134. 



A.MBERGEll AMBROSE. 



quality. The old fortifications serve for a public 

 walk. At A. the archduke Charles, Aug. 24, 

 ili i'.-aied liit- French general Jourdan, and 

 compelled him, Sept. 3, by the buttle of Wurtzburg, 

 lo retreat to the Rhine. 



AMBKIIGKR, Christoph.; a German painter of the 

 Itith century, bom in Nuremberg, lie resided in 

 Augsburg, where lit- [minted, in 1530, a portrait of 

 Ihe' emperor Charles V., who rewarded him richly, 

 mid honoured him highly. This painting is now at 

 Iterlin. The History of Joseph, in twelve pictures, 

 is said by Sundrart to be his best work. He painted 

 in the powerful style of the elder Holbein, who was 

 living in his time; lie copied, also, many portraits 

 i if i his master, and cut in wood. A. died between 

 J550 and 1560. 



AMBERGRIS is found floating in the sea near the 

 coasts of various tropical countries, and has also 

 lu-en taken from the intestines of the spermaceti 

 wlmle, where it is supposed to originate, owing to 

 i. It is met with in masses of various sizes, 

 Mimctime.s weighing nearly 200 pounds. Its colour 

 is a yellowish or blackish white ; it is generally 

 brittle, and may be compressed with the teeth or 

 nails. It melts at 140, and is entirely dissipated on 

 re.l-ii.it coals. It is soluble in aether, volatile oils, 

 nnd alcohol, and is chiefly composed of a peculiar 

 nnimal substance called adipocire. Its odour is 

 very agreeable, and hence arises its only use. In 

 the state of an alcoholic solution, it is added to 

 lavender-water, tooth-powder, liair-powder, wasli- 

 halls, &c., to which it communicates its fragrance. 

 Its retail price in London is a guinea per ounce. 



AMBOYNA ; one of the largest and most valuable 

 of tin 1 Molucca islands, in the Indian ocean, the 

 seat of their government, and the centre of the 

 commerce in nutmegs and cloves. It lies in . Ion. 

 128o I5f, and S. lat. 3 42^ and is between fifty and 

 sixty miles long. Its general aspect is beautiful, 

 and its climate generally salubrious. It lias been 

 occasionally visited by earthquakes. It affords a 

 great variety of beautiful wood for inlaying and 

 oilier ornamental work. Rumphius reckons the 

 species at 400. The clove-tree is the staple produc- 

 tion of A. The island affords annually about 

 <>50,000 pounds of its fruit. The Dutch, during the 

 Jong period of their possession of A., made every 

 effort to monopolize this valuable spice. The num- 

 ber of trees was regularly registered by the governor, 

 all the plantations of them visited, and particular 

 districts devoted to their cultivation. They bought 

 from the neighbouring islands all the cloves that 

 other nations were likely to import, and, in some 

 cases, compelled the chiefs to destroy the rest, and 

 >ven the trees that bore them. They are said to 

 have prohibited the culture of many edible roots on 

 the island, to withhold the means of subsistence 

 from settlers and conquerors. Sugar and coffee are 



Gitiful in A. Sago is the principal article of 

 . The few fruits cultivated are delicious. The 

 natives, like other Malays, are rude and savage, 

 and, when intoxicated with opium, capable of any 

 crime. There are many Chinese and European 

 H'ttlers on the island, and mixed races, from inter- 

 marriages, nearly as fair as Europeans. The Chinese 

 are industrious, and live much together. Some of 

 tie aborigines in the woods are said to be as barbar- 

 ous as ever, and to offer human sacrifices. When the 

 English took A., in 1796, it contained about 45,252 

 inliabitants, of whom no less than 17,813 were Pro- 

 testants ; the rest were Mohammedans and Chinese. 

 The houses of the natives are made of bamboo-canes 

 and sago-trees. They sleep upon mats. Their 

 weapons are bows, darts, cimeters, and targets. 

 They qj'e 9aid to be indolent, effeminate, and pusil- 



lanimous, and their tronttn to be licentious.-- -In 

 1605, A. was conquered by the Dutch, and taken 

 from the Portuguese, its former masters. They did 

 not, however, get possession of tlie whole island, till 

 at'icrthe lapse of some years. During this period, 

 the Knglish had ended some factories in A., iind 

 the dispute between the settlers of the two nations 

 led to the event called the massacre of slmfmytia. 

 The Dutch accused the Knglish inhabitants of 

 being engaged in a conspiracy against the I hitch 

 posses>;,ins. They WIT*- immediately seized, loaded 

 with irons, thrown into prison, put to the torture to 

 extort a confession, and those who survived this 

 treatment were executed. The number of pi rsons 

 who perished were twenty-two; ten Knglishniei^ 

 eleven Japanese, and one Portuguese. '1 lie Kng- 

 lish factory was, in consequence, withdrawn from 

 the island, and the effects of the English merchants 

 seized to the amount of 400,000. The English 

 factories in the adjacent islands were also sei/.ed. 

 James I. and Charles I. obtained no sitisfaction for 

 this outrage, but Cromwell, compelled the United 

 Provinces to pay 300,000 as a small compensation. 

 A. lias been twice taken by the English, in 17!)(> 

 and 1810, but, after each capture, restored to the 

 Dutch, in whose possession it is at present. The 

 capital city of the island is called by the same 

 name. 



AMBKAS, or A MR AS ; a castle in Tyrol, near 

 Inspruck, formerly distinguished for its museum, 

 containing armour, paintings. c., and a library, 

 which is now at Inspruck. The museum is at pre- 

 sent in Vienna, and has been described by Alois 

 Primisser (Vienna, 1819). Sixty-nine MSS. be- 

 long to this museum, one of which is a copy of the 

 famous Heldeniuch. 



AMBROSIA, in the mythology of the Greeks aiul 

 Romans ; a sweet and balsamic juice flowing from 

 the soil of the happy island of Oceanus. It was the 

 nutriment of the gods, and preserved their immor- 

 tality. Generally it was taken as food, sometimes 

 as drink, but must not be confounded with nectar. 

 (q. v.) It was used also as an ointment. Men who 

 were allowed to partake of A. received an incn ase 

 of beauty, strength, and swiftness; and became, in 

 some measure, assimilated to the gods. 



AMBROSE, Saint ; a celebrated father of Use 

 church ; born in 340, probably at Treves, whore 

 his father resided as governor of Gaul. Happy 

 omens attended him, even in the cradle. A swarm 

 of bees covered the eyes of the boy, while slumber- 

 ing in the court of his father's castle, and, when the 

 nurse hastened to him, she was astonished to per- 

 ceive the bees going in and out of his mouth, with- 

 out doing him any injury. His father, recollecting 

 perhaps, a similar wonder mentioned of Plato, 

 hoped, from this circumstance, that he was destined 

 for greatness. His education was suitable to his 

 rank ; the best teachers at Rome, where the family 

 had gone after the death of his father, formed his 

 mind and his heart. After finishing their studies, 

 A. and his brother, Satyrus, went to Milan, where, 

 they commenced the study of the law. Here A. 

 distinguished himself so much that Valentinian ap- 

 pointed him governor of the provinces between tin- 

 Alps, the Mediterranean, Tuscany, the Adige, and 

 the Adriatic sea. His kindness and wisdom gained 

 him the esteem and love of the people ; but their 

 prosperity was interrupted by the disturbances 

 growing out of the doctrines of Arius, and he was 

 called to the bishopric of Milan, by the unanimous 

 voices of Arians and Catholics. A. long refused tc 

 accept this dignity, but in vain. He fled by night, 

 and thought himself on the way to Pavia, but un- 

 expectedly found himself again before the gates of 



