S O M 



free fchool, with a large fchool-houfe recently built, 54 feet 

 in length. The rich reftory of Somer(ham is annexed to 

 the Regius profefforfhip of divinity at Cambridge, and now 

 held by the venerable bilhop of Llandaff. Weever fays, 

 « William Weller (or Wolfere), parfon ef Somerrtiam, was 

 mafter of the rolls, ferving Edward III. in the chancery, 

 fortie years and more." The bifhops of Ely had formerly 

 a palace here : the fcite is now partly built on ; but the ad- 

 jacent grounds (till retain veftiges of their ancient appropria- 

 tion. The population of Somei(ham, accordmg to the re- 

 turn to parliament in the year 181 1, was 1032 ; the number 

 of houfes IJ2. A mineral fprintf was difcovcred here by 

 the late Dr. Lavard, who publifhed a fmall treatife concern- 

 ing it in 1759, and whofe experiments, with thofe of Dr. 

 Morris, on its waters, were printed in the fifty-tixth volume 

 of the Philofophical Tranfaftions : its virtues are now but 

 little noticed. 



About the year 1731, near the road leading from Somer- 

 (ham to Chatteris, in a piece of fen-land belonging to Wil- 

 liam Thompfon, efq. the plough turned up and broke a fmall 

 urn, containing feveral Roman coins : and Mr. Thompfon 

 and the Rev. Mr. Ramfey, digging near the fpot, found 

 another, which contained about fixty coins, moftly copper, 

 and of the late emperors. Camden's Britannia, by Gough, 

 vol. ii. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. vii. by E. W. 

 Brayley. 



SOMERSWORTH, a townftip of America, in 

 Strafford county, New Hampfhire, taken from Dover, and 

 incorporated in 1754, containing 878 inhabitants. 



SOMERTON, a fmall market-town in the hundred of 

 the fame name, Somerfetfhire, England, is fituated near the 

 centre of the county, to which it i^ faid to have originally 

 given name, and is 125 miles W.S.W. from London. So- 

 merton is faid to have been a Roman citadel : but we have 

 no authentic account of it previous to the Heptarchy, when 

 it appears to have been a town of confiderablc extent, and 

 ttrongly fortified. It was at one time a royal reiidence. 

 Ina, and feveral other Weft Saxon kings, held their courts 

 here. In the year 877 it was plundered and laid wafte by 

 the Danes, under the conduft of Inguar and Ubba ; but 

 was rebuilt, and recovered its importance, both for popu- 

 lation and Itrength. John, king of France, was confined 

 in the callle of Somerton, after his removal from that of 

 Hertford. In the time of Leland this caftle was converted 

 into a prifon : a part of the town-wall and a round tower 

 (till remain, but in a very ruinous condition. The town 

 now confills principally nf five ilreets : it is governed by a 

 bailiff and conttables, elefted annually by the inhabitants : a 

 weekly market is held on Tuefdays, and four fairs annually. 

 The church is an ancient ftru£ture, confilting of a nave, 

 chancel, and fide-ailles : at the fouth end is an octangular 

 embattled tower, 63 feet high. Near the church is an ex- 

 cellent free-fchool ; and a well-endowed alms-houfe for eiglit 

 poor women. In the centre of the town is a hall for hold- 

 ing the petty feflions. Adjoining to the town is the tything 

 of Lower Somerton, or Somerton Erleigh ; and about a 

 mile eaftward is the tything of Hurco : both are included 

 in the parifh ; which, according to the population return of 

 the year 181 1, contained 338 houfes, and 1478 inhabitants. 

 Colhnfon's Hiftory of Somerfetfhire, vol. iii. 



SOMERVILLE, William, in Biography, fon of 

 Robert Somerville, was born at his father's houfe at Ed- 

 iton, in Warwickfiiirf. He was educated at Winchetter 

 fchool, from which he was elefted to New college, Oxford. 

 Here he made a good proficiency in claffical literature, and 

 cultivated a talent for poetry. His firft piece, as far as is 

 known to the public, was an ode to the duke of Marlbo- 



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rough, on his difmiflion from his pofts in 1710. He was 

 llrongly attached to the Whig party ; and when Addifon 

 purchafed an eltate in Warwickfhire, Somerville addreffed a 

 poem to him, which includ'-s the following couplet, alluding 

 to the papers in the feveral volumes of the Spectator, to 

 which are annexed the letters C, L, I, O. 



" When panting virtue her laft efforts made 

 You brought your Clio to the Virgin's aid." 



Mr. Somerville inherited a confiderable paternal eftate, on 

 which he chiefly lived, afting as a magiftrate, and purfuing 

 with vigour the amufements of a fportfman, varied by the 

 ttudies of a man of letters. He was courteous and hof- 

 pitable, but too much addifted to conviviality, and carelefs 

 of economy. His mode of living threw him into embar- 

 raffments, which fo preyed on bis mind, that for the fake 

 of relief, he fell into habits that (hortened his life. Ho died 

 in 1742, which Shenftone thus notices to a friend and cor- 

 refpondent. 



" Our old friend Somerville is dead ! I did not imagine I 

 could have been fo forry as I find myfelf on this occafion. 

 I can excufe all his foibles, impute them to age and to dif- 

 trefs of circumftances: the laft of thefe confiderations wrings 

 my very foul to think on. For a man of high fpirit, con- 

 fcious of having, at leaft in one production, generally pleafed 

 the world, to be plagued and threatened by wretches that 

 are low in every fenle ; to be forced to drink himfelf into 

 pains of body, in order to get rid of pains of the mind, is 

 a mifery." 



Somerville is chiefly known, as a poet, by his piece enti- 

 tled " The Chace," which is written in blank verfe, and which 

 maintains a high rank in the didactic and defcriptive clafs. 

 It has the advantage of being compofed by one who was 

 perfedtly acquainted with the fports which are its fubjeft, 

 and who entered into them with all the enthufiafm which 

 they are calculated to infpire ; hence his pictures, in exait- 

 nefs and animation, greatly excel the draughts of the fame 

 kind, attempted by poets by profeffion. Its language is 

 free and nervous, and its verfification generally denotes a nice 

 and praCtifed ear. He has another piece connefted with this 

 in fubjeft ; it is entitled " Field Sports," though it only de- 

 fcribes that of hawking. His " Hobbinol, or Rural 

 Games," is a kind of mock heroic, in which the burlefque 

 is managed with tolerable fuccefs. Of his other pieces, 

 ferious and comic, there are few that can be faid to add to 

 his fame ; but they make a part of the coUeftion of Britifh 

 Poets. 



SOMEVOIRE, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Upper Marne ; 15 miles S. of St. 

 Dizier. 



SOMGHETIA, a province in the principality of Geor- 

 gia, W. of Tefiis. 



SOMINO, a town of Africa, in Bambarra, on the Niger. 

 N. lat. 13° II'. W. long. 4° 48'. 



SOMLYO, a town of Hungary ; 29 miles S. of 

 Zatmar. 



SOMMA, a town of Naples, in Lavora, near which are 

 annually produced between 7000 and 8000 pounds of filk 

 of the beft quahty ; 10 miles E. of Naples. — Alfo, a town 

 of Italy, in the department of the Olona ; 24 miles N.W. 

 of Milan, — Alfo, a town of the Popedom, in Umbria ; 4 

 miles S. of Spoleto. 



SOMMARIVA del Bofco, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Tanaro ; 5 miles S.E. of Carmagnola. 



SoMMARiv.'V di Perao, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Tanaro; 7 miles E.S.E. of Carmagnola. 



SOMMARNAS, 



