Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/457

Rh (J. T. Be.)

TARKANI, or, a Pathan tribe inhabiting the whole of Bajour (q.v.), on the border of the North-West Frontier Province of India. Subdivided into Mamunds, Isazai and Ismailzai, the tribe numbers some 100,000 persons.

TARLETON, SIR BANASTRE (1754-1833), English soldier, was the son of John Tarleton (1719-1773), a Liverpool merchant, and was born in Liverpool on the 21st of August 1754. Educated at Oxford he entered the army, and in December 1775 he sailed as a volunteer to America with Earl, afterwards Marquess, Cornwallis, and his services during the American War of Inde- pendence in the year 1776 gained for him the position of a brigade major of cavalry. He was present at the battle of Brandywine and at other engagements in 1777 and 1778, and as the commander of the British legion, a mixed force of cavalry and light infantry, he proceeded at the beginning of 1780 to South Carolina, rendering valuable services to Sir Henry Clinton in the operations which culminated in the capture of Charleston. He was responsible for a British victory at Waxhaw in May 1780, and he materially helped Cornwallis to win the battle of Camden in the succeeding August. He was completely victorious in an engagement with Thomas Sumter at Fishing Creek, or Catawba Fords, but was not equally successful when he encountered the same general at Blackstock Hill in November 1780; then in January 1781, in spite of much personal valour, he was defeated with heavy loss at Cowpens. Having been successful in a skirmish at Tarrants House, and having taken part in the battle of Guilford in March 1781, he marched with Cornwallis into Virginia, and after affording much assistance to his commander-in-chief he was instructed to hold Gloucester. This post, however, was surrendered to the Americans with Yorktown in October 1781, and Tarleton returned to England on parole. In 1790 he entered parliament as member for Liverpool, and with the exception of a single year he remained in the House of Commons until 1812. In 1794 he became a major-general; in 1812 a general; and he held a military command in Ireland and another in England. In 1815 he was made a baronet. He died without issue at Leintwardine in Shropshire on the 25th of January 1833.

TARLTON, RICHARD (d. 1588), English actor, was probably at one time an inn-keeper, but in 1583, when he is mentioned as one of the original company of queen's players, was already an experienced actor. He was Elizabeth's favourite clown, and his talent for impromptu doggerel on subjects suggested by his audience has given his name to that form of verse. To obtain the advantage of his popularity a great number of songs and witticisms of the day were attributed to him, and after his death Tarlton's Jests, many of them older than he, made several volumes. Other books, and several ballads, coupled his name with their titles. He is said to have been the Yorick of Hamlet's soliloquy.

TARN, a river of southern France, tributary to the Garonne, watering the departments of Lozere, Aveyron, Tarn, Haute-Garonne and Tarn-et-Garonne. Length, 234 m. Area of basin, 5733 sq. m. Rising on the southern slope of Mt. Lozere at a height of 5249 ft., the Tarn flows westward and, having received the Tarnon, enters the gorge, famed for its beauty, which separates the Causse de Sauveterre from the Causse Mejan. Emerging from this canon after a course of 37 m. it receives the Jonte on the left and, still flowing through gorges, passes between the Causse Noir, the Larzac plateau and the Causse de St Affrique (at the foot of which it receives the Dourdou de Vabre) on the left and the Levczou range and the Plateau of Segala on the right. In this part of its course the most important town is Millau, where it receives the Dourbie. At the cascade of Sabo, above Albi, the river enters the plains and,