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Rh ciation in 1883, and has been a frequent lecturer before national and literary societies in Canada and the United States. Among other works he has published the pamphlets " Philemon Wright, ou colonisation et commerce de bois " (Montreal. 1871); " Le chemin de fer Canadien Paciflque " (1872) ; and " Le vallee de l'Outawais " (1872) ; and, in book-form, " Les Canadiens de . l'ouest " (2 vols., 1878). The purport of the last work is to demon- strate that French Canadians have been chiefly the pioneers and discoverers of the United States and also the Canadian northwest. It has been partly translated in the collections of the Histori- cal societv of Wisconsin.

TASSEMACHER, or TESSCHENMAEKER, Peter, clergyman, b. in Holland about 1650; d. in Schenectady, N. Y., 8 Feb., 1690. He was educated at the University of Utrecht, came to King- ston, N. Y., in 1675, where he preached in both Eng- lish and Dutch, and then spent two years in Dutch Guiana. Gov. Edmund Andros, on 30 Sept., 1679, authorized the Dutch clergymen to examine and ordain him for the church at New Amstel, Del. The assembling of this body constituted the first American classis or ecclesiastical gathering of the Reformed church that was held on this continent, as well as the first ordination of a domine. He preached on Staten island in 1679-'82, and then lived at Schenectady, N. Y., until 1690, when he was slain in the massacre. Orders had been given to spare his life and obtain his papers, but these the Indians dis- regarded. His farm of eighty acres on Staten island was claimed, 2 Nov., 1692, for the poor fund. TASS1N, Charles Stanislas (tas-sang), South American artist, b. in Berbice, Guiana, in 1751 ; d. in Paris in October, 1812. He studied with Watteau, and became one of his best pupils. In 1773 he exhibited a " Christ in the Cradle," which attracted much attention, and procured for the artist a prize of $600 from Louis XV. Later he produced " Venus and Cupid " (1777) ; several pas- toral pictures ; " A Runaway Match " (1784) ; " Over the Wall" (1786); "Peasants Dancing" (1788); " Marchioness as Shepherdess " (1790), and other pictures; and obtained the title of royal painter. He also decorated several panels in the castles of Trianon, Sceaux, and Luciennes, painted portraits of Madame du Barry, Duke de la Vauguyon, Ad- miral d'Estaing, Bailly de Suffren, and Duchess Jules and Countess Diane de Polignac. In 1791 he went to England and executed portraits of Will- iam Pitt, Charles James Fox, and Edmund Burke, and, having inherited a large estate in Guiana, re- turned to his native land in 1795, remaining there till the peace of Amiens, when he returned to Paris in 1802. His later works include "Sunset in Guiana " (1799) ; " Fish- Vender at Berbice " (1802) ; " A Creole " (1803) ; and " Love Victorious " (1805).

TASTER A, Jacques (le (tah-stay-rah), French missionary, b. in Bayonne in 1480; d. in Mexico, 8 Aug., 1544. He served a few years in the army, but, despite fair prospects of advancement, became a Franciscan friar at Seville in 1508, and soon attained to the highest ranks in the order. After preaching with success at Seville he was appointed court chap- lain of Ferdinand of Aragon, and later he became a favorite with Charles V., who offered him a bishop- ric ; but he declined, and in 1529 went to New Spain. From Mexico he went to Champoton in Yucatan, where he founded a convent, and for years he travelled alone in the country, accompanied only by one interpreter, evangelizing the Indians and preaching the gospel with success. In 1533 he was appointed prior of the Convent of Santo Evangelio at Mexico, and, continuing to interest himself in the welfare of the Indians, summoned and presided over councils of Franciscan missionaries at Michoa- can and Guatemala in 1535 and 1537, where means for the protection of the conquered nation were devised, an embassy being sent to the holy see to obtain its ratification of the measures. In 1541 he went to Milan and took part in the general coun- cil of the Franciscan order in that city, and before returning to Mexico obtained from the pontiff an encyclical letter to the Spanish officials, advising them to show leniency toward the Indians. In 1542 he was appointed commissary-general of the Franciscan friars in the New World, which post he held until his death. He is the author of " Arte de la lengua Mexicana " (Seville, 1555), and " Lit- ters? annuae Mexicans " (1571). The recent pub- lication, " Cartas de Indias," prepared by the Span- ish government from manuscripts in the state archives, contains several letters of Tastera. TATHAM, William, engineer, b. in Hutton, England, in 1752 ; d. in Richmond, Va., 22 Feb.. 1819. He emigrated to this country in 1769, entered a mercantile establishment on James river, Va., and served as adjutant of militia against the In- dians. He studied the character and customs of the red men, and wrote biographical accounts of Atakullakulla, Oconistoto, Cornstalk, and other warriors. During the Revolutionary war he served as a colonel in the Virginia cavalry under Gen. Thomas Nelson, and was a volunteer in the party that stormed the redoubt at Yorktown. In 1780. with Col. John Todd, he compiled the first exact and comprehensive account of the western country. After the Revolution he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1784. removed to North Carolina, and in 1786 founded the settlement of Lumberton. He was a member of the North Carolina legislature in 1787. Tatham went back to England in 1796, and in 1801 became superintendent of the London docks, but returned to the United States in 1805, and became poor in his old age. He was given the office of military store-keeper in the Richmond arsenal in 1817, and while there committed suicide by throwing himself before a cannon at the moment of discharge. His publications include " Memorial on the Civil and Military Government of the Ten- nessee Colony"; "An Analysis of the State of Virginia" (Philadelphia, 1790-'l); "Two Tracts relating to the Canal between Norfolk and North Carolina " ; " Plan for Insulating the Metropolis by Means of a Navigable Canal" (London, 1797): "Remarks on Inland Canals" (1798); "Polit- ical Economy of Inland Navigation, Irrigation, and Drainage" (1799); "Communications on the Agriculture and Commerce of the United States " (1800) ; " Historical and Practical Essay on the Culture and Commerce of Tobacco " (1800) ; "Na- tional Irrigation" (1801); "Oxen for Tillage" (1801) ; and two reports " On the Navigation of the Thames " (1803).

TATNALL, Henry Lea, artist, b. in Brandywine Village, Del.. 31 Dec, 1829 ; d. in Wilmington, Del, 26 Sept., 1885. After being educated at the Friends' Westtown boarding-school, Chester co., Pa., he entered the flour-mills of Tatnall and Lea as a clerk, but afterward turned his attention to agriculture. In 1856 he removed to Wilmington and began the lumber business, and at the same time cultivated his musical and artistic talent, which showed itself in early life. He could play on almost every instrument, and composed and set to music many popular songs. His friends induced him to fit up a studio over his counting-house, where the intervals of business were devoted to the study and practice of marine and