328 
S 0 & 
He may soften at the sight of the child; 
The silence often of pure innocence 
Persuades, when speaking fails. Shakspeare. 
SO'FTENER. See Softner. 
SOFTENING, s. The act of making less hard, less ve¬ 
hement, or less violent.—I allow that elevations and soften¬ 
ings of the voice, judiciously managed, are both orna¬ 
mental and useful; but those sudden starts and explosions 
are most ungraceful and unbecoming the gravity of the 
pulpit. Ahp. Hort. 
SOFTHE'ARTED, adj. Kind-hearted ; gentle; meek. 
—A right reasonable, innocent, and soft-hearted petition. 
Milton. 
SO'FTLING, s. An effeminate or viciously nice person. 
—We receive fashions of our companions: the drunkard 
leadeth his guests into drunkenness. Effeminate men and 
softlings cause the stoute man to waxe tender. Wool- 
ton. 
SO'FTLY, adv. Without hardness. Not violently; not 
forcibly.—Small bodies, if very softly percussed, give no 
sound; as when a man treadeth very softly upon boards. 
Bacon. —Not loudly. 
In this dark silence softly leave the town, 
And to the general’s tent direct your steps. Dry den. 
Gently; placidly. 
She with a wreath of myrtle crowns his head, 
And softly lays him on a flowery bed. Dryden. 
Mildly ; tenderly. 
The king must die ; 
Though pity softly plead within my soul, 
Yet he must die, that I may make you great. Dryden. 
SO'FTNER, s. That which makes soft. One who pal¬ 
liates.—Those softners, and expedient-mongers, shake their 
heads so strongly, that we can hear their pockets jingle. 
Swift. 
SO'FTNESS. s. [j-opcyppe, Sax ] The quality of being 
soft; quality contrary to hardness.— Softness cometh by the 
greater quantity of spirits, which ever induce yielding and 
cession ; and by the more equal spreading of the tangible 
parts, which thereby are more sliding and following; as in 
gold. Bacon .—Their hearts are enlarged, they know how 
to gather the down and softnesses from the sharpest thistles. 
Bp. Taylor. —Mildness; kindness.—A wise man, when 
there is a necessity of expressing any evil actions, should do 
it by a word that has a secondary idea of kindness or soft¬ 
ness ; or a word that carries in it rebuke and severity. 
Watts .—Civility; gentleness.—Improve these virtues, with a 
softness of manners, and a sweetness of conversation. Dry¬ 
den .—Effeminacy; vicious delicacy.—He was not delighted 
with the softnesses of the court. Clarendon. —Timorous¬ 
ness; pusillanimity.—This virtue could not proceed out of 
fear or softness; for he was valiant and active. Bacon. — 
Saving a man’s self, or suffering, if with reason, is virtue: 
if without it is softness, or obstinacy. Grew. —Quality 
contrary to harshness.— Softness of sounds is distinct from 
the exility of sounds. Bacon. —Facility; gentleness; 
candour; easiness to be effected.—Such was the ancient 
simplicity and softness of spirit, which sometimes prevailed 
in the world, that they whose words were even as oracles 
amongst men, seemed evermore loth to give sentence against 
any thing publicly received in the church of God. Hooker. 
—Contrariety to energetic vehemence. 
Who but thyself the mind and ear can please. 
With strength and softness, energy and ease ? JIartc. 
Mildness; meekness. 
For contemplation he and valour form’d. 
For softness she and sweet attractive grace. Milton. 
Weaknes; simplicity. 
SOGAMOSQ, the capital of a district of the same name, 
in New Granada, and province of Bogota. Population 500 
housekeepers, and200 Indians; 28miles north-east ofTunja. 
S 0 H 
SOGAMOSO. See Chichamocho. 
SOGERVI, a village of Nubia, on the Nile; 20mileS 
west of Ibrim. 
SO'GGY, adj. [soggr, Icel. moist; soegen, Welsh, 
wet, soaked.] Moist; damp ; steaming with damp. A 
recent editor of Ben Jonson’s Works observes, that “ he has 
heard the word applied (with what propriety he knows not) 
to hay that has been cut too early, and sweats as it lies in 
heaps.” The propriety of the usage will now from the ety¬ 
mology, be obvious.—The warping condition of this green 
and soggy multitude. B. Jonson. 
SOGLAII, a village of Caramania, in Asiatic Turkey; 
42 miles south of Konieh. 
SOGNO. See Sonho. 
SOGONI, a village of Nubia on the Nile; 115 miles 
south of Syene. 
SOHAIG, a village of Upper Egypt, on the western 
bank of the Nile; 14 miles north of Girge. 
SOHAJEPORE, a district of Hindostan, province of 
Gundwaneh, situated between the 23d and 24th degrees of 
northern latitude. It is a mountainous and unfertile country. 
It is governed by a Hindoo chief, who is tributary to the 
rajah of Nagpore. 
SOHAJEPORE, the capital of the abovementioned dis¬ 
trict, and residence of the chief. The poverty of these coun¬ 
tries has prevented their being wholly subjugated, either 
by the Mahometans or the Mahrattas. Lat. 23. 29. N. 
long. 81. 45. E. 
SOHAM, Eaul’s. See Earl’s S.oham. 
SOHAM, or Monk’s Soham, a market town of England, 
in the county of Cambridge, situated on the borders of 
Suffolk, on the east side of the river Cam. The town is 
large and irregularly built. During the Anglo-Saxon 
dynasty, it appears to have been a place of some conse¬ 
quence, and according to Leland was the seat of the East 
Anglian bishops. The bishop’s palace and the church were 
destroyed by the Danes in 870. Some remains of ancient 
buildings are now visible. The present church is a spacious 
building, in the form of a cross, having a tower at the west 
end, the upper part of which is ornamented with a tesselafed 
work, composed of flints. Here is a large charity school, at 
which the children of the poor inhabitants are educated 
under two masters. Three alms-houses were founded here 
in 1502, by Richard Bond ; and in 1581, nine others for 
widows were founded by Thomas Pechey. The chief pro¬ 
duce of the place is from the dairies; and cheese of an ex¬ 
cellent quality, and very similar both in taste and flavour 
to the Stilton, is made here. In 1811, Soham contained 
551 houses, and 2386 inhabitants. Market on Saturday; 
5 miles south-east of Ely, and 7 north of Newmarket. 
SOHAM, Monk’s, a parish of England, in Suffolk; 5 
miles west-by-north of Framlingham. Population 325. 
SOHAR, an ancient and celebrated city of Ommon, in 
Eastern Arabia, situated on a river, which, when swelled by 
rain, reaches the sea, but in the dry season loses itself in the 
sands. It is now much declined, the trade and importance 
of this part of Arabia centering chiefly in Maskat. Lat. 24. 
17. N. 
SOHAUL, a town of Hindostan, province of Allahabad, 
and district of Bundelcund, now subject to the British. Lat. 
24. 40. N. long. 80. 52. E. 
SOIIL, or Zolyom Varmegye, a palatinate in the 
north-west of Hungary, lying on both sides of the Gran, to 
the north of the counties of Honth and Neograd. Its super¬ 
ficial extent is 1060 square miles; its population above 
76,000, who are partly of German, partly of Sclavonic 
origin. It lies among the Carpathians, and is consequently 
hilly, fitter for pasture than tillage, and containing a number 
of mines. The chief town is New Sold. The highest 
mountain is called Sturetz. 
SOHL. See Ai.tsohl and Neusohl. 
SOHLAND, a village of Saxony, in Upper Lusatia; 
40 miles east of Dresden. Population 1100. 
SOHNPOOR, a town of Hindostan, province of Gund¬ 
waneh, 
