TAP
[ i7* 1
TAP
fame Water they had been in before ; and here they are left eight Days ; which expir'd, they are put in the ST«-Pit, and three Coverings of Tan given them, the firft of which lafts five Weeks, the id fix, and the 3d two Months.
The teit of the Procefs is in all relpeccs the fame as that above deliver'd. In ibme Countries, as in Champagne, &c. the Tanners give the firft. Preparation with Barley inftead of Lime.
TANTAMOUNT, (of the French tarn and Montant, or Monter,) ibmething that amounts to, or is equivalent to fo much.
TAP, among Hunters : A Hair is faid to tap,, or beat, when me makes a Noife.
TAPASSANT, denotes lurking or fqaatting, and is a Term us'd in Hunting : Hence, to tappy, is to be hid, as a Deer may be.
TAPER, Tapering, is underftood of a Piece of Timber, or the like, when broad beneath, and fharp towatds the Top ; as is the Cafe in Pyramids, Cones, J^fr. See Pyra- mid.
To meafure taper Timber, £<?c. See Timber, Slidi-ng- Rale, l$C.
Taper-£w<«/, is apply'd to a Piece of Ordnance, when it is wider ar the Mouth than towards the Breech. See Ordnance.
Taper, a kind of tall waxen Candle, placed in a Can- dleftick, and burnt at Funeral Proceilions, and in other Church Solemnities.. See Candle.
They are made of different Sises : In fome Places, as Iralv, &. they are Cylindrical ; but in molt ether Countries, as England, France, &c. they are Conical, or taper, whence the Name.
Both Kinds are pierced at Bottom, for a Pin inthe Can- dleflick to enter.
The Ufe of Lights in religious Ceremonies, is of a long Handing : The Ancients, we know, ufed Flambeaux in their Sacrifices, and particularly in the Myfteries of Cere s ; and they had Tapers placed before the Statues of their Gods.
Some fiippofe, that it was in Imitation of this Heathen Ceremony, that Lights were firft introduc'd into the Chri- ftian Church ; others rake it, that the Chriilians borrow'd the Practice from the Jeivs : But Recourfe need not be had to the one or the other.
Doubrlefs, as in the firft Days of Chriftianity they had their Meetings in ohlcure fubterraneous Vaults, there was a Neceffity for Tapers, ?$c. and there was even Occafion for them after they had the Liberty of building Churches ; thofe being contriv'd in fueh Manner, as only to receive very little Light, that they might infpi.re the greater Awe and Refpefl by the Obfcurity.
This Original of Tapers in Churches is the mod natural ; but 'tis now a long Time fince the Life of Tapers, which Neceffity at fifft introduc'd, is become a mere Ceremony. S. Taulinns, who liv'd at rhe Beginning of the Vth Century, obterves that the Chriitians of his Days were fo fond of Tapers, 'that they even painted them in their Churches. See Luminary.
Manner of "making Tapers.
There are two ways of making Tapers : The firft with the Lalle, the fecond by Hand.
In the firft, after the Wicks (which are ufually half Cot- ton half Flax) have been well twilled, and cut of the due Length ; a Dozen of them ate hung, at equal Diftances, around an Iron Hoop, directly over a large Copper Bafon full of melted Wax.
Then taking an Iron Ladle-full of the Wax, they pour it gently over the Wicks, a little below the Tops theteof, one after another ; fo that the Wax running down them, they become quite covcr'd therewith, and the Surplus returns in- to the Balbn, under which is a Pan of Coals to keep it in Fufion.
Thus they continue to caft on more and more Wax for ten or twelve times, till the Tapers be brought to the requir'd Dimenfions. The firft Caft only foaks the Wick, the fe- cond begins to cover it, and the reft give it the Fotm and Thicknefs ; in order to which, they take Care that every Caft, after the fourth, be made lower and lower below the Wicks, to make them taper.
The Tapers thus form'd, are laid, while yet hot, one a^ainft another, in a Feather Bed, folded double to preferve them foft ; and taken out thence, one atter another, to be rolled on a long fmooth Table, with an oblong Inftrument of Box, polifh'd at Bottom, and furni/h'd with a Handle above.
The Taper thus roll'd and polifh'd, a Piece of its big End is cut off, and a Conical Hole bored therein, with a Boxen Inftrument, into which the Pin, or Point of the Can- dleftick is to be receiv'd.
While the Btoach is yet in the Hole, they ufe to ftarnp
the Maker's Name, and the Weight of the Taper, with 3 Boxen Ruler, whereon the Characters are cut. The Taper is then hung up to dty and harden ; after which it is fit for Ufe.
Making of Tapers by Hend.
The Wicks being difpos'd, as in the former Manner ; they begin to fbtten the Wax by working it in hot Water, in a. narrow, deep Copper Veffel. They then take a Quantity of this Wax out with the Hand, and lay it gtadually on the Wick, which is faften'd to a Hook in the Wall by the End oppofite to the Wick ; 16 that they begin to form rhe Taper by the big End; and proceed, ftill leffening the Thicknefs, to the Neck or Coller.
The reft is perform'd after the fame Manner as in Tapers- made with the Ladle, except that they don't lay them in the Feather-Bed, but toll them on the Table as faft as form'd.
Two Things there are to be obfirv'd in the two Kinds of Tapers : The firft, that in the whole Procefs of Tapers with the Ladle, they ufe Water to moiften the Table, and other In- ftruments ufed therein, that the Wax may not flick ; and that in the other, they ufe Oil of Olives or Lard for the fame End.
'Pafchal Tht-E-B., among the Romanijls, is a latge Taper, whereon the Deacon applies five Grains of Frankincenfe, in Holes made for the Purpofe, in Form of a Crofs ; and which he lights with new Fire in the Ceremony of Eajler Sa- turday.
The Pontifical makes Pope Zofimvs the Author thereof; but 'Baron'ms will have the Ufage more ancient, and quotes a Hymn of Trudentws to prove it.
The Pope he fuppofes to have only eftablifli'd the Ufe thereof in Parifh Churches ; which, till that Time, had been reflrain'd to the greater Churches. F. 'Tapebroch ex- plains rhe Origin of the Pafchal Torch more diflinfily in hUComtusChronicoHiftoricus, Sic. It feems, tho' the Coun- cil of Nice regulated the Day wheteon Eajler was to be celebrated, it laid it on the Patriarch of Alexandria to make a yearly Canon thereof, and to fend it to the Pope. As all the other moveable Feafts were to be regulated on that of Eajler, a Catalogue of them was made every Tear, and wrote on a Taper, Cereus, which was blefs'd in the Church with much Solemnity.
This Taper, according to the Abbot Chaplain, was not 3 Wax Candle, made to be burnt t It had no Wick ; nor was it any thing more than a kind of Column of Wax, made on purpofe to wtite the Lift of moveable Fealls on, and which would fuffice to hold it for the Space of a Year.
For among rhe Ancients, when any thing was to be wrote to lall tor ever, they engrav'd it on Marble or Steel ; when it was to laft a long while, they wrote it on /Egyptian Pa- per; and when it was only to laft a lhortTime, they con- tented themfelves towrite it on Wax.
In Procefs of Time, they came to write the Lift of move- able Feafls on Paper, but they ftill faften'd it to the Pafchal Taper ; which Practice is obferv'd to this Day at Notre c Dame in Rouen, and throughout the Order of China.
Such is the Original of "the Benediction of the 'Pafchal Taper.
TAPESTRY, or TAFISTRY, a curious Kind of Manu- facture, ferving ro adorn a Chamber, or orher Apartment, by hanging, or covering the Walls thereof. See Hanginc.
Some ufe Tapeflry as a general Name for all Kinds of Hangings, whether wove, or wrought with the Needle, and whether Silken,. Woollen, Linnen, Leather, or Paper ; (in which they are countenanc'd by the Etymology of the Word form'd from the French Tapiffer, to line, of the Latin Tapes, a Cover of a Bed, l£c.) But in the common Ufe of our Language, the Term is now appropriated to a Kind of woven Hangings, of Wooll and Silk, frequenrly rais'd, and entich'd with Gold and Silver, representing Figures of Men Animals, Landskips, £5?t7.
The Invention of Tapeflry feems to have come from the Levant ; and what makes this the more probable is, that formerly the Workmen concern 'd herein, were call'd, at leaft in France, Sarrazins, or Sarrafinois.
'Tis (iippos'd that the Englip and Flemijb, who were the fifft that excelfd therein, might bring the Art with them from fome of rhe Croifades, or Expeditions againft the Sa- razens. See Croisade.
Be this as it will, tis certain thofe two Nations, particu- lafly the Englip, were the firft who let on Foot this noble and rich Manufacture in Europe ; now one of the fineft Or- naments of Palaces, Bafilicks, Churches,^.
Hence, if they ben't allow'd the Inventors, they have, at leaft, the Glory of being the Reftorers of fo curious and admirable an Arr, as gives a kind of Life to Woolls and Silks, in no Refpeil inferior to the Paintings of the bed Mafters.
'Twas
