Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/80

* TATARS. 50 of Northeastern jMongolia, and the Manchus of China. In the oourso of the westward movement of the Mongols the term Tartar obtained vogue among the civilized peoples of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, and came to be applied with little discrimination to the hordes of Mongols who descended from time to time upon the fron- tiers of Occidental civilization and to the kindred peoples subdued by them. Ultimately it came to be used almost, if not quite, as a synonym for Turkish ( Turki ), in which sense it is still em- ployed by some modern ethnologists. The 'Tatars of Siberia' (Baraba. Irtish, Tobol, etc.) are probably of very mixed origin. In Western Siberia some fragments of the Osti- aks, etc., have been styled Tatars, probablj- from their adoption of Tatar customs, etc. The Tatars of European Russia are of diverse origins. The so- called Kazan and Astrakhan Tatars are fragments of the Golden Horde. The Tatars of the Crimea are probably composed of the Nogai-Tatars of the steppes and the Tatars of the mountains and coast regions. There are besides the Tatars of the Cauca- sus. It will easily be seen that most of these peo- ples styled Tatars are, linguistically at least, of Turkic stock, but very mi.xed physically. Con- sult: Wolff, Gcschichte dcr Mongolen oder Tar- taren (Brcslau, 1872) ; Howorth, History of the Mongols (London, 1876-80); VSmbery, Etij- mologisches Wfirtcrbuch der tiirko-tatarischen Sprachen (Leipzig, 1878) ; id., Die primitive Cultur d<es turko-tatarischen Tolkes (ib., 1879) ; De Harlez. La religion nationale des Tartares orientaux (Brussels, 1887) ; Chantre, Recherches anthropologiques dans le Caucase (Paris, 1885- 87). TATE, Sir Henry (1819-99). An English philanthropist and art patron. He was born at Chorley, Lancashire : entered early on a com- mercial career in Liverpool, and in 1874 went to London, where he acquired a large fortune in sugar-refining. His chief claim to distinction is as founder of the National Gallery of British Art, popularly known as the Tate Gallery, on the Thames Embankment, near Vauxhall Bridge. This originated in his private collection of mod- ern Briti-sh pictures. His desire to have this collection preserved prompted his offer of $240,- 000 for a building purely devoted to British art, if the Government would provide the site. The building was completed and opened in 1897. TATE, N.HUM (1652-1715). An English poetaster, born in Dublin. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1672, and five years later he was settled in London. In 1692 he succeeded Shadwell as poet laureate. With the exception of Pye (q.v. ), he is the tamest of the laureates. He passed his last days in the Mint in Southwark, then a privileged sanctuary for debtors. Tate composed several plj>ys and much poor verse, including elegies and birthday odes. His best poem, composed inde- pendently, is Panacea, or a Poem on Tea (1700). With .some success he wrote a second part to Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel (1682). The best passages, however, were by Dryden. In lit- erary history Tate has gained unenvied fame as an adapter of several plays by Shakespeare and other Elizabethans. Among them are Richard II. (1681), King Lear (1681), iind Coriolantis (1682). His version of Lear, in which Cordelia survives and marries Edgar, held the stage till TATIAN. 1840. Tate is also known as the joint author, with Nicholas Brady, of the New Version of the Psalms (1696; supplement 1698). To Tate is ascribed the beautiful Christmas hymn "While Shepherds W'atched." TATE, R.LPH (1840-92). An English geolo- gist and paleontologist, born at Tenwick. He was educated at the Cheltenham Training Col- lege and Royal School of Mines. In 1861 he entered the Philosophical Institution of Belfast as a teacher of natural sciences, and during the following years devoted himself to the study and description of the Liassic fossils of Ireland. In 1807 he joined an expedition for the exploration of Nicaragua and Venezuela, and upon his re- turn to England published a series of papers on the geology and paleontology of those countries. He received an appointment as professor of nat- ural sciences at Adelaide, South Australia, in 1875, where he passed the remainder of his life. He established the Royal Society of South Aus- tralia, and was otherwise active in the formation of geological science. The list of his publica- tions includes several hundred papers and mono- graphs. TATIAN, ta'shon. A Christian apologist of the second century. He was a native of Assyria, received a Greek education, and came to Rome in the time of Justin Martyr, with whom he was intimately associated, probably about the year 152. L'nder the instruction of this first Christian philosopher, Tatian early became a Christian, and wrote thereupon his first impor- tant work. The Address to the Greeks. After Justin's death he turned toward views which caused him to be identified with the Gnostics, al- though comparison of the different accoinits leads to the suspicion that party spirit may have ex- aggerated his departure from the commonly re- ceived Christian doctrines and practices. Tatian returned to Mesopotamia, where he was wel- comed heartily and performed valuable services for the Church. He prepared here a harmony of the Gospels in Syriac. under the name of Diatessaron, or The Fourfold Gospel, which early attained a wide circulation among the S3'riac- speaking churches, and was made the subject of a commentary by Ephrem Syrus. The Syriac original cannot have been prepared long after Justin's death (about 166), and therefore gives important testimony to the general acceptance of the Fourth Gospel at that time, and hence to its considerably earlier origin. The Diatessaron has accordingly been an object of great interest, but the text has been until recently regarded as hopelessly lost. In 188.3 a description of an Arabic translation of the Diatessaron existing in the Vatican Library, previously but imjierfectly described by others, was put forth by Ciasca, a 'scriptor' in that library, and in 1888 he pub- lished an edition of the text with a Latin trans- lation. A second manuscript of the same trans- lation had meantime been presented to the li- brary (1886). This Latin version has been translated into English by Hill (Edinburgh, 1804), and an English translation from the Arabic has been made by Hogg (ib., 1897). Consult: Zahn. Forschungcn s:ur Geschichfe dcs neiitcstniitentliche Kanons, vol. iv. (Erlangen, 1891) ; Harris, The Diatessaron of Tatian (Lon- don, 1890) ; id.. Fragments of the Commentary of Ephrem Syrus on the Diatessaron (ib., 1895).