Page:EB1911 - Volume 25.djvu/378

 Histotia de la conquista de Méjico, covering the three years between the appointment of Cortes to command the invading force and the fall of the city, deservedly ranks as a Spanish prose classic. It was published in 1684; an English translation by Townshend appeared in 1724.

SOLITAIRE (Fr. for “solitary”), a game played on a board indented with 33 or 37 hemispherical hollows, with the same number of balls or marbles. An unoccupied hollow is left by removing one ball, and the balls, or pieces, are then captured as in draughts. No moves are allowed in diagonal directions or over more than one space at a time.

SOLO,, a card game which is a modification of whist, the chief distinctive feature being that a single player generally has to oppose the other three. The game came into vogue in England towards the end of the 19th century. The following “declarations” can be made, the order being important: (1) proposition; (2) acceptance; (3) solo; (4) misère; (5) abondance (or abundance); (6) misère ouverte; (7) abundance déclarée (declared abundance). Proposition and acceptance go together, as will be seen; of the rest “solo” can be declared over “proposition,” misère over solo, and so on. The stakes—regarding sixpence as the unit—are: for proposition, sixpence; for solo, sixpence (sometimes a shilling); for misère, a shilling; for abundance, eighteen pence; for open misère, two shillings; for declared abundance, three shillings. A further stake may be arranged for “overtricks,” to be paid to the player for every trick made above the number proposed, and for “undertricks,” to be paid by the player for every trick below that number.

A full pack is used; players cut as at whist for deal and seats; the cards may be dealt singly, but are more commonly dealt by threes, with a single card for the last round. The last card is turned up and left exposed for a round, whether it is used for trumps or not. One deal constitutes a game. The laws of whist obtain, where applicable, in such matters as following suit, revoking, the passing of the deal, &c. The player on the dealer’s left is first to declare or pass: if he proposes, any player may accept, the right going first to the player on his left, but any player when his turn comes may make a higher declaration than any that has gone before him, though a player whose call has been superseded may amend his call afterwards. If all the players pass, either there is a new deal, or by arrangement there is a general misère, when the player who takes the most tricks—sometimes, the last trick—pays a single stake all round.

The Declarations.—(1) Proposal: This is an invitation to another player to “accept,” i.e. to join the proposer in an attempt to make eighit tricks. (2) Solo: Here a player undertakes to win five tricks, playing against the other three in combination. (3) Misère: This is a declaration by a player that he will not win a single trick. There are no trumps, but the turn-up card is left exposed for the first round. If the caller wins a trick the game is at an end (there are no overtricks or undertricks), but he has a right to see the opponents’ hands, to be sure that no revoke has been made. A trick that has been turned may not be seen afterwards. (4) Abundance is a declaration that a player will make nine tricks single-handed. The caller makes any suit trumps, but abundance in the turn-up suit takes precedence over abundance in other suits. The trump suit must be declared after the other players have passed, before the first round is played. (5) Misère ouverte: This call is a declaration to lose all thirteen tricks, but after the first trick the caller’s cards are placed on the table, though he may play them as he pleases. (6) Declared Abundance: This is a declaration of the caller to make all thirteen tricks by his own hand. He makes his own trumps and always leads, but a declaration in the suit of the turn-up card takes precedence over others. The game ends when the caller loses a trick. There are no undertricks.

SOLOGNE (Secalaunia from Lat. secale, rye), a region of north-central France extending over portions of the department of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Cher. Its area is about 1800 sq. m., and its boundaries are, on the N. the river Loire, on the S. the Cher, on the E. the districts of Sancerre and Berry. The Sologne is watered by the Cosson and the Beuvron, tributaries of the Loire, and the Sauldre, an affluent of the Cher, all three having a west-south-westerly direction. The pools and marshes which are characteristic of the region are due to the impermeability of its soil, which is a mixture of sand and clay. The consequent unhealthiness of the climate has been greatly mitigated since the middle of the 19th century, when Napoleon III. led the way in the reclamation of swamps, the planting of pines and other trees and other improvements. Arable farming and stock-raising are fairly flourishing in the Sologne, but there is little manufacturing activity, the cloth manufacture of Romorantin being the chief industry. Game is abundant, and the region owes much of its revived prosperity to the creation. of large sporting estates.

SOLOLA, the capital of the department of Sololá, in Guatemala; on the northern shore of lake Atitlán, 46 m. W.N.W. of Guatemala city. Pop. (1905), about 17,000. Sololá is the ancient capital of the Cakchiquel Indians, who form the bulk of the population. In the city coarse cloth, pottery, cigars and soap are manufactured, and there is a large prison and reformatory. Among the surrounding mountains are large and successful coffee plantations, owned by German settlers. On the 18th of April 1902 Sololá was wrecked by an earthquake, but as most of the houses were constructed of wood it was speedily rebuilt.

 SOLOMON (10th century ), the son of David by Bathsheba, and his successor in the kingdom of Israel. The many floating and fragmentary notes of various dates that have found a place in the account of his reign in the (q.v.) show how much Hebrew tradition was occupied with the monarch under whom the throne of Israel reached its highest glory; and that time only magnified in popular imagination the proportions of so striking a figure appears from the opinions entertained of him in subsequent writings. The magnificence and wisdom of Solomon (cf. Matt. vi. 29; Luke xi. 31) and the splendour of his reign present a vivid contrast to the troublous ages which precede and follow him, although the Biblical records prove, on closer inspection, to contain so many incongruous elements that it is very difficult to form a just estimate of his life and character. A full account is given of the circumstances of the king’s accession (contrast the summary notices, 1 Kings xxii. 41 seq., 2 Kings xv. 1, xxi. 24, xxiv. 18, &c.). He was not the true heir to the throne, but was the son of David by Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David sent to his death “in the forefront of the battle.” The child of the illegitimate union died; the second was called Jedidiah (“beloved of Yah [weh]”) or Shělomōh (the idea of requital or recompense may be implied); according to 1 Chron. iii. 5, on the other hand, Solomon was the fourth, or rather the fifth, child of Bathsheba and David. The episode forms the prelude to family rivalries., David’s first-born, Amnon, perished at the hands of the third son, Absalom, who lost his life in his revolt (2 Sam. xiii.–xx.). The second, Chileab, is not mentioned in the history, and the fate of the fourth, who regarded himself as the future king, is described in 1 Kings i., ii. Bathsheba, relying upon David’s promise that Solomon should succeed him, vigorously advanced her son’s claims with the support of Zadok the priest, the military officer Benaiah, and David’s bodyguard; Adonijah, for his part, had David’s old priest Abiathar, the commander Joab, and the men of Judah. A more serious breach could scarcely be imagined. The adherents of Solomon gained the day, and with his accession a new régime was inaugurated, not, however, without bloodshed.

