SOL 



SOL 



the value of lOO Swifs livres ; and poflefTes fupreme and 

 final jurifdiftion in criminal caufes, except thofe in which 

 a burgher of the capital is concerned, who may appeal to 

 the great council. The fenate alfo nominates, direAly or 

 indirectly, to moft of the important charges of the re- 

 public ; and confers the principal ecclefiaftical benefices ; 

 it adembles retjularly three times a week, and is convoked on 

 extraordinary occafions by the reigning advoyer. A fenator 

 muft be 24 years of age, a member of the great council, 

 and drawn from the fame company to which the lalt fenator 

 belonged. 



Government draws its principal revenues, which do not 

 exceed 12.500/. per annum, from the following fources : 

 •v\%. a tax, called the tax for fortifications, laid on the 

 funds of the tribes and monafteries in the town, and on 

 thofe of pari(hes in the bailliages ; tythes and " rentes fon- 

 cieres" belonging to the itate ; tolls ; excife on wine ; in- 

 terelt of money placed out in the canton and in foreign 

 countries; monopoly of fait ; revenues from the bailliages.; 

 fubfidy from France, about nc8/. ; and fundry fmall 

 fources, a?; demefnes, eftates, falaries of vacant benefices, &c. 

 The principal departments of government are the tribunals, 

 comprifing the inferior courts of juftice, and the fecret 

 council of feven members; the boards of war; of rights, 

 called " droits regalicns ;" of finances, agriculture, and 

 public buildings ; of the police ; and of ecclefiaftical affairs, 

 charitable inftitutions, and fchool?. The burghers are di- 

 vided into ancient and new, the origin of the diftinftion 

 being dated from 1681. About eighty-five families pollefs 

 the right of burgher(hip, and of thefe about thirty-four 

 of the moft illuftrious fupply the members of the great coun- 

 cil, and fill the various departments of government. The 

 burghers, both ancient and new, are diftributed into ele»»n 

 tribes or companies, each of which furnifhes three fenators 

 and fix members of the great council. The general aflem- 

 bly of ancient and new burghers, called '* Rofengarten," or 

 garden of rofes, is held in the church of the Cordeliers on 

 the day of St. John the Baptift, for the purpofe of elefting 

 or confirming the charges of advoyer, baimeret, and grand 

 fautier ; and the bufinefs of this meeting is condufted with 

 great pomp and ceremony. From the manner of its pro- 

 ceeding, we may juftly infer, that the government of So- 

 leurc is a moft complete ariftocracy. The government, 

 however, is faid to be mild and equitable ; and the people 

 are tranquil and contented. When Switzerland felt the 

 effeft of the French revolution, Soleiu-e was one of the 

 eighteen Swifs departments or cantons acceding to the 

 divifion of 1 798, and it formed one of the feventeen depart- 

 ments or cantons, acceding to the conftitution of the 

 29th of May, 1801, and the number of its reprefentatives 

 was three. Soleure contains 288 fquare miles : its popula- 

 tion, before the revolution, was 45,000 ; its contingent 

 600 ; and the era of its reception into the Helvetic con- 

 federacy A.D. 1481. 



Soleure, the capital of the above-defcribed canton, 

 is pleafantly fituated upon the Aar, which here expands its 

 banks, and opens into a fine level river. This is a very an- 

 cient town ; and though we rejeA the fabulous tradition of 

 its having been built by the patriarch Abraham, it may be 

 allowed that it was one of the twelve towns which were de- 

 ftroyedupon the emigration of the original inhabitants into 

 Gaul. From a number of infcriptions, medals, and other 

 ancient remains, found in its neighbourhood, it appears pro- 

 bable, that it was repeopled by a Roman colony ; and it was 

 certainly a Roman ftation, as its ancient appellation, " Caf- 

 trum Solodurenfe," imphe.s. During the period of barbarifm 

 that fuccecded the downfall of the Roman empire, it was 



facked and deftroyed by thofe northern nations which over- 

 ran the greateft part of Europe. From the time of its 

 re-eftabli(hment to that of its admiflion into the Helvetic 

 confederacy in 1481, its ftate refembled that of many other 

 imperial towns, which acquired a gradual acceflion of ter- 

 ritory, and, after various ftruggles, finally fccured inde- 

 pendence. 



Soleure is a fmall but very neat town, furrounded by re- 

 gular ftone fortifications, erctied in the beginning of tlie laft 

 century ; the walls enclofe fcarcely more than fifty fquare 

 acres, and, including the fubiirbs, contain about 4-00 fouls. 

 The new church, begun in 1762, and finifhed in 1772, is 3 

 noble edifice of whiti(h-grey Itone, drawn from the neigh- 

 bouring quarries, which is a fpecics of marble, and admits a 

 good polifti. The lower part of the building is of the Co- 

 rinthian, the upper of the Compofite order ; the facade, 

 which confilU of a portico, furrounded by an elegant tower, 

 prefents itfelf finely at the extremity of the principal itreet. 

 Pizoni was the architcft, and the expence amounted at leail 

 to 80,000/. Amongll the paintings in the interior, which 

 is fimple but elegant, the moll elleemed is the Laft Supper, 

 by Corvi, a Roman artift. The town-heufe, though not 

 worthy of any particular notice, is the place of meeting for 

 the great council and fenate. The public prifon is a Tolid 

 edifice of ftone, well adapted to the purpofe : the prifoners 

 being confined in feparatc cells. The public library is of 

 recent origin, and was formed by the Abbe Herman, canon 

 of the cathedral ; by whofe alliduity and zeal it now con- 

 tains more than 1 1,000 volumes. The circumjacent country 

 is pleafing and diverfified, and exhibits feveral points of view, 

 which are as agreeable as wild, and as beautiful as romantic. 

 N. ht. 47' 14'. E. long. 7^ 19'. Coxe's Travels in Swit- 

 zerland, vol. i. 



Soleure, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Forelts ; 4milesN.E. of Longwy. 



SOLEUS, in Anatomy, a mufcle of the calf of the leg. 

 See Gastrocnemius. 



SOLEUTINAN, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the lake 

 of Nicaragua, near the fouth coaft, with a town. N. lat. 

 11^23'. W. long. 85' 36. 



SOLFACH, or Solv.\, a fmall fea-port town in the 

 cwmwd of Mynyw, cantref of Pybidiog, (now called the 

 hundred of Dewifland,) county of Pembroke, South 

 Wales, is feated on the bank, and clofe to the mouth, of 

 the river Solfach, at the diftance of ^\ miles from the city 

 of St. David's. " Theeftuary," fays Mr. Fenton, " forms 

 a curious inlet between two high hills, where a clear trout 

 ftream difcharges itfelf, that has its fource in Gwayn y 

 Barry, and running by Lanrithan, receives a tributary ftream 

 near Llechmeylir, and fo by Kerbyd and Carvoriog ; then 

 turning fouthward, after a courfe of fix or feven miles, dif- 

 charges itfelf here." The harbour at this place, forming 

 part of St. Bride's bay, is fafe and commodious ; but the 

 entrance to it is rendered dangerous by a large mafs of rock 

 in the midft of the channel. About 30 velTels of different 

 defcriptions belong to this port, from 20 to 250 tons. 



Solfach may be faid to be divided into an upper and lower 

 town, both of which have progreffively augmented in houfes 

 and inhabitants within the laft four years. Hiftorical Tour 

 through Pembrokefhire, by Richard Fenton, efq. F.S.A. 

 4to. 1 81 1. 



SOL-FA-ING, in Mujic, the naming and pronouncing 

 of the feveral notes of a fong, by the fyllablesyb/, fa, la, 

 &c. in learning to fing it. 



For a view of the origin of thefe fyllables, fee Harmo- 

 nical H.\ND. 



Though this fyftem of folmifation does not appear to 



have 



