[Tael], a Chinese money of account of varying local value, and rising and falling with the price of silver, but may be approximately valued at between 6s. and 5s. 6d. The customs tael, equivalent in value to about 4s 9d., has been superseded by the new dollar of 1890, which is equal to that of the United States.
[Taganrog] (50), a Russian seaport on the N. shore of the Sea of Azov; is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural district, wheat, linseed, and hempseed being the chief exports. Founded by Peter the Great in 1698.
[Taglioni, Maria], a famous ballet-dancer, born at Stockholm, the daughter of an Italian ballet-master; made her début in Paris in 1827 and soon became the foremost danseuse of Europe; married Count de Voisins in 1832; retired from the stage in 1847 with a fortune, which she subsequently lost, a misfortune which compelled her to set up as a teacher of deportment in London (1804-1884).
[Tagus], the largest river of the Spanish peninsula, issues from the watershed between the provinces of Guadalajara and Teruel; follows a more or less westerly course across the centre of the peninsula, and, after dividing into two portions below Salvaterra, its united waters enter the Atlantic by a noble estuary 20 m. long; total length 566 m., of which 190 are in Portugal; navigable as far as Abrantes.
[Tahiti] (11), the principal island of a group in the South Pacific; sometimes called the Society Islands, situated 2000 m. NE. of New Zealand; are mountainous, of volcanic origin, beautifully wooded, and girt by coral reefs; a fertile soil grows abundant fruit, cotton, sugar, &c., which, with mother-of-pearl, are the principal exports; capital and chief harbour is Papeete (3); the whole group since 1880 has become a French possession.
[Taillandier, Saint-René], French littérateur and professor, born at Paris; filled the chair of Literature at the Sorbonne from 1863; wrote various works of literary, historical, and philosophical interest, and did much by his writings to extend the knowledge of German art and literature in France; was a frequent contributor to the Revue des Deux Mondes, and in 1873 was elected a member of the Academy (1817-1879).
[Tailors], Carlyle's humorsome name in "Sartor" for the architects of the customs and costumes woven for human wear by society, the inventors of our spiritual toggery, the truly poetic class.
[Tailors, The Three, of Tooley Street], three characters said by Canning to have held a meeting there for redress of grievances, and to have addressed a petition to the House of Commons beginning "We, the people of England."
[Tain] (2), a royal burgh of Ross-shire, on the S. shore of the Dornoch Firth, 44 m. NE. of Inverness; has interesting ruins of a 13th-century chapel, a 15th-century collegiate church, an academy, &c.
[Taine, Hippolyte Adolphe], an eminent French critic and historian, born at Vouziers, in Ardennes; after some years of scholastic drudgery in the provinces returned to Paris, and there, by the originality of his critical method and brilliancy of style soon took rank among the foremost French writers; in 1854 the Academy crowned his essay on Livy; ten years later became professor of Æsthetics at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and in 1878 was admitted to the French Academy; his voluminous writings embrace works on the philosophy of art, essays critical and historical, volumes of travel-impressions in various parts of Europe; but his finest work is contained in his vivid and masterly studies on "Les Origines de la France Contemporaine" and in his "History of English Literature" (1833-4; Eng. trans, by Van Laun), the most penetrative and sympathetic survey of English literature yet done by a foreigner; he was a disciple of Sainte-Beuve, but went beyond his master in ascribing character too much to external environment (1828-1893).