The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 410

SORATA, a volcanic peak in the Bolivian Andes, 21,470 ft. in height.

SORBONNE, a celebrated college of Paris, taking its name from its founder, Robert of Sorbon, chaplain to Saint Louis in the 13th century; was exclusively devoted to theology, and through the rigour of its discipline and learning of its professors soon exercised a predominant influence on the theological thought of Europe, which it maintained until the new learning of the Renaissance (16th century), together with its own dogmatic conservatism, left it hopelessly stuck in the "Sorbonnian bog"

of derelict scholastic theology; became an object of satiric attacks by Boileau, Voltaire, and others, and was suppressed in 1789 at the outburst of the Revolution; was revived by Napoleon in 1808; is at present the seat of the Academie Universitaire de Paris, with faculties of theology, science, and literature.

SORDELLO, a Provencal poet whom Dante and Virgil met in Purgatory sitting solitary and with a n.o.ble haughty mien, but who sprang up at sight of Virgil and embraced him and accompanied him a part of his way; Browning used his name, as the t.i.tle of a poem showing the conflict a minister experiences in perfecting his craft.

SOREL, AGNES, the mistress of Charles VII. of France, who had a great influence over him; had been maid of honour to the queen (1409-1450).

SORROW, SANCTUARY OF, Goethe's name for the fold of Christ, wherein, according to His promise (Matt. v. 4) the "mourners" who might gather together there would find relief and be comforted, the path of sorrow leading up to the "porch" of the sanctuary.

SORROW, WORs.h.i.+P OF, Goethe's name for the Christian religion, "our highest religion, for the Son of Man," Carlyle adds, interpreting this, "there is no n.o.ble crown, well worn or even ill worn, but is a crown of thorns."

SORROWS OF THE VIRGIN. See SEVEN DOLOURS.

SORROWS OF WERTHER, a work by Goethe and one of his earliest, the production of which const.i.tuted a new era in the life of the poet, and marks a new era in the literature of Europe, "as giving expression to a cla.s.s of feelings deeply important to modern minds, but for which our older poetry offered no exponent, and perhaps could offer none, because they are feelings that arise from Pa.s.sion incapable of being converted into Action, and belong to an ignorant, uncultivated, and unbelieving age such as ours," feelings that Byronically, "in dark wayward" mood reflect a mere sense of the miseries of human life.

SORTES VIRGILIANae, consulting the pages of Virgil to ascertain one's fortune, by opening the book at random, putting the finger on a pa.s.sage and taking that for the oracle of fate one is in quest of.

SOSTRATUS, architect of the Pharos of Alexandria, lived in the 3rd century B.C., and was patronised by Ptolemy Philadelphus.

SOTHERN, EDWARD ASKEW, comedian, born in Liverpool; at 23 went on the stage, and for some time was a member of the stock company of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham; afterwards acted in America, and made his mark in Tom Taylor's "Our American Cousin" (1858) in the small part of Lord Dundreary, which he gradually developed into an elaborate and phenomenally successful caricature of an English peer, and in which he appeared thousands of times in America and England; scored a great success also as David Garrick in Robertson's well-known comedy (1826-1881).

SOUBISE, DUC DE, French soldier; served first under Prince Maurice of Orange, and commanded the Huguenots against Louis XIII., but after some successes was compelled to take refuge in England; distinguished himself at the defence of Roch.e.l.le, but was defeated again and had to betake himself to England as before, where he died (1589-1641).

SOUBISE, PRINCE DE, marshal of France; was aide-de-camp to Louis XV.

in Flanders, was favoured by Pompadour, held an important command in the Seven Years' War, but was defeated by Frederick the Great at Rossbach (1713-1787).

SOUDAN or "THE LAND OF THE BLACKS," the cradle of the negro race, a vast tract of territory stretching E. and W. across the African continent from the Atlantic (W.) to the Red Sea and Highlands of Abyssinia (E.), between the Sahara (W.) and the Gulf of Guinea and the central equatorial provinces (S.); divided into (a) Upper Soudan, embracing Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Ashanti, Dahomey, Liberia, and west coast-lands; (6) Lower Soudan, including the Fulah States, Ma.s.sina, Gando, Sokoto, &c.; (c) Egyptian Soudan, which in 1882 was subdivided into (1) West Soudan, including Dar-Fur, Kordofan, Bahr-el-Ghazal, and Dongola; (2) Central Soudan, comprising Khartoum, Sennaar, Berber, Fashoda, and the Equatorial Province, &c.; (3) Eastern Soudan, bordering on the Red Sea, and embracing Taka, Suakim, and Ma.s.sowah; (4) Harar, stretching E. of Abyssinia. The extension of Egyptian rule into this territory began in 1819 with the capture of Khartoum, which became the base of military operations, ending in the gradual conquest of the surrounding regions in 1874. A serious revolt, fanned by religious fanaticism, broke out in 1882, and headed by the MAHDI (q. v.) and his lieutenant Osman Digna, ended in the utter rout of the Egyptian forces under Hicks Pasha and Baker Pasha; Gordon, after a vain attempt to relieve him, perished in Khartoum; but Stanley was more successful in relieving Emin Bey in the Equatorial Province. Anarchy and despotism ensued until the victorious campaign of KITCHENER (q. v.) again restored the lost provinces to Egypt.

SOUFFLOT, French architect of the Pantheon of Paris (1713-1780).

SOUL, the name given to the spiritual part of man, the SEAT OF REASON (q. v.) and conscience, by which he relates and subordinates himself to the higher spiritual world, inspiring him with a sense of individual responsibility.

SOULT, NICOLAS-JEAN DE DIEU, duke of Dalmatia and marshal of France, born at St. Amans-la-Bastide, department of Tarn; enlisted as a private in 1785, and by 1794 was general of a brigade; gallant conduct in Swiss and Italian campaigns under Ma.s.sena won him rapid promotion, and in 1804 he was created a marshal; served with the emperor in Germany, and led the deciding charge at Austerlitz, and for his services in connection with the Treaty of Tilsit received the t.i.tle of Duc de Dalmatia; at the head of the French army in Spain he outmanoeuvred the English in 1808, conquered Portugal, and opposed to Wellington a skill and tenacity not less than his own, but was thwarted in his efforts by the obstinate incompetence of Joseph Bonaparte; turned Royalist after the abdication of Napoleon, but on his return from Elba rallied to the emperor's standard, and fought at Waterloo; was subsequently banished, but restored in 1819; became active in the public service, and was honoured as amba.s.sador in England in 1838; retired in 1845 with the honorary t.i.tle of "Marshal-General of France" (1769-1851).

SOUND, THE, a strait, 50 m. long, between Sweden and Denmark, which connects the Cattegat with the Baltic Sea; dues at one time levied on s.h.i.+ps pa.s.sing through the channel were abolished in 1857, and over three millions paid in compensation, Britain contributing one-third and undertaking to superintend the navigation and maintain the lighthouses.

SOUTH, ROBERT, an English divine, born at Hackney; obtained several preferments in the Church, but refused a bishopric; was distinguished for his hostility to the Dissenters, and was never tired of heaping ridicule on them and their principles; wrote a book in defence of the Trinity in a somewhat rationalistic view of it, which involved him in a furious controversy with Dr. Sherlock; was a man of great wit and good sense as well as refinement; his chief writings consist of "Sermons" (1633-1716).

SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANY. See RHODESIA.

SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. See TRANSVAAL.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA (320), second largest of the five colonies of Australia, stretches N. and S. in a broad band, 1850 in. long, through the heart of the continent from the Southern Ocean to the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Arafura Sea, having Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria on the E., and Western Australia on the W.; ten times the size of Great Britain, but the greater portion comprises the Northern Territory, which consists, save a low alluvial coastal strip, of parched and uninhabited tableland. South Australia proper begins about 26 S.

lat.i.tude, and is traversed southwards by the Finke River as far as Eyre Lake (3706 sq. m.), by the Flinders Range, and the lower Murray River in the E., and diversified here and there by low ranges and Lake Amadeus (NW.), Torrens and Gairdner (S.); the S. coast is penetrated by the great gulfs of Spencer and St. Vincent, round and to the N. and E. of which the bulk of the population is gathered in a region not much larger than Scotland; is the chief wheat-growing colony, and other important industries are mining (chiefly copper), sheep-rearing, and wine-making; chief exports, wool, wheat, and copper; the railway and telegraph systems are well developed, the Overland Telegraph Line (1973 m.) stretching across the continent from Adelaide to Port Darwin being a marvel of engineering enterprise. Adelaide is the capital. The governor is appointed by the crown, and there are a legislative council or upper house, and an a.s.sembly or lower house. State education is free. Began to be settled in 1836, and five years later became a Crown colony.

SOUTH SEA BUBBLE, the name given to the disastrous financial project set on foot by HARLEY (q. v.) to relieve the national debt and restore public credit, which produced an unparalleled rush of speculation, ending in the ruin of thousands of people. Through the efforts of Harley a company of merchants was induced in 1711 to buy up the floating national debt of 10,000,000 on a government guarantee of 6 per cent. interest, and a right to a monopoly of trade in the South Seas.

The shares rose by leaps and bounds as tales of the fabulous wealth of the far South Seas circulated, till, in 1720, 200 shares were quoted at 1000; earlier in the same year the company had taken over the entire national debt of upwards of 30 millions. In the craze for speculation which had seized the public hundreds of wild schemes were floated. At length the "Bubble" burst. The chairman and several directors of the company sold out when shares had reached 1000; suspicion followed, confidence vanished, stock fell, and in a few days thousands from end to end of the country were bewailing their ruin. The private estates of the fraudulent directors were confiscated for the relief of the sufferers. To Sir Robert Walpole belongs the credit of extricating the finances of the country from the muddle into which they had fallen.

SOUTHAMPTON (94), an important seaport of South Hamps.h.i.+re, 79 m. SW.

of London, situated on a small peninsula at the head of Southampton Water (a fine inlet, 11 m. by 2), between the mouths of the Itchen (E.) and the Test (W.); portions of the old town-walls and four gateways still remain; is the head-quarters of the Ordnance Survey; has splendid docks, and is an important steam-packet station for the West Indies, Brazil, and South Africa; yacht and s.h.i.+p building and engine-making are flouris.h.i.+ng industries.

SOUTHCOTT, JOANNA, a prophetess, born in Devon, of humble parents; became a Methodist; suffered under religious mania; gave herself out as the woman referred to in Revelation xii.; imagined herself to be with child, and predicted she would on a certain day give birth to the promised Prince of Peace, for which occasion great preparations were made, but all to no purpose; she died of dropsy two months after the time predicted; she found numbers to believe in her even after her death; she traded in pa.s.sports to heaven, which she called "seals," and persuaded numbers to purchase them (1750-1814).

SOUTHERN CROSS, a constellation of the southern heavens, the five princ.i.p.al stars of which form a rough and somewhat irregular cross, the shape of which is gradually changing; it corresponds in the southern heavens to the Great Bear in the northern.

SOUTHEY, ROBERT, poet-laureate, born, the son of a linen-draper, at Bristol; was expelled from Westminster School for a satirical article in the school magazine directed against flogging; in the following year (1793) entered Balliol College, where he only remained one year, leaving it a Unitarian and a red-hot republican; was for a time enamoured of Coleridge's wild pantisocratic scheme; married (1795) clandestinely Edith Frickes, a penniless girl, sister to Mrs. Coleridge, and in disgrace with his English relatives visited his uncle in Lisbon, where in six months he laid the foundation of his knowledge of Spanish history and literature; the Church and medicine had already, as possible careers, been abandoned, and on his return to England he made a half-hearted effort to take up law; still unsettled he again visited Portugal, and finally was relieved of pecuniary difficulties by the settlement of a pension on him by an old school friend, which he relinquished in 1807 on receiving a pension from Government; meanwhile had settled at Keswick, where he prosecuted with untiring energy the craft of authors.h.i.+p; "Joan of Arc," "Thalaba,"

"Madoc," and "The Curse of Kehama," won for him the laureates.h.i.+p in 1813, and in the same year appeared his prose masterpiece "The Life of Nelson"; of numerous other works mention may be made of his Histories of Brazil and the Peninsular War, Lives of Bunyan and Wesley, and "Colloquies on Society"; declined a baronetcy offered by Peel; domestic affliction--the death of children, and the insanity and death of his wife--saddened his later years, which were brightened in the last by his second marriage (1839) with the poetess and his twenty years' friend, Caroline Bowles; as a poet Southey has few readers nowadays; full of miscellaneous interest, vigour of narrative, and spirited rhythm, his poems yet lack the finer spirit of poetry; but in prose he ranks with the masters of English prose style "of a kind at once simple and scholarly" (1774-1843).

SOUTHPORT (41), a watering-place of Lancas.h.i.+re, situated on the southern sh.o.r.e of the Ribble estuary, 18 m. N. of Liverpool; is a town of quite modern growth and increasing popularity; has a fine sea-sh.o.r.e, esplanade, park, theatre, public library, art gallery, etc.

SOUTHWARK (339), or the BOROUGH, a division of London, on the Surrey side of the Thames, opposite the City, and annexed to it in 1827; it sends three members to Parliament, and among its princ.i.p.al buildings are St. Saviour's Church and Guys Hospital.

SOUTHWELL, ROBERT, poet, born in Norfolk; studied at Douay, and became a Jesuit priest; came to England as a missionary, was thrown into prison, tortured ten times by the rack, and at length executed at Tyburn as a traitor for disseminating Catholic doctrine; his poems are religious chiefly, and excellent, and were finally collected under the t.i.tle "St.

Peter's Complaint," "Mary Magdalen's Tears, and Other Works"; "The Burning Babe" is characterised by Professor Saintsbury as a "splendid poem" (1560-1595).

SOUVESTRE, eMILE, French novelist and playwright, born at Morlaix; at 30 he established himself in Paris as a journalist, and became noted as a writer of plays and of charming sketches of Breton life, essays, and fiction; "Les Derniers Bretons" and "Foyer Breton" are considered his best work (1806-1854).