SOLIS (Antonio de), an ingenious Spanish writer, of an ancient and illustrious family, born at Placenza in
(A) I have remarked, that after a great fall of rain, the degree of heat in this water is much less; which will account for what the Padre Torre says, (in his book, intitled, Histoire et Phénomènes du Vesuve), that when he tried it in company with Monsieur de la Condamine, the degree of heat, upon Reaumur's thermometer, was 68°.
Solitary
Solstice.
in Old Castile, in 1610. He was intended to study the law; but his inclination toward poetry prevailed, and he cultivated it with great success. Philip IV. of Spain made him one of his secretaries; and after his death the queen-regent appointed him first historiographer of the Indies, a place of great profit and honour: his History of the Conquest of Mexico shows that she could not have named a fitter person. He is better known by this history abroad, than by his poetry and dramatic writings, though he was excellent in that way. He turned priest at 57 years of age, and died in 1686.