Tav. See Alphabet.
Tavern. See Three Taverns.
Taverner, Richard, a learned and pious laj^man, was born at Brisley, England, in 1505. He is said to have studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and afterwards at Oxford, and then law in the Inner Tem- ple. Having been appointed one of the clerks of the signet in 1537, he held that office until the reign of queen Mary. He was a friend of the Reformation, and, in order to promote it, undertook a new translation or edition of the English Bible (Lond. 1539, fol.). It was dedicated to the king and allowed to be read in the churches; but in 1545 the Romish bishops committed him to the Tower. He was, however, soon released, restored to the king's favor, and elected a member of Parliament in 1545. Taverner's edition of the Bible is a correction of what is called Matthewe's Bible, many of whose marginal notes are adopted, many omitted, and others inserted by the editor. On the accession of king Edward, Taverner, although a layman, received a special license in 1552 to preach throughout the king's dominions, from which he was obliged to desist upon the accession of queen Mary. He resumed his preaching when Elizabeth came to the throne, and, besides receiv- ing other commissions, was made high sheriff of Oxford County in 1569. He died July 14, 1575. Besides his Bible, we have the following list of his publications: The Sum and Pith of CI Psalms of David, etc. (Lond. 1539, 8vo): — The Epistles and Gospels, with a Brief Postill, etc. (ibid. 1540, 2 pts. ito):— Fruit of Faith, etc. (ibid. 1582, 12mo) -.— The Garden of Wisdome, etc. (ibid. 1539, 2 bks.) : — Flores aliquot Sententiarum ex Variis Scripto- ribus (translated from Erasmus) : — Catonis Disticha Mo- ralia (ibid. 1 553, 8 vo ; 1 555, 4to) : — In Minium Publianum lib. I (ibid. 1562): — Catechismus Fidei: — Proverbs, or A dages (ibid. 1545, etc.). See Masters, History of Corpus Christi College; Ward, Gresham Professors; Newcombe, English Biblical Translations; C\\&\me\s, Biog. Diet. s.\. See Authorized Version.
Tavthe, the Babylonian name for " the mother of the gods," thought to be the same as Tihanitu or Tiha- mat, " the sea."
Ta'wals, in Slavonic mythology, was a god of the fields, bestower of blessings, worshipped by the Poland- ers.
Tawbutte, a talbot (i. e. a hunting dog), frequent- ly used in medieval heraldic devices. In an inventory of church goods at Easington, Oxford, is the follow-
TAWDRY
226
TAX
ing: "Item, a vestment powdered with stars and taw- buttes."
Ta'W'dry, a name piven to the necklace worn of old by Knfj;lish peasant pirls. in memory and honor of St. Kthelreda, or Awdry, iiatroness of the diocese of Kly, who, after she had become religious, mourned for the vanity in which she had indulged by wearing gold necklaces.— Lee, Gloss, of Liturg. Terms, s. v.
Tax, Hebrew (some form of "f^i '" arrnnrje). Taxes of some kind mnst have been coeval with the origin of civilized society. The idea of the one is in- volved in that of the other, since society, as everj' or- ganization, implies expense, which must be raised by the abstraction of property from the individuals of which it consists, either by occasional or periodical, by self-im- posed or compulsory, exactions. In the history of Is- rael, as of other nations, the student who desires to fi)rm a just estimate of tlic social contlition of the people must take into account the taxes wliich llioy bail to jiay. Ac- cording as these are light or heavy may vary the hap- piness and [)rosperity of a nation. To them, though lying in the background of history, may often be traced, as to the true motive jiower, many political revolutions. We find a provision of income made at the very com- mencement of the Mosaic polity. Taxes, like all other things in that polity, had a religions origin and import. While the pcoi)le were in the migratory stage during their marches through the desert, onh' such incidental taxes were levied, or rather such voluntary contribu- tions were received, as the exigencies of the time de- manded. It was not till their establishment in Canaan that taxation assumed a regular and organized form. We propose, therefore, in the following article (which we largely adopt from Smith's Diet, of the Bible) to con- sider the subject chronologically from that point. See
ASSKSSMENT.
I. Under the ju'lf;es, according to the theocratic gov- ernment contemplated by the law, the only payments obligatory upon the people as of permanent obligation were the tithes (q. v.). the first-fruits (q. v.), the redemp- tion-money of the lirst-born (q. v.), and other offerings as belonging to special occasions. See Pkiest. The payment by each Israelite of the half-shekel as "atone- ment-money" for the service of the tabernacle, on taking the census of the people (Exod. xxx, 13), does not ap- pear to have had the character of a recurring tax, but to have been supplementary to the free-will offerings of Kxod. XXV, 1-7, levied for the one purpose of the con- struction of the sacred tent. In later times, indeed, af- ter the return from 15abylon, there was an annual pay- ment for maintaining the fabric ami services of the Tem- ple ; but the fact that this begins by the voluntary com- pact to pay one third of a shekel (Xeh. x, 32) shows that till then there was no such j)ayment recognised as necessary. A little later the third became a half, and under the name of the didrachmd (Matt, xvii, i\) was paid by everj- .Jew, in whatever part of the world he might be living (Josephus, Ant. xviii, 9, 1). From the Talmudical tract Sbekalini (llishna, ii, 4), the time of payment appears to have been between the 15th and the 25th of the month Adar, that is, in March. After the destruction of the Temple, this didrachm was order- ed by Vespasian to be paid into the Capitol, "as," says .Josephus, "they used to pay the same to the Tem])le at Jerusalem" {War,\n, G, (i). During the prosj^erity of Palestine, large sums were thus collected in Babylon and other Kastern cities, and were sent to Jerusalem mi- der a special escort (Josephus, Ant. loc. cit. ; Cicero, /Vr; Flacc, c. 2.S). We have no trace of any further taxa- tion than this during the period of tiie judges. It was not in itself heavy : it was lightened by the feeling that it was paid as a religious act. ' In return for it the peo- ple secured the celebration of their worship, and the presence among them of a body of men acting more or less efficiently as priests, judges, teachers, perhaps also as physicians. We cannot wonder that the people