318 



SOMERVILE SONATA. 



the atmosphere becomes temperate and pleasant, 

 and the heat in summer is model ated by the sea 

 breezes. The rivers of Somerset shire are numerous 

 but not very considerable, most of them through 

 their whole course being confined to this county. 

 The Parret, rising on the border of Dorsetshire, 

 flows northward, being joined near Muchelney by 

 the He, and at Langport by the Yoo, or Ivel, on 

 the east, afterwards by the Tone from Taunton on 

 tin- wist, it passes the town of Bridgewater, and 

 pursues a winding course to the Bristol Channel. 

 The Brue has its source in Sehvood Forest, on the 

 confines of Wiltshire, passes Bruton and Glaston- 

 bury, and after receiving a stream from Shepton 

 Mallett and Wells, and some others, flows west- 

 ward, and enters the sea a short distance northward 

 of the preceding. The Ax, which rises in the 

 Mendip Hills, passes by Axbridge, and falls into the 

 Bristol Channel neT Black Rock. The Ex, which 

 has its origin in Exmoor Forest in this county, j 

 soon passes into Devonshire. Somersetshire has | 

 long been famous for the fattening of cattle, and 

 the richness of its dairies. The cider made here is 

 also of a very superior quality, and is the principal 

 drink of the common people throughout the county. 

 Barley is not much grown, but wheat, oats, and 

 bear, together with flax, teazels and woad, are ex- 

 tensively cultivated. The principal mineral pro- 

 ducts are coal, found only in the hilly tract between 

 Mendip and the Lower Avon; lead, lapis calamin- 

 aris, manganese, copper-ore, spars and crystals, from 

 the Mendip hills ; from the Quantock hills lead and 

 copper ores have been excavated; calamine from 

 the Broadfield downs and other hills ; iron ores from 

 various places; and in the rocks near Porlockhave 

 been found small quantities of silver. Granite has 

 been quarried a few miles north-east of Taunton; 

 and at Coombe Down great quantities of excellent 

 freestone for building. There are mineral springs 

 of various kinds in different parts of the county, 

 of which the most important are the chalybeate 

 warm springs at Bath, discovered at a very early 

 period. 



There are extensive manufactories of woollen 

 cloths in Somersetshire. Linen cloths, such as 

 dowlas, bed-tickings, and sail-cloths, together with 

 lace, silk, and crape, are also manufactured here. 

 The foreign commerce of the county is chiefly car- 

 ried on at Bristol. The cities are Bath and Wells, 

 Bristol being only in part within this county. 

 The boroughs are Bridgewater, Ilchester, Mil- 

 borne Port, Minehead and Taunton; and the mar- 

 ket-towns Axbridge, Bruton, Castle Carey, Chard, 

 Crewkerne, Dulverton, Dunster, Frome, Glaston- 

 bury, Ilminster, Longport, Milverton, South Pe- 

 therton, Shepton Mallet, Somerton, Wellington, 

 Wincanton, Wiveliscombe, Yeovil, and Pensford; 

 but, of this last the market is entirely discontinued. 

 The county, which is co-extensive with the diocese 

 of Bath and Wells, is divided into the three arch- 

 deaconries of Bath, Wells, and Taunton. Popula- 

 tion of the county in 1821, 355,314; in 1831, 

 103,908. 



SOMERVILE, WILLIAM, an English poet, was 

 born in Warwickshire, in 1692, and educated at 

 Oxford. He early cultivated his talent for poetry, 

 and inherited a considerable paternal estate, on 

 which he chiefly lived, mingling an ardent attach- 

 ment to the sports of the field with the studies of 

 a man of -letters. He was courteous, hospitable, 

 convivial; but carelessness in pecuniary matters, 

 by involving him in embarrassments, preyed on his 



mind, and produced habits which shortened his life 

 lie died in 1742. As a poet, Somervile is chiefly 

 known by his Chase, a poem in blank verse-, which 

 maintains a respectable rank in the didactic and 

 descriptive class. Another piece, connected with 

 the same subject, is entitled Field Sports. His 

 Hobbinol, or Rural Games, is a kind of mock 

 heroic. His other pieces are not fitted to increase 

 his reputation. See Johnson's Lives of the Poets. 



SOMME. See Department. 



SOMNAMBULISM designates the well-knowi' 

 phenomena of sleep-walking. It is also used for a 

 certain state of a person under the influence of ani- 

 mal magnetism. The phenomena of sleep-walking 

 are very singular, the person affected performing 

 many voluntary actions, implying a certain degree 

 of perception of the presence of external objects. 

 This affection is commonly considered as an imper- 

 fect degree of sleep. " In the case of the somnam- 

 buli," says Dugald Stewart, "the mind retains its 

 power over the limbs, but possesses no influence 

 over its own thoughts, and scarcely any over the 

 body, excepting those particular members of it 

 which are employed in walking." Sleep-walking is 

 not unfrequently connected with the changes of the 

 moon ; when people will rise, walk about, do cer- 

 tain things, and go to bed again. The placing of a 

 wet cloth by the side of the bed of such a person, 

 so as to wake him immediately when he steps on it, 

 is recommended as a means of curing this habit. 

 The subject is very obscure, the cases not having 

 been philosophically studied to a sufficient extent. 

 As to somnambulism in animal magnetism, the vo- 

 taries of this science believe that the brain the 

 peculiar seat of the higher faculties rests during 

 somnambulism, but that the vital power of the 

 nervous system of the abdomen is heightened so 

 much, that it can supply, in a degree, the place of 

 the brain, and afford the means of perception. 

 Hence a letter placed on the stomach of a person 

 in the state of somnambulism can be read by him ! 

 We must refer the reader to the works mentioned 

 in the article Magnetism, Animal, viz. those of Wol- 

 farth, Kieser, &c. 



SOMNUS (Latin, sleep}, or HYPNOS (fcr); 

 in ancient mythology, the god of sleep, son of Nox 

 (Night), and twin brother of Mors (Death). He 

 dwelt at the western extremity of the world, where 

 the imagination of early poets placed all awful 

 beings. The Orphic hymn (84) calls Lethe (Obli- 

 vion) his sister. His power is great, and both 

 mortals and gods are subject to him. Some of the 

 later poets describe him as a handsome youth, some 

 as a dull and lazy god, whose dark abode no ray of 

 Phoebus enters. (Ovid.) He is sometimes repre- 

 sented with a wreath of poppies; sometimes with a 

 horn, in which he carries dreams. According to 

 some poets, he produces sleep by the motion of his 

 wings} according to others, he sprinkles drops of 

 Lethe on the eyes of mortals. Ovid gives him a 

 thousand children, but mentions only Morpheus, 

 Icelos, Phobetor and Phantasos. See Morpheus. 



SON (in the Tartar languages, river); a syllable 

 which appears in many geographical names, as Kara- 

 son (black river), Akson (white river). 



SONATA (sonata,, or suonata, Italian, from 

 sonare, to sound) is a simple piece of instrumental 

 music, intended to express various feelings in dif- 

 ferent passages, according to the character of the 

 instrument used. It was originally designed for 

 one instrument only, principally for the violin: 

 afterwards for the piano almost exclusively. Sub- 



