tarian, Welsh, which seems the 
original of the rest; an taargett, Erse.] A kind of 
buckler or shield borne on the left arm. It seems to be com¬ 
monly 
