Chapter Tonna to Torquato of T by Brewer's Readers Handbook

The ideal Yankee, in whom European prejudice has combined the attractive traits of a Gines de Passamonte, a Joseph Surface, a Lazarillo de Tormes, a Scapin, a Thersitês, and an Autolycus.—Hurlbut.

(“Gines de Passamonte,” in Don Quixote, by Cervantes; “Joseph Surface,” in The School for Scandal, by Sheridan; “Scapin,” in Les Fourberies de Scapin, by Molière; “Thersitês,” in Homer’s Iliad, i.; “Autolycus,” in the Winter’s Tale, by Shakespeare.)

Tormot, youngest son of Torquil of the Oak (foster-father of Eachin M’Ian).—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Tornea, a lake or rather a river of Sweden, which runs into the Gulf of Bothnia.

Still pressing on beyond Tornea’s lake.
   —Thomson: The Seasons (“Winter,” 1726).

Torneo, a town in Finland. Often visited by travellers, who can there witness the phenomenon of the sun remaining above the horizon both day and night at the summer solstice. It belongs now to Russia.

Cold as the rocks on Torneo’s hoary brow.
   —Campbell: Pleasures of Hope, ii. (1799).

We find our author [A. F. Skioldebrand] pursuing his journey northwards,…and his description of the entrance into Westrobothnia gives us a high idea of the richness of the country in the neighbourhood of Torneo.—Quarterly Review, April, 1814.

Torquato, that is, Torquato Tasso, the Italian poet, author of Jerusalem Delivered (1544–1595). After the publication of his great epic, Tasso lived in the court of Ferrara, and conceived a violent passion for Leonora, one of the duke’s sisters, but fled, in 1577, to Naples.

Torquato’s tongue
Was tuned for slavish pæans at the throne
Of tinsel pomp.
   —Akenside: Pleasures of Imagination, ii. (1744).