Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/638

604 SOLANA, Alonso de (so-lah'-nahi. Spanish mis- sionary, b. in Solana. Toledo, about 1530; d. in Mcrida. Yucatan, in 1000. He studied in Sala- manca, and was graduated in law, but resolved to enter the church, and united with the Franciscans in Toledo. Afterward he retired to the convent of Salceda, but in 1560 he came with Diego Landa (q. >:) to Yucatan, where he soon became active in the conversion of the Maya Indians. He was much loved by the natives, and several times re- fused dignities that were offered him to remain with his flock. He wrote " Diccionario Maya y E.-i>afinl." "Sermones en Lengua Maya." and Xo- tieias sagradas y profanas de las Antiguedades y Conversion de los Indies de Yucatan," the manu- -i i-ipts of which were in the Franciscan convent of Merida. lnit have been lost.

SOLANO, Juan, Peruvian R. C. bishop, b. in Spain about 1504; d. in Rome. Italy, in 1580. He I ic 'i Mine a member of the Dominican order and en- tered the convent of Salamanca. He was nomi- nated for the bishopric of Cuzco, Peru, by Charles Y. in 1543, and consecrated in February, 1544, but found it impossible to enter Cuzco after his arrival, as Gonzalo Pizarro, who had just revolted, held that city. Solauo joined the royal army, ami was present at the defeat of Huarinas, 20 Oct., 1547, where he escaped only by the swiftness of his horse. After this defeat Solano joined Pedro de la Gasca (q. v.), accompanied him in his march against Pizarro, and was present at the battle of > ic -.ihuana, 9 April, 1548, in which the insurgents were defeated. He was now enabled to exercise pastoral functions in Cuzco, and showed much zeal in defending the rights of the Indians, as well as in converting them to Christianity. As the num- ber of sick and poor among them had largely increased in consequence of the civil war. he in- sisted on the conquerors' expending part of their spoils in relieving the prevailing distress. With the money that he thus obtained he built a hos- pital in 1552, the first of the kind in Peru. He then endeavored to recall to habits of order the old .Spanish veterans, whose excesses and turbulence interfered with his plans for the benefit of the In- dians. Not succeeding in his efforts, he deter- mined on a voyage to Spain to implore the aid of the sovereign in reducing these adventurers to obedience. He also wished to obtain a division of his diocese, which he considered too large for the care of a single bishop. After arriving in Spain he laid the reasons for his journey before the court and the council of the Indies, but met with no success. He then went to Rome with the object of interesting Pope Pius IV. in the matter. There too he failed, and, resigning his bishopric in 1561, he retired into the Dominican convent of St. Mary, where he spent the remainder of his life.

SOLAR, Mercedes Marin de, Chilian poet, b. in Saiitia',".. Chili, i,, 1MI4: d. there, '.'I Dec., isilii. She was a daughter of Jose Gaspar Marin and Luisa Recabarren, and showed from her youth a decided talent for poetry. Her literary reputation was first established by a poem on the death of Gen. Portales, which was published in 1837 in "El Araucano." Soon her poems were widely known, and she and Salvador Sanfuentes (q. v.) may be called the first Chilian poets after the establish- ment of independence. She contributed several poems to the papers, of which the best are " Ple- garia" and "Al pie de la Cruz," and published " Canto Funebre a la muerte del General Portales " (Santiago, 1837); a biography of her father (1845) ; and " Canto a la Patria " (1857). A collection of her poems was published in a volume (Santiago, ). See her ' Life," by M. L. Amunategui (1867). Her children. AMELIA DE CLARO and ENRIQUE in- herited her poetics talent. The latter, b. in Santiago in lcS44, studied in the Jesuit college, and in 1870 was elected to congress for the departments of Rancagua and Curico. He has published poems in Kl luili-iH-ndiente," ' Estrella de Chile," " Revista de Santiago"; " Poesias Liricas " (Santiago, 1867), and Leyendas y Tradiciones" (1808).

SOLCHAGA, Miguel (sole-tchah'-gah), Mexican clergyman, b. in Queretaro in 1674 ; d. in Durango in 1718. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1689, and. after finishing his studies, was sent as profes- sor of theology to the College of Durango. When Gen. Gregorio Mendiolawas sent in 1715 to subdue the Indians of the Nayarit mountains, between New Biscay and Xew Galicia, Bishop Tapiz ap- pointed SolVliaga spiritual director of the expedi- tion, and as such the latter brought it about that the cacique Tonatiuh, of Nayarit, went in 1718 to Mexico to make a treaty with the viceroy. But on account of sickness Solchaga returned in the same year to Durango, where death overtook him before he could publish his description of the expedition. It was afterward printed in Spain under the title Carta Relation de la entrada de la Expedition Espanola en el Nayarit" (Barcelona, 1754).

SOLEY, James Russell, author, b. in Roxlairy, Mass., 1 Oct., 1850. He was graduated at Harvard in 1*70, became assistant professor of English in the U. S. naval academy in 1871, and in 1873 was placed at the head of the department of English studies, history, and law, where he remained nine years. In 1876 he was commissioned a professor in the U. S. navy, and in 1878 he was on special duty at the Paris exposition. He also examined the systems of education in European naval colleges, and on his return made an extensive report. In 1882 he was transferred to Washington, where he collected and arranged the navy department li- brary, and since 1883 he has superintended the publication of the naval records of the civil war. He has been lecturer on international law at the Naval war college at Newport since 1885, and has also delivered courses before the Lowell institute, Huston, on "American Naval History" (1885) and " European Neutrality during the Civil War " (1888). Prof. Soley has published " History of the Naval Academy " (Washington, 1876) ; " Foreign Systems of Naval Education," the report men- tioned above (1880) ; " The Blockade and the Cruis- ers "(New York, 1883); "The Rescue of Greely," with Com. Winfield S. Schley (1885) ; and " The Boys of 1812 " (Boston, 1887). He has edited the Autobiography of Commodore Morris" (Annapo- lis, 1880), and contributed to the " Battles and Lead- ers of the Civil War," and to Justin Winsor's " Nar- rative and Critical History of America."

SOLIS Y RIVADENEYRA, Antonio de, Spanish author, b. in Alcala de Henares. 18 July, 1610 ; d. in Madrid. 19 April, 1686. He studied the humanities in Alcala and jurisprudence at Sala- manca, and at the age of seventeen wrote a comedy in verse, which was soon followed by others. In 1640 he became private secretary of Duarte de Toledo. Count de Oropesa, president of the council of ( 'astile, and in 1654 he was appointed one of the secretaries of King Philip IV. and chief clerk of the secretary of state, which office he held till 1666. when he became historiographer of the Indies. In the following year he entered the Society of Jesus, but retained his office and devoted all his time to the composition of his great hi>torical work. He published the comedies Amor y Obli- gation" (Madrid, 1627); "Un bobo hace ciento"