to have resigned his place to Nomentanus, as being more capable of entertaining the guest of the evening. In later republican times, after the introduction of round tables of citrus wood, the three couches were replaced by one of crescent shape (called sigma from the form C of the Greek letter; also stibadium and accubitum), which as a rule was only intended to hold five persons. The two corner seats (cornua) were the places of honour, that on the right being considered superior. The remaining seats were reckoned from left to right, so that the least important seat was on the left side of the most important. The use of the sigma continued till the middle ages. The dining-room itself was also called triclinium, and in the houses of wealthy Romans there were several triclinia suited to the different seasons of the year.
See Marquardt, Das Privatleben der Römer (1886), p. 302.
TRICOUPIS (or Tricoupi), CHARILAOS (1832-1896), Greek statesman, was born at Nauplia in 1832. After studying law and literature in Athens and in Paris, he was sent to London in 1852 as an attaché of the Greek legation. By 1865 he had risen to be chargé d'affaires, but he aimed rather at a political than a diplomatic career. In 1865, therefore, after he had concluded the negotiations for the cession by Great Britain to Greece of the Ionian Islands, he entered the Greek chamber of deputies, and in the following year was made foreign minister, at the early age of thirty-four. In 1875 he became prime minister for a few months, but had no opportunity even to begin carrying out the policy which he had in mind. This policy was to develop the resources of his country so as to create an army and a fleet, and thus to give Greece the power to acquire a leading place among the nations of south-eastern Europe. It was not until 1882 that he was able to take measures to this end. In that year he became prime minister for the third time (his second period of office, two years earlier, had lasted only for a few months), and at once set about the task of putting Greek finance upon a firmer basis, and of increasing the prosperity of the country by making roads, railways and harbours. He was defeated at the general election in 1885, but in the following year he resumed office, and again took up the labour of economic and financial reform. His difficulties were now increased by the large expenditure which had been incurred for military preparations while he had been out of office as the result of the union effected between Bulgaria and eastern Rumelia. The Greeks had demanded from Turkey compensation for this shifting of the balance of power, and had prepared to enforce their demand by an appeal to arms. The Great Powers, however, had interfered, and by blockading the Piraeus had compelled Greece to remain quiet. Tricoupis, nevertheless, believed that he could in a few years raise the value of Greek paper currency to par, and upon that assumption all his calculations were based. Unfortunately for himself and his country, he was not able to make his belief good. His dexterity in finance called forth general admiration, and his schemes for the construction of roads and railways met with a certain amount of success. But at last he was obliged to recognize that the warnings offered to him had been sound. Greece could not meet her obligations. Tricoupis tried to make terms with the creditors of his nation, but he failed in this also. The first taxation which he proposed aroused great hostility, and in January 1895 he resigned. At the general election, four months later, he and his party were defeated. He at once retired from public life, and soon afterwards the disease declared itself which eventually proved fatal. He died at Cannes on the 11th of April 1896. The faults of excessive ambition and of a far too sanguine optimism, which marked Tricoupis' character, could not prevent him from being regarded, even during his lifetime, as the foremost Greek statesman of his time. He was not a favourite with the populace, nor was he beloved so much as respected by his followers. By nature he was reserved—his nickname was “the Englishman”—and he had no sympathy with the arts of the demagogue. But, both in the ranks of his own party and by the nation at large, his abilities and his force of character were unquestioned. It was his misfortune that the circumstances of the time did not allow his wide schemes for the benefit of his country to be carried into effect. (H. H. F.)
TRICOUPIS, SPYRIDION (1788-1873), Greek author and statesman, son of the primate of Missolonghi, was born on the 20th of April 1788. After studying in Paris and London he became private secretary to the fifth earl of Guilford, who resided in the Ionian Islands. He was a friend of Lord Byron, and pronounced his funeral oration in the cathedral of Missolonghi (1824). During the Greek War of Independence he occupied several important administrative and diplomatic posts, being a member of the provisional government in 1826 and of the national convention at Troezen in 1827, and president of the council and minister of foreign affairs in 1832. He was thrice Greek minister in London (1835-1838, 1841-1843 and 1850-1861), and in 1850 envoy-extraordinary to Paris. After the Revolution he became minister of foreign affairs and of public instruction, and held portfolios in several subsequent short-lived ministries. He died on the 24th of February 1873.
A collection of his earlier religious and political orations was published in Paris in 1836. His chief work is a history of the Greek insurrection, Ἱστορία τῆς ἑλληνικῆς ἐπαναστάσεως (4 vols., London, 1853-1857; 2nd ed., 1862). He also wrote a martial poem, Ὁ δῆμος. Ποίημα κλεπτικόν (Paris, 1821).
TRICYCLE (from prefix tri, three, and Gr. κύκλος, circle, wheel). The tricycle, as a machine for pleasure riding, has steadily diminished in relative importance since the advent of the safety bicycle (see Cycling). In its modern form it is a chain-driven rear-driver. The driving axle is provided with a differential gear, which allows of both wheels being driven whether the tricycle is moving in a straight or in at curved path. There are four rows of balls, two near the middle resisting the pull of the driving chain and two near the road wheels supporting the vertical load. Two types of driving axle are in use. In one the axle is supported from a parallel frame tube by four short brackets. In the other type, the Starley-Abingdon axle, the frame tube is concentric with the axle, and the middle portion is enlarged to form a casing for the chain-wheel, with two apertures for the chain to pass through. The other inechanical details are nearly all similar to those on a bicycle.
Carrier tricycles, for tradesmen's delivery purposes, are made in two types, one with an extended wheel base and the carrier behind the rider, the other with a single rear driving wheel, the two steering wheels and the carrier being mounted in front on a transverse tube or frame which is jointed to the rear frame at the steering head. The second arrangement gives the simplest possible form of tricycle, but it is unsuited for touring purposes.
Tricars.—The tricar or motor tricycle was first made by removing the front wheel of a motor bicycle and replacing it by a frame carrying two side steering wheels and a seat. With a powerful engine this arrangement gives a light vehicle from which good performances are obtained on roads with easy gradients. On steeper gradients the power must be increased, and the belt drive with only one speed is inadequate. The modern tricar is on different lines, resembling a small-motor car on three wheels. The engine is 6 to 10 h.p., preferably with two cylinders, air or water cooled, with clutch and gearbox giving two or three speeds, sometimes also a “reverse” speed. The transmission is usually by a chain from the engine shaft to the gear-box, thence by another chain to the rear road wheel. The frame or chassis is supported on the three road wheels by springs. The steering gear is on the same general lines as that of a motor car. The weight of a tricar of 7 to 10 h.p. is between 700 and 1000 ℔. It is a much faster vehicle, especially uphill, than a small car of equal price. The rear tire, however, is subject to severer working conditions than the two driving wheel tires of a small car, and must be of adequate strength, or trouble will be frequent.
The tricar cannot be said to have attained to the same degree of trustworthiness and freedom from breakdown as the motor bicycle or motor car. The rear tire is difficult to remove, in case of puncture. The chain drive, direct from a small chain-wheel on the engine shaft, is faulty in principle. The engine shaft running often at 2000 revolutions per minute, the chain is necessarily noisy,
