he SW. coast, on which,
however, it has a port, ranking as a treaty-port.

TAJ MAHAL. See AGRA.

TALARIA, wings attached to the ankles or sandals of Mercury as the
messenger of the gods.

TALAVERA DE LA REINA (10), a picturesque old Spanish town on the
Tagus, situated amid vineyards, 75 m. SE. of Madrid; scene of a great
victory under Sir Arthur Wellesley over a French army commanded by Joseph
Bonaparte, Marshals Jourdan and Victor, 27th July 1809.

TALBOT, WILLIAM HENRY FOX, one of the earliest experimenters and a
discoverer in photography, born in Chippenham, which he represented in
Parliament; was also one of the first to decipher the Assyrian cuneiform
inscriptions (1800-1877).

TALE OF A TUB, a great work of Swift's, characterised by Professor
Saintsbury as "one of the very greatest books of the world, in which a
great drift of universal thought receives consummate literary form ...
the first great book," he announces, "in prose or verse, of the 18th
century, and in more ways than one the herald and champion at once of its
special achievements in literature."

TALENT, a weight, coin, or sum of money among the ancients, of
variable value among different nations and at different periods; the
Attic weight being equal to about 57 lbs. troy, and the money to L243,
15s.; among the Romans the great talent was worth L99, and the little
worth L75.

TALFOURD, SIR THOMAS NOON, lawyer and dramatist, born at Doxey, near
Stafford; was called to the bar in 1821, and practised with notable
success, becoming in 1849 a justice of Common Pleas and a knight; was for
some years a member of Parliament; author of four tragedies, of which
"Ion" is the best known; was the intimate friend and literary executor of
Charles Lamb (1795-1854).

TALISMAN, a magical figure of an astrological nature carved on a
stone or piece of metal under certain superstitious observances, to which
certain wonderful effects are ascribed; is of the nature of a charm to
avert evil.

TALLARD, COMTE DE, marshal of France; served in the War of the
Spanish Succession; was taken prisoner by Marlborough at Hochstaedt, on
which occasion he said to the duke, "Your Grace has beaten the finest
troops in Europe," when the duke replied, "You will except, I hope, those
who defeated them" (1652-1728).

TALLEMANT DES REAUX, GEDEON, French writer, native of La Rochelle;
author of a voluminous collection of gossipy biographies, or anecdotes
rather,