AMBRY. 



AMENDMENT. 



270 



of his library a college of sixteen learned men ; but the want of funds 

 reduced the number to four : of these, one translated Greek, a second 

 taught Hebrew, a third Arabic, and a fourth was to make collections 

 of whatever was valuable in authors. The Ambrosian Library now 

 contains above sixty thousand printed volumes, with rather more than 

 fifteen thousand manuscripts ; and annexed to it is a gallery of pictures, 

 statues, antiques of various kinds, and medals, and containing numerous 

 articles of rarity and reputation. Many of its curiosities of every 

 description were carried to France during Bonaparte's campaign in 

 Italy, and with them a manuscript collection of the works of Leonardo 

 da Vinci, accompanied with drawings and designs, which a citizen of 

 Milan, of the name of Galeas Arconati, refusing every lucrative offer 

 from private persons, had given to the Ambrosian Library. One 

 volume of this collection was returned to the library after the Peace of 

 Paris in 1814, but the remaining volumes, having been sent to the 

 library of the Institute and not to the Bibliotheque du Roi, it was not 

 at the time of the reclamation known where they were, and they are yet 

 retained in Paris. Another rarity belonging to the Ambrosian collec- 

 tion is a manuscript of Virgil, the margins of which are interspersed 

 with notes in the hand-writing of Petrarch : the ' Palimpsest!,' or 

 rescript manuscripts, edited between 1814 and 1816 by Angelo Mai, 

 were discovered in the Bobian portion of the Ambrosian collection. 

 Oggiati, Muratori, and Mai, have been the three most eminent librarians 

 of this library. Mai became afterwards the librarian of the Vatican. 

 The hall is well proportioned, though not so large as might be expected 

 for a collection of books and manuscripts so considerable. The ceiling 

 is adorned with paintings, and the space between the book-cases and 

 the cornice filled up by the portraits of the most eminent authors 

 whose writings are deposited below. 



(For further information on the Ambrosian Library we refer to 

 Boscha De Oriyine et Statu HiUiothecce Ambrosiance Hemidecas, 4to. 

 Milan, 1672 ; Saxius De Stttdiis Literariis Mediolanensiuin Prodromus, 

 8vo. Milan, 1729, p. 147 ; and Montfaucon's Diarium Italicum.) 



AMBRY, or ALMERY, in Gothic churches a locker or closet used 

 for keeping the sacramental elements, the ecclesiastical plate, vestments, 

 documents, &c. Ambrys were usually formed in the thickness of the 

 wall, enclosed with a door, and secured with a lock. In every church 

 there was an ambry by the altar to contain the utensils belonging to 

 it ; but in large churches and cathedrals there were usually several in 

 various parts of the building, and some of them of large size. Gene- 

 rally they were made to contribute to the architectural effect of the 

 edifice by means of a traceried arch or a crocketed canopy : the doors 

 were also sometimes considerably enriched. Few in this country at 

 least retain their original fittings. In some of the French churches 

 excellent examples of the mediaeval arnbry still remain. 



AMBULANCE, a French word derived from the Latin ambulare, to 

 walk or march, applied to the moving hospitals which are attached to 

 and accompany every army, or division of an army, in the field ; also 

 to the means of transport for sick and wounded soldiers. As medical 

 science increased, the necessity was felt for some organization of this 

 kind to render immediate surgical and medical aid to sick and wounded 

 soldiers. But the credit of the first introduction and organisation of 

 an ambulance train on the present footing is due to the celebrated 

 French surgeon Baron Percy, who, when head of the medical staff of 

 Napoleon's army in Spain, formed the first battalion of the Ambulance 

 Corps, having previously, when under Moreau, organised a Corps 

 Mobile de Chirurgie Militaire. Since his time great improvements 

 have been introduced, especially by the well-known Larrey, in this 

 most important department, and have been adopted in the various 

 armies of Europe. The ambulance trains usually consist of covered 

 spring-waggons, with litters inside for the sick and wounded men, con- 

 taining also surgical apparatus and medical comforts, though, of course, 

 the patterns of these vary much in the different armies. 



One of these, which may be more particularly mentioned as employed 

 in the French army, and from it adopted in the English army during 

 the Crimean war, consists of two stretchers hung one on each side of 

 the pack-saddle of a mule or pony. The stretchers, made with an iron 

 framework and canvass bottom, are so contrived as to fold up and 

 make an arm-chair, or, being extended, to form a sloping bed. 



These can accompany troops over more difficult ground than the 

 waggons, and afford assistance to exhausted men who would otherwise 

 be neglected and left on the line of march ; or attending close to the 

 scene of action, receive the wounded men who are carried to the 

 rear on stretchers, and remove them with the utmost promptitude 

 to the ambulance hospitals, which are placed out of reach of the 

 t;n> my'a fire. 



(/ivii/rtij'hie Unitemcllc, Suppl. 76; also Larrey, Mem. de Ch. Milit. 

 vol. i.)' 



AMBULATORY (from the Latin ambulu, to walk) is, in a substantive 

 sense, place to walk in. With reference to buildings, this term may 

 be applied to the space enclosed by a colonnade or an arcade. In the 

 peripteral temple of the Greeks, the lateral or flanking porticos are 

 properly termed ambulatories ; the cloister of a monastery is surrounded 

 by .-in ambulatory or ambulatories. Of the external colonnaded ambu- 

 latory, the ]>ortico8 of the Bonne or Exchange at Paris afford a good 

 modern exemplification ; and of an internal arcaded ambulatory, a 

 good instance is afforded by the Koyal Exchange in London. The 

 aisles of the ancient Basilica, and those of its representative in later 



architectural works, the cathedral, or other large church, are some- 

 times called ambulatories. 



In an adjective sense, ambulatory may be applied to anything, the 

 functions of which require it to move from place to place. Formerly 

 the Parliament and the Court of King's Bench in this country were 

 termed ambulatory courts, because they were held sometimes in one 

 place, and sometimes in another : indeed, wherever the king happened 

 to be. 



AMBUSCADE. A military term derived from the Italian imboscare, 

 imboscata, to lie in bushes or concealed, in and bosco, basque, a wood ; 

 Eng. bmh. It is the same as the original English word ambush. It 

 signifies the lying in wait, or concealed, to attack an enemy unprepared, 

 and therefore at a disadvantage. In ancient times before the introduction 

 of fire-arms, when armies were not encumbered with long trains of 

 material, &c., this mode of attack was more common and more fre- 

 quently successful than at present, when it can only be adopted with 

 small and detached parties. And in fact we only hear of such things 

 in wars against barbarous or semi-civilised peoples, or in a war of out- 

 posts. A case occurred in the late Indian mutinies where the party 

 sent to relieve the fortified post of Arrah, then besieged by the 

 mutinous Sepoys, while marching through a wood after nightfall, fell 

 into an ambuscade, were surrounded, and nearly cut to pieces. 



We do not include in this word an attack which, though unexpected 

 and sudden, is made while the other party is aware of an enemy some- 

 where in the neighbourhood ; or an unexpected attack made upon an 

 enemy in position, which is called a surprise. 



AMEN, a Hebrew word, properly signifying ' firmness,' and hence 

 ' truth,' which has been adopted without alteration in various 

 languages. 



Its most frequent use is at the conclusion of prayers, thanksgivings, 

 and denunciations, where it is understood to express belief, assent, and 

 concurrence in what has been expressed. Examples of its use in all 

 these cases are numerous in the Bible. When the priest has declared 

 to the woman suspected of adultery the effect of the water of jealousy, 

 " the woman shall answer, Amen, amen." Numb. v. 22. When 

 curses are pronounced against the wicked in Deut, xxvii. 15, all the 

 people are ordered to repeat amen. 



The word amen concludes all the gospels, and almost all the epistles ; 

 it is repeated at the end of four of the five sections of the Psalms 

 according to the division of the Jews; namely, the 41st, the 72nd, the 

 89th, and the 106th Psalms; in this last Psalm it is followed by 

 hallelujah, which word concludes the last section. 



In many churches in England, the word amen is pronounced aloud 

 by the people : this was the ancient practice of the Christian world, 

 and St. Jerome relates, that when the congregated people at Rome 

 pronounced amen, the sound was like that of a clap of thunder. They 

 possibly attributed great efficacy to the loudness of their voices, after 

 the example of the Jews, who imagined that this word, shouted forth 

 with great force, had power to open the gates of heaven. 



Amen is often used by our Saviour at the beginning of a discourse, 

 as an impressive particle, which in our version is rendered ' verily.' In 

 the Gospel of St. John the word is always repeated. 



In one instance this word is used as an adjective, meaning certain, 

 fixed. " For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him 

 Amen," 2 Cor. i. 20. In one other instance the word denotes our 

 Saviour. " These things saith the Amen," Rev. iii. 14. 



AMENDE HONORABLE. Amende in French is a penalty, so 

 called from being regarded as a compensation for, or rectification and 

 amendment of, the offence. According to the old laws of France, 

 persons guilty of crimes coming under the head of public scandals, such 

 as sedition, sacrilege, fraudulent bankruptcy, &c., used sometimes to be 

 condemned to make a public confession of their guilt. This was called 

 making the amende Jtonorablc, which was either simple, or in fiyuris, in 

 which last case the culprit was conducted by the public executioner 

 into open court in his shirt, with a rope about his neck, and a lighted 

 torch in his hand, and in that state made his confession on his knees. 

 The amende honorable was accounted an infamous punishment, and 

 appears to have been so called as consisting altogether in the disgrace, 

 and not in any fine or other actual suffering. The courts, however, 

 were also sometimes wont to order a person by whom the reputation or 

 honour of another had been injured to make a public acknowledgment 

 of the wrong ; and such a sentence earned no infamy with it. It is 

 from this latter custom that the modern and popular use of the 

 expression has been borrowed, according to which we say that a 

 person makes the amende honorable when he publicly admits any 

 wrong which he feels that he has done to another person. 



AMENDMENT, in Law, signifies the correction of mistakes in the 

 records of judicial proceedings. In the early period of our English 

 law, the pleadings between the parties were conducted ore tenia, as it 

 was called, at the bar of the court by their respective advocates. If 

 any mistake occurred in the pleading of either party, it was corrected 

 at once upon a suggestion made to the court. Subsequently, when 

 oral pleading became superseded by the present practice of delivering 

 written pleadings between the parties, the same indulgence as to 

 amendments continued. Hence the courts upon application by either 

 party, will amend the interlocutory proceedings in a cause ; and at the 

 present day will amend mistakes in the pleadings, whilst they continue 

 in paper, upon proper terms. But anciently, after the proceedings were 



