people. The constitution which bears his name is characterized

by two principal features—the substitution of property for pedigree in determining political privilege; and the securing to the great mass of the people an influence in political affairs by conferring on them the choice of their magistrates, and making them an assembly of the last resort in the decision of certain great political and judicial questions. To attain this end Solon divided the whole citizens of Attica into four classes; the first consisting of those who possessed property to the amount of five hundred measures of corn, yearly income. These formed the richest men in the state, mostly belonging to the oldest aristocracy; and to them Solon gave the right of exclusive eligibility to all the highest and most important offices in church and state. The second class consisted of those whose income ranged from five hundred to three hundred measures; these were the knights. The third class consisted of small proprietors or farmers who were able to support a yoke of oxen; these were called "zeugitæ," or yokemen. To these two classes places of inferior dignity in the state service were open. The fourth and last class consisted of labourers and others, who, having themselves no independent position, lived by hiring out their services to their superiors. These had no direct political power put into their hands; but, in imitation of the old Homeric congregation, they were assembled at certain times to approve or disapprove the measures proposed by their superiors. This power, though small at first like the Roman tribunate, grew with the growth of Attic population and prosperity, and at last became so strong as to render the democratic element unduly preponderant, and overturn the just balance of parties in the state. To this assembly of the whole people, also, belonged the right of choosing their chief magistrates, who were elected annually; and they had also certain judicial functions which afterwards became very formidable, though it is extremely difficult to say how much of this judicial element belonged to the original Solonian constitution. Mr. Grote is inclined to refer the whole power of the people acting as jurors to a later period. As a machinery for bringing these different parties into play, Solon, besides the assembly of the people, appointed two controlling courts, in whose hands he meant the ruling power to reside—the court of the Areopagus, and the Βουλή, or intermediate council. The former, like the Roman senate, was composed of all the archons, or supreme magistrates, after they had served their year of office; that is, of the highest aristocracy and the greatest political wisdom of the state. To it, therefore, was wisely committed the supreme superintendence of religion and education and public morals; it also acted as a court of criminal law in the most important capital cases, but its direct political action was small. The real legislative function of the state lay with the council of the four hundred—men, like our house of commons, composed partly of the lower aristocracy and partly of the middle classes, who were elected annually in equal proportions from the four tribes of the people, and formed a sort of committee similar to the lords of the Articles in Scottish history, for the preparation of public measures to be laid before the people for their acceptance or rejection. Thus we seem to have a sort of house of lords, house of commons, and assembled body of popular electors, somewhat similar to the British constitution, and of which, perhaps, before the age of Pericles, the practical working was pretty similar to that of the British constitution at the present day; but the want of a central point of unity in the shape of a monarch, and the constant changes in the numerous governing bodies, paved the way for that unhappy development of democratic violence in after times, which it was one great object of Solon's balanced constitution to prevent. The special laws of Solon, with regard to civil rights and obligations, are more curious than important, and could not be made intelligible without entering more into the detail of Attic law than belongs to this place. For more particular information may be consulted Grote, Thirlwall, Rawlinson's Herodotus, Dr. Smith's Dictionary, and among the Germans, Duncker and Curtius.—J. S. B. SOMER, van. See Vansomer, Paul. SOMERS, John: Lord Somers united to a profound knowledge of jurisprudence that political talent and ardent love of literature which made him great, though in unequal degrees, as a lawyer, statesman, and man of letters. His early history rests upon a few isolated facts, even the alleged date of his birth (4th March, 1652) being at best only a conjecture. His father, John Somers, a Worcester attorney, was married in 1649 to Catherine Ceavern, who brought him three children—a daughter, married to Mr. Charles Cocks, through whom the Somers trace their descent; another daughter, Elizabeth, afterwards Lady Jekyll; and John, who became the lord high-chancellor of England. After the Restoration the father, who had commanded a troop under Cromwell, having received the royal pardon, recommenced practice as a solicitor in the city of Worcester. According to the original plan John was to have served his articles under his father, and eventually become his successor in the business. He actually entered upon his apprenticeship. He matriculated and was enrolled of Trinity college, Oxford, in 1667; but for reasons which are not on record his studies there were interrupted at the very outset, and his college career temporarily exchanged for that of a lawyer's clerk. Sir Francis Winnington, afterwards solicitor-general, whose return for the city of Worcester had been much facilitated by the friendly aid of the elder Somers, took much interest in the son, and has the credit of having been the first to advise him to follow the example of Littleton, also a Worcestershire man, and study for the bar. Accordingly John Somers became a fellow of the Middle temple on the 24th May, 1669, and enjoyed, both during his studentship and long afterwards, the patronage and guidance of his friend Winnington. The Somers lived near Worcester, at "The Whiteladies," a house built on the site of an ancient nunnery, and granted to their ancestors soon after the Reformation. It was at Whiteladies, during one of the vacations, that Somers first formed an acquaintance, which afterwards ripened to valuable friendship, with the young earl of Shrewsbury. This introduction was the "opportunity" of his life; from it sprung the most momentous consequences to him and to his country. In 1674, in the 24th year of his age, he went back to Oxford and studied there, at the same time keeping his terms at the Middle temple. He was called to the bar, 5th July, 1676, but continued to reside at the university five years after. The thirteen volumes containing a selection of rare pamphlets, under the title of "Somers' Tracts," have been again and again resorted to by historians, and are tolerably well known to general readers. Among Somers' earliest contributions are those written during his residence in Oxford, and before entering on the practice of his profession. The following are some of the most important—"A brief History of the Succession of the Crown of England, collected out of records and the most authentic historians;" "A Just and Modest Vindication of the proceedings of the two last parliaments," being a very masterly defence of the rights of parliament, and the policy of the liberal party under Shaftesbury, in their attempt to alter the succession for the safety of the people and the preservation of the monarchy; "The Security of Englishmen's Lives; or the Trust, Power, and Duty of Grand Juries of England." This was a powerful appeal in favour of the institution of grand juries, and an indignant exposure of the judicial misconduct whereby the life of an innocent nobleman had recently been placed in great jeopardy. His writings were not exclusively political. "The Life of Alcibiades," the metrical translations from Ovid, of the Epistles of Dido to Æneas and of Ariadne to Theseus, and Dryden's Satire to his Muse, showed his versatility and power in the domain of pure literature. Somers emerged from his comparative retirement in Oxford in 1682, and flung himself boldly into the press and struggles of the forum. Partly through the recommendation of his friend Winnington, partly through his reputation as a whig and a young man of promising talent, he held a junior brief in 1683 for the defence of Pilkington, Shute, and others, who were tried for instigating a riot in 1681. In that case Somers only "challenged the array," which was immediately overruled, and remained silent during the rest of the trial. From that time, however, his business continued to increase. Somers' immediate success at the bar is a rare and memorable exception to the rule. He was known and employed as a rising man, long before the trial of the seven bishops. To his able and lawyerly speech for the defence in that very celebrated cause, though the junior of several eminent counsel, the acquittal of the right reverend defendants has been mainly attributed. That speech, as reported in the State Trials, vol. xii., p. 396, occupies only a column, but fully justifies the description that "his pleading at the bar was masculine and persuasive, free from everything trivial or affected." Somers now became one of the most conspicuous men of that memorable era. He was deep in the counsels of the whigs, yet from his cautious and undemonstrative character it is difficult to find out precisely how much be contributed towards effecting a change of dynasty,