SOLIS (Emmanuel), nephew and adopted son of the preceding. Poor, and of a family originally from Granada, he responded well to the excellent education that he received, followed the teacher's calling, taught the humanities at the lyceum at Douai, of which he was afterwards principal, and gave lessons to the brothers of Marguerite Claes, whom he loved, the feeling being reciprocated. He married her in 1825; the more fully to enjoy his good fortune, he resigned the position as inspector of the University, which he then held. Shortly afterwards he inherited the title of Comte de Nourho, through the house of Solis. [The Quest of the Absolute.]

SOLIS (Madame Emmanuel de), wife of the preceding, born Marguerite Claes, in 1796, elder sister of Madame Felicie Pierquin, whose husband had first sought her hand, received from her dying mother the injunction to contend respectfully, but firmly, against her father's foolish efforts as inventor; and, in compliance with her mother's injunctions, by dint of great perseverance, succeeded in restoring the family fortunes that had been more than endangered. Madame de Solis gave birth to a child, in the course of a trip to Spain, where she was visiting Casa-Real, the cradle of her mother's family. [The Quest of the Absolute.]

SOLONET, born in 1795, obtained the decoration of the Legion of Honor for having made very active contribution to the second return of the Bourbons; was the youthful and worldly notary of Bordeaux; in the drawing up of the marriage contract between Natalie Evangelista and Paul de Manerville, he triumphed over the objections raised by his colleague, Mathias, who was defender of the Manerville interests. Solonet paid the most devoted attentions of a lover to Madame Evangelista, but his love was not returned, and he sought her hand in vain. [A Marriage Settlement.]

SOLVET, a handsome youth, but addicted to gaming and other vices, loved by Caroline Crochard de Bellefeuille and preferred by her to Monsieur de Granville, her generous protector. Solvet made Mademoiselle Crochard very unhappy, ruined her, but was none the less adored by her. These facts were known to Bianchon, and related by him to the Comte de Granville, whom he met, one evening, in the reign of Louis Philippe, near rue Gaillon. [A Second Home.]

SOMMERVIEUX (Theodore de), a painter, winner of the prix de Rome, knight of the Legion of Honor, was particularly successful in interiors; and excelled in chiaro-oscuro effects, in imitation of the Dutch. He made an excellent reproduction of the interior of the Cat and Racket, on the rue Saint-Denis, which he exhibited at the Salon at the same time with a fascinating portrait of his future wife, Mademoiselle Guillaume, with whom he fell madly in love, and whom he married in 1808, almost in spite of her parents, and thanks to the kind offices of Madame Roguin, whom he knew in his society life. The marriage was not a happy one; the daughter of the Guillaumes adored Sommervieux without understanding him. The painter often neglected his rooms on the rue des Trois-Freres (now a part of the rue Taitbout) and transferred his homage to the Marechale de Carigliano. He had an income of twelve thousand francs; before the Revolution his father was called the Chevalier de Sommervieux. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket.] Theodore de Sommervieux designed a monstrance for Gohier, the king's goldsmith; this monstrance was bought by Madame Baudoyer and given to the church of Saint-Paul, at the time of the death of F. de la Billardiere, head clerk of the administration, whose position she desired for her husband. [The Government Clerks.] Sommervieux also drew vignettes for the works of Canalis. [Modeste Mignon.]

SOMMERVIEUX (Madame Theodore de), wife of the preceding, born Augustine Guillaume, about 1792, second daughter of the Guillaumes of the Cat and Racket (a drapery establishment on the rue Saint-Denis, Paris), had a sad life that was soon wrecked; for, with the exception of Madame Roguin, her family never understood her aspirations to a higher ideal, or the feeling that prompted her to choose Theodore de Sommervieux. Mademoiselle Guillaume was married about the middle of the Empire, at her parish church, Saint-Leu, on the same day that her sister was married to Lebas, the clerk, and immediately after the ceremony referred to. A little less coarse in her feelings than her parents and their associates, but insignificant enough at best, without being aware of it she displeased the painter, and chilled the enthusiasm of her husband's studio friends, Schinner, Bridau, Bixiou, and Lora. Grassou, who was very much of a countryman, was the only one that refrained from laughing at her. Worn out at last, she tried to win back the heart that had become the possession of Madame de Carigliano; she even went to consult her rival, but could not use the weapons supplied her by the coquettish wife of the marshal, and died of a broken heart shortly after the famous ball given by Cesar Birotteau, to which she was invited. She was buried in Montmartre cemetery. [At the Sign of the Cat and Racket. Cesar Birotteau.]

SONET, marble-worker and contractor for tombstones, at Paris, during the Restoraton and Louis Philippe's reign. When Pons died, the marble- worker sent his agent to Schmucke to solicit an order for statues of Art and Friendship grouped together. Sonet had the draughtsman Vitelot as partner. The firm name was Sonet & Co. [Cousin Pons.]

SONET (Madame), wife of the preceding, knew how to lavish attentions no less zealous than selfish on W. Schmucke, when he returned, broken- hearted, from Pere-Lachaise, in April, 1845, and suggested to him, with some modifications however, to take certain allegorical monuments which the families of Marsay and Keller had formerly refused, preferring to apply to a genuine artist, the sculptor Stidmann. [Cousin Pons.]