SOMERS -SOMERSETSHIRE. 



317 



vailed upon him to put to death all his children by 

 another sultana, to secure the succession to Selim 

 her son. His cruelty tarnished his fame. After 

 the siege of Mohatz, by his orders, 1500 of the 

 most distinguished prisoners were placed in a circle, 

 and beheaded, in presence of the victorious army. 

 Solyman thought nothing impossible to be done 

 which he commanded. When one of his generals 

 sent him word that his orders to build a bridge 

 over the Drave could not be executed, Solyman 

 sent him a linen cord, with this answer: "The 

 sultan, thy master, commands thee, without consi- 

 deration of the difficulties, to complete the bridge 

 over the Drave: if thou doest it not, on his arrival, 

 he will have thee strangled with this cord, which 

 announces to thee his supreme will." Solyman used 

 his unlimited power to establish order and security 

 in his dominions. He divided them into districts, 

 of which each was compelled to furnish a certain 

 number of soldiers. The produce of a certain 

 division of country in every province was reserved 

 for the support of the troops; and he provided for 

 every thing connected with military discipline, and 

 the equipment of soldiers, with the greatest care. 

 He introduced a system for the regulation of the 

 finances in his empire ; and, that the taxes might 

 not be too oppressive, he was very exact in his ex- 

 penses. He was the greatest of all the Ottoman 

 emperors, and extended his power widely, by force 

 of arms, in Asia and Europe. Under his govern- 

 ment the Turks attained their highest glory; but 

 this was gradually lost under his successors, who 

 seldom appeared at the head of their armies. He 

 was in the highest degree ambitious, active, and 

 fond of power; and every year of his reign was dis- 

 tinguished by some great enterprise. A faithful 

 observer of his religion, he was less vicious, and 

 much better educated, than his predecessor. He 

 loved mathematics, and particularly the study of 

 history. He wanted but. few qualities to make 

 him a great prince, but many to make him a good 

 one. Those who reckon the emperors of Turkey 

 from the conquest of Constantinople, call him So- 

 lyman I. 



SOMERS, LORD JOHN, a distinguished lawyer 

 and statesman, was the son of an attorney at Wor- 

 cester, where he was born in 1652. He was en- 

 tered a gentleman commoner at Trinity college, 

 Oxford, and being destined for the legal profession, 

 passed some time as clerk to a barrister, and, 

 when called to the bar himself, evinced talents of a 

 high order. His principles led him to oppose the 

 measures of Charles II; and, on the accession of 

 James II. he continued a firm opposer of the court, 

 and acquired great credit as one of the council for 

 the seven bishops. He heartily concurred in the 

 revolution, and sat, as one of the representatives 

 for Worcester, in the convention parliament, sum- 

 moned by the prince of Orange, and was one of the 

 managers appointed by the commons to confer with- 

 the lords on the word abdicate. In 1689, he was 

 knighted, and made solicitor-general; in 1692, at- 

 torney-general, and lord-keeper of the great seal, the 

 following year, in which capacity he displayed 

 equal ability, integrity and gentleness. He was one 

 of the first patrons of Addison, for whom he pro- 

 cured an allowance, to enable him to make the 

 tour of Italy. In 1695, he was made lord high 

 chancellor of England, and was raised to the peer- 

 age by the title of lord Somers, baron Evesham. 

 Being now regarded as the head of the whigs, he 

 made great exertions to moderate the zeal of that 



party. After the death of William, lord Somers 

 spent his time in literary retirement, and was 

 chosen president of the royal society. In 1706, he 

 drew up a plan for effecting a union between Eng- 

 land and Scotland, which was so much approved, 

 that queen Anne appointed him one of the com- 

 missioners to carry it into execution. Upon a 

 change of ministry, in 1708, he was "nominated pre- 

 sident of the council, but was again dismissed in 

 1710, and, in April, 1716, was carried off by an 

 apoplectic fit, at the age of sixty-four. He was a 

 patron of men of letters, and one of those who re- 

 deemed Milton's Paradise Lost from the obscurity 

 in which party prejudice had involved it. Besides 

 the many speeches and political tracts attributed to 

 him, he translated some of Ovid's Epistles, and 

 Plutarch's Life of Alcibiades. He also made a 

 collection of scarce tracts, of which there has been 

 published a selection, in four parts, each consisting 

 of four volumes (4to. ; new edition, 1809 1812, 

 12 vols., 4to., edited by Sir Walter Scott). His 

 collection of original papers and letters was destroyed 

 by a fire at Lincoln's Inn. 



SOMERS' ISLANDS. See Bermudas Islands. 



SOMERSET, EARL or. See Overbury. 



SOMERSET, DUKE OF. See Seymour. 



SOMERSETSHIRE; an extensive county of 

 England, bounded on the north by Gloucestershire 

 and the Bristol channel, on the east by Wiltshire, 

 on the south west by Devonshire, and on the south- 

 east by Dorsetshire. Its greatest length from 

 east to west is about 68 miles, and its breadth from 

 north to south 47 miles. It is computed to contain 

 1,050,880 English acres. This county displays a 

 great variety of soil and surface. The north-eastern 

 quarter, including the country between Uphill on 

 the Bristol Channel, and Frome on the border of 

 Wiltshire, and bounded on the south by the hills of 

 Mendip, is diversified by rocky eminences, declining 

 towards the west into fertile plains, and near the 

 sea into moorland tracts subject to inundation. 

 The south-eastern portion of the county, on the 

 confines of Wiltshire and Dorsetshire, consists of 

 high downs appropriated to the pasturage of sheep, 

 or raising corn ; and from Shipton Mallet to Chard 

 is a fertile tract, interspersed with fine meadows 

 and orchards. The central district, intersected by 

 rivers, comprises extensive fens and marshy moors, 

 where dykes and ditches form the divisions of pro- 

 perty, and the land is often covered by water. To- 

 wards the south-west, near the border of Devon- 

 shire, is the fruitful vale of Taunton Dean, whence 

 the Quantock Hills extend north-westward to the 

 Bristol Channel ; further westward is the ridge of 

 the Brandon Hills, and at the western extremity is 

 the forest of Exmoor, lying partly in Devonshire. 

 The loftiest eminence is Dundry Beacon in the 

 northern part of the county, the summit being 

 1668 feet above the level of the sea. Landsdown, 

 near Bath; Broadfield Down, north ofWrington; 

 Blackdown, south-westward of Taunton; Glaston- 

 bury Tor; and Bratton, near Minehead, are hills 

 of considerable altitude. The climate is as various 

 as the soil; near the coast the weather is usually 

 mild, even in winter, and it is almost equally tem- 

 perate in the vale of Taunton, and in the level dis- 

 tricts towards the south and east; on the hills of 

 Exmoor, Brandon, and Quantock, the air becomes 

 much colder, and storms are not unfrequent; in the 

 central marshes the air is moist and foggy ; on the 

 heights of Mendip the cold is extreme, but as the 

 country declines towards the estuary of the Severn, 



