Obs. [f. name of Count Teckely, a Hungarian Protestant leader who rose against the persecuting Austrian government, and allied himself with the Turks, whom he joined in the siege of Vienna in 1683.] In Eng. Hist., A nickname given in 1683 to the Whigs, alleged to sympathize with Count Teckely in waging war against a Roman Catholic government.
1683. R. L’Estrange, Observator, 29 Aug. Why where hast thou been Bury’d of late, that thou know’st Nothing of the Teckelites? There’s Another Design afoot, for the Reconciling of the True-Protestants, and the Mahometans.
1684. Dryden, Epil. Constantine Gt., 22. Besides all these, there were a sort of wights, (I think my author calls them Teckelites,) Such hearty rogues against the king and laws, They favoured even a foreign rebel’s cause.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2348/1 (Addr. fr. Carlisle). We likewise thank Your Majesty for Your Royal Army, which really is both the Honour and Safety of the Nation; Let the Teckelites think and say what they will.
