Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/395

SONGEESH. 341 SONNET. compartments separated by rush mats. They wear blankets of dog and goat hair and duck down, cleaning the material of grease l)y means of native white clay, the spinning and weaving being by tlio simplest hand process. Cordage for nets is spun from nettle fibre. Their chief de- pendence is upon fishing, and the catching ami drying of salmon constitutes the main industry. with the usual number of coimeeted taboos and ceremonies. They have several clans, each of which has its own fishing coast and its own set of jjersonal names. Women are subject to many taboos. Head-flattening and tattooing are practiced. The dead are laid away in canoes in the forest or rolled in mats which are deposited in the brandies of the trees. Slaves were formerly buried with the dead chief. They have the potlatch custom ( q.v. ) and two principal secret societies. The majority are now professed Catho- lics, but the old customs still survive among the others. No tribal census is taken, but their dif- ferent bands may luimber 500, and are known to be on the decrease. SONGHAY, son gi'. SONRHAY, or SUR- HAY. A Sudanese Xigritian people numbering two millions, living in the l)end of the Niger, below Timbuctoo. with separate speech. They are mixed at the nortli with Moors, and at the south with Fulahs, and are Moslem. SONG-KOI, s.-,ng1^oi'. A river of Indo- China. See Red Eixer. SONG OF SOLOMON. See Cvnticles. SONG-SPARKOW. See Sparrow. SONG-THRUSH. Any of several thrushes locally conspicuous for their song. In the United States the wood-thrush (q.v.) is most often the one meant. In Great Britain it is the thrush (Turdns musicus) called 'mavis.' provinciallj', and very often kept caged for the sake of its melody. It is a permanent resident of all tem- perate Europe, and in its ground-hunting and hardy habits resembles its congener, the American robin; its nesting habits are similar, too, though it uses less mud and its blue eggs are spotted with brown. The adult male is darl-c brown aliove, tinted with gohlen brown: throat bufl': under parts yellowish white, closel.v spotted with brown. It is a most pleasing songster, and especially a favorite in Sfotland and Scandinavia. See Tiinrsii. SONNEBERG, zunVberK. A town and sum- mer resort in the Ducli,y of Saxe-iteiningen. Germany, on the Rothen, 13 miles northeast of Coburg (Map: Prussia. D 3). Its principal in- dustry is the manufacture of to,vs. Masks, grindstones, slates, and jjcncils are also manu- factured. Population, in 1000. 13,317. SONNENFELS, z6n'on-fels, .Joseph vox ( JT-'iii-lslT) . An Austrian author, born in Xi- kolsburg. He served in the Austrian Army in 1749-54, was then for a time a lawyer's clerk, and became particularly active in en- deavors toward the improvement of the Vienna stage, in connection with which he wrote the Brief e iibcr die uienerische l<eh<iuhiihne (1768: new_ ed. 1884). His Abschaffunfi der Tortiir (1775) efTectively secured the aliolition of the torture throughout Austrian domains. In 1703 he was appointed professor of political science in the University of Vienna, and subsequently received various posts, including that of presi- dent of the Academy of Fine Arts. His col- lected writings appeared at Vienna in thirteen volumes (1783-87). Consult the biography by Miiller (Vienna, 1882). SONNENSCHEIN, z6n'en-shin, William Sw.N (1855—). An English publisher and com- piler, born in London. He was educated in Lon- don at University College. In 1878 lie established there a publishing business which in 1895 became a limited compan.y with himself as chairman. He collected an important library in bib]iograph,v and literary history, and published The Best Books (1887; 5th ed. 1901), a classified list of about 50,000 available works, and A Reader's Guide to Contcmpornry Literature (1894; 2d ed. 1901), supplementary to the foregoing. SONNENTHAL, z'jn't-n-tal, Adolf von ( 1834 — ) . An eminent .ustrian actor, born in Buda- pest. He first worked as a journeyman tailor, but after some experience on the provincial stage was engaged at the Court theatre in Vienna, one of whose brightest ornaments he became, ex- celling equally in tragic rOlcs and in comedy. In 1881 he was knighted bv the Emperor. In 1885, on a visit to New York, he was most cor- diall,y received by the public. He visited the United States agciin in 1899 and 1902, Consult Eisenberg. Adolf Sonnenthal (Dresden, 1896). SONNET (Fr. sonnet, OF., Prov. sonct, song, diminutive of son, sound, song, from Lat. sonus, sound). As perfected by the Italian humanists, a stanza of fourteen hendecas.yllabic verses, rhjmiing according to a clearly defined plan. The stanza is divided into two unequal parts. The first part, called the octave, is composed of two quatrains (or four-line strophes). The second part, called the sestet, is composed of two tercets (or three-line strophes). The octave runs on two and the sestet on two or three rhymes. Accord- ing to a common type, the rhymes are arranged thus: ahha, abba, cde, cde. This rhyme-scheme may vary considerably, especially in the sestet. An important point to observe is that the four divisions — particularly the octave and the sestet — are kept distinct. In this most rigid of all metrical forms, the idea, mood, or sentiment of the poet is developed by stages. Stated in the first, the idea is elaborated in the second quat- rain ; and then, gathering emotional intensity in the first tercet, it flows on full to the conclusion. The result in the hands of the masters is absolute unity. The sonnet was primitively a lyric sung with musical accompaniment. Indeed, the Pro- vencal and French poets emplo,^'ed the word son or sonet to designate a Ivric in the vernacular. It is now generally held that the sonnet orig- inated in Sicily. Some philologians, however, find its germ in the Provenf;al eobhi esparsa. The sonnet, widely cultivated in Ital,v and Provence during the thirteenth century, assumed its highest art under the hand of Petrarch (1304-74). The form was also practiced by Lorenzo de' Jledici, Michelangelo. Tasso, and ninny others. From Ital.v the sonnet spread over Western and Northern Europe. In Spain it was naturalized by Juan Boscan (c.l493-c.l542). Portugal bad the great Camoes (q.v.). The form seems to have been introduced into France by Mcllin de Saint-Gelais, and at once adopted by his master JIarot. It received an immense vogue from the Pleiade. Du Bellay produced nearly