and as that of the “Venus and Adonis” stanza), destroying that pensive sweetness which is the characteristic of the Shakespearean sonnet, the poem of four quatrains is just sufficiently long for the expected pleasure of the couplet to be dispersed and wasted.
The quest of the Shakespearean sonnet is not, like that of the sonnet of octave and sestet, sonority, and, so to speak, metrical counterpoint, but sweetness; and the sweetest of all possible arrangements in English versification is a succession of decasyllabic quatrains in alternate rhymes knit together and clinched by a couplet—a couplet coming not so far from the initial verse as to lose its binding power, and yet not so near the initial verse that the ring of epigram disturbs the “linked sweetness long drawn out” of this movement, but sufficiently near to shed its influence over the poem back to the initial verse. A chief part of the pleasure of the Shakespearean sonnet is the expectance of the climacteric rest of the couplet at the end (just as a chief part of the pleasure of the sonnet of octave and sestet is the expectance of the answering ebb of the sestet when the close of the octave has been reached); and this expectance is gratified too early if it comes after two quatrains, while if it comes after a greater number of quatrains than three it is dispersed and wasted altogether.
The French sonnet has a regular Petrarchan octave with a sestet of three rhymes beginning with a couplet. The Spanish sonnet is also based on the pure Italian type, and is extremely graceful and airy. The same may be said of the Portuguese sonnet—a form of which the illustrious Camoens has left nearly three hundred examples. (T. W.-D.)
See also English Literature: 3. Elizabethan; Sidney Lee on the Elizabethan sonnet in Arber's English Garner (1904); J. A. Noble, The Sonnet in England (1893); M. Jasinski, Histoire du sonnet en France (1903); C. A. Lentzner, Das Sonnett in d. eng. Dichtung bis Milton (1886); S. Waddington, English Sonnets by Living Writers (1881), and Sonnets of Europe (1886); T. Hall Caine, Sonnets of Three Centuries (1882); William Sharp, Sonnets of this Century (1886), and American Sonnets (1889); John Dennis, English Sonnets (1873).
SONNINO, SIDNEY, Baron (1847-), Italian statesman and financier, was born at Florence on the 11th of March 1847. Entering the diplomatic service at an early age, he was appointed successively to the legations of Madrid, Vienna, Berlin and Versailles, but in 1871 returned to Italy, to devote himself to political and social studies. On his own initiative he conducted exhaustive inquiries into the conditions of the Sicilian peasants and of the Tuscan métayers, and in 1877 published in co-operation with Signor Leopoldo Franchetti a masterly work on Sicily (La Sicilia, Florence, 1877). In 1878 he founded a weekly economic review, La Rassegna Settimanale, which four years later he converted into a political daily journal. Elected deputy in 1880, he distinguished himself by trenchant criticism of Magliani's finance, and upon the fall of Magliani was for some months, in 1889, under-secretary of state for the treasury. In view of the severe monetary crisis of 1893 he was entrusted by Crispi with the portfolio of finance (December 1893), and in spite of determined opposition dealt energetically and successfully with the deficit of more than £6,000,000 then existing in the exchequer. By abolishing the illusory pensions fund, by applying and amending the Bank Laws, effecting economies, and increasing taxation upon corn, incomes from consolidated stock, salt and matches, he averted national bankruptcy, and placed Italian finance upon a sounder basis than at any time since the fall of the Right. Though averse from the policy of unlimited colonial expansion, he provided by a loan for the cost of the Abyssinian War in which the tactics of General Baratieri had involved the Crispi cabinet, but fell with Crispi after the disaster at Adowa (March 1896). Assuming then the leadership of the constitutional opposition, he combated the alliance between the Di Rudini cabinet and the subversive parties, criticized the financial schemes of the treasury minister, Luzzatti, and opposed the “democratic” finance of the first Pelloux administration as likely to endanger financial stability. After the modification of the Pelloux cabinet (May 1899) he became leader of the ministerial majority, and bore the brunt of the struggle against Socialist obstruction in connexion with the Public Safety Bill. Upon the formation of the Zanardelli cabinet Feb. 1901) he once more became leader of the constitutional opposition, and in the autumn of the year founded a daily organ, Il Giornale d'Italia, the better to propagate moderate Liberal ideas. Although highly esteemed for his integrity and genuine ability, it was not until February 1906 that he was called upon to form a ministry, on the fall of the Fortis cabinet. He immediately set about introducing certain urgent reforms, suppressed all subsidies to the press, and declared his intention of governing according to law and justice. In May, however, an adverse vote of the Chamber on a purely technical matter led to his resignation.
SONORA, a northern state of Mexico, bounded N. by the United States, E. by Chihuahua, S. by Sinaloa and W. by the Gulf of California. It is the second largest state in the republic, having an area of 76,900 sq. m. Pop. (1900), 221,682, a large part being Indian. The surface of the state is much broken by the Sierra Madre Occidental, which extends through it from north to south and covers its entire width with parallel ranges, enclosing fertile valleys. Four important rivers traverse the state from east to west with courses of 145 to 390 m. and discharge into the Gulf of California, viz.: the Altar, or Asunción, Sonora, Yaqui and Mayo. The longest is the Yaqui, which has its source on the eastern side of the Sierra Tarahumare in Chihuahua and breaks through several ranges of the Sierra Madre before reaching the gulf near Guaymas. The smaller tributaries of these rivers of Sonora are often only dry canyons in the dry season. Agriculture has been developed only to a limited extent in Sonora, because of its aridity, lack of irrigation facilities, lack of railways and roads, and the unsettled state of the country. The soil of the sierra valleys is fertile, and when it is irrigated forage and cereal crops may be grown in abundance. Sugarcane, tobacco, maguey, cotton, in small quantities, and fruits are also produced. There are excellent pasture lands, especially in the upland districts, and stock-raising is an important and profitable industry. Land is held in large estates, some of them upwards of 100 sq. m. in area. The mineral resources include silver, gold, copper, lead, tin, iron and coal, and mining is the chief industry. The lack of transportation facilities has been partly relieved by the construction of a branch of the Southern Pacific (American) from Nogales southward to Guaymas and the Sinaloa frontier, from which it has been extended to Mazatlán. Guaymas is the only port of importance on the coast, but it has a large trade and is visited by the steamers of several lines. The capital of the state (since 1882) is Hermosillo (pop. 1900, 17,618), on the Sonora river, 110 m. north of Guaymas, with which it is connected by rail. It suffered much in 1865-1866 from the savage struggle between Imperialists and Republicans, and in subsequent partisan warfare. Other important towns are Alamos (pop. 1895, 6197), 132 m. E.S.E. of Guaymas, Moctezuma, 90 m. north of Hermosillo, and Ures, the old capital of Sonora and seat of a bishopric, 33 m. north-east of Hermosillo.
The first Jesuit mission in Sonora, founded among the Mayos in 1613, seems to have been the first permanent settlement in the state, although Coronado passed through it and its coast had been visited by early navigators. The hostility of certain tribes prevented its rapid settlement. Ures was founded in 1636, and Arizpe in 1648. Near the end of the century Sonora and Sinaloa were divided into two districts, in 1767 the Jesuit missions were secularized, in 1779 the government of the province was definitely organized by Caballero de Croix, and in 1783 Arizpe became the provincial capital. The bishopric of Sonora was created in 1781 with Arizpe as its seat. Up to this time the history of the province is little else than a record of savage warfare with the Apaches, Seris, Yaquis and other tribes. The development of rich gold and silver mines brought in more Spanish settlers, and then the record changes to one of partisan warfare, which continued down to the administration of President Porfirio Diaz.
SONPUR, a feudatory state of India, in the Orissa division of Bengal, to which it was transferred from the Central Provinces
