E M B 
E M B 
E M B 615 
therefore a warrant to stay a single ship is 
no legal embargo. No inference can be 
made from embargoes which are only in war- 
time, and are a prohibition by advice of coun- 
cil, and not at prosecution of parties. If 
goods are laden on board, and after an em- 
bargo, or restraint from the prince or state, 
comes forth, and then the master of the ship 
breaks ground, or endeavours to sail, if any 
damage accrues, he must be responsible for 
the same; the reason is, because his freight is 
due, and must be paid, nay though the goods 
be seized as contraband. Embargo differs 
from quarantine, as this last is always for the 
term of forty days, in which persons from 
foreign parts infected with the plague, are 
not permitted to come on shore. 
EMBASSADOR, or Ambassador, a 
public minister sent from one sovereign 
prince, as a representative of his person, to 
another. Embassadors are either ordinary 
or extraordinary. Embassador in ordinary, 
is he who constantly resides in the court of 
another prince, to maintain a good under- 
standing, and attend to the interest of his 
master. I ill about 200 years ago, embassa- 
dors in ordinary were not heard of: all, till 
then, were embassadors extraordinary, that 
is, such as are sent on some particular occa- 
sion, and who retire as soon as the affair is 
dispatched. By the law of nations, none 
under the quality of a sovereign prince can 
send or receive an embassador. At Athens, 
embassadors mounted the pulpit of the public- 
orators, and there opened their -commission, 
acquainting the people with their errand. At 
Rome they were introduced to the senate, 
and delivered their commissions to them. 
Embassadors should never attend any pub- 
lic solemnities, as marriages, funerals', &c. 
unless their masters have some interest in it; 
nor must they go into mourning on any occa- 
sions of their own, because they represent the 
person of their prince. By the civil law, the 
moveable goods of an embassador, which are 
accounted an accession to his person, cannot 
be seized on, neither as a pledge, nor for 
payment of a debt, nor by order or execu- 
tion of judgment, nor by the king’s or state’s 
leave where he resides, as some conceive; 
for all actions ought to be far from an em- 
bassador, as well that which touch his neces- 
saries as his person; if, therefore, he has con- 
tracted any debt, he is to be called upon 
kindly, and if he refuses, then letters of re- 
quest are to go to his master. Nor can any 
pt the embassador’s domestic servants, that 
are registered in the secretaries of state’s 
office, be arrested in person or goods; if they 
are, the process shall be void, and the parlies 
suing out and executing it, shall suffer and 
be liable to such penalties and corporal pu- 
nishment as the lord chancellor, or either of 
the chief justices, shall think fit to inflict. 
A et embassadors cannot be defended when 
they commit any crime against that state, or 
the person of the prince, with whom they re- 
side; and if they are guilty of treason, felony, 
&c. or any other crime against the law of na- 
tions, they lose the privilege of an embassa- 
dor, and may be subject to punishment as 
private aliens. 
EMBER-weeks, are those wherein the 
ember or embring days fall. In the laws of 
king Alfred, and those of Canute, those days 
are called ymbren, that is, circular days, 
whence the word was probably corrupted 
into ember-days ; by the canonists they are 
called quatuor anni tempora, the four car- 
dinal seasons, on which the circle of the year 
turns: and hence Henshaw takes the word to 
have been formed, viz. by corruption from 
temper or tempora. The ember days are, 
the \\ ednesday, Friday, and Saturday, after 
Quadragesima Sunday, after Whitsunday, 
alter Holy-rood day in September, and after 
St. Lucia s day in December ; which four 
times answer well enough to the four quar- 
tets ot the year, spring, summer, autumn, 
and winter. Air. Somner thinks they were 
originally fasts, instituted to beg God’s bless- 
ing on the fruits ot the earth. Agreeably to 
which, Skinner supposes the word ember 
taken from the ashes; embers, then strewed 
on the head. Ihese ember-weeks are now' 
chiefly taken notice of, on account of the or- 
dination ot priests and deacons; because the 
canon appoints the Sundays next succeeding 
the Gmber-weeks, for the solemn times of or- 
dination; though the bishops, if they please, 
may ordain on any Sunday or holiday . 
EMBERIZA, in ornithology, a genus of 
birds belonging to the order of passeres. The 
bill is conical, and the mandibles recede 
from each other towards the base; the infe- 
rior mandible lias the sides narrowed inwards, 
but the upper one is still narrower. There 
are 24 species, ot which the most remarkable 
are, 
1. The nivalis, or great pyed mountain- 
jinch of Ray, and the’ snow-bird of Edwards, 
it has white wings, but the outer edges of the 
prime feathers are black; the tail is black, 
w ith three white feathers on each side. These 
birds are called in Scotland snow-flakes, from 
their appearance in hard w'eather and in deep 
snow's. 1 hey arrive in that season among 
tne Cheviot-hills and in the Highlands in 
amazing Hocks. A few breed in the High- 
lands, on the summit of the highest hills, in 
the same places with the ptarmigans; but the 
greatest numbers migrate from the extreme 
noi 111 . I hey appear in the Shetland islands, 
then in the Orkneys; and multitudes of them 
often fall, wearied with their flight, on vessels 
in the Pentland-frith. Their appearance is 
a certain forerunner of hard w eather, and 
storms of snow, being driven by the cold 
from their common retreats. Their pro- 
gress southward is probably thus; Spitzber- 
gen and Greenland, Hudson’s-bay, the Lap- 
land Alps, Scandinavia, Iceland, the Eerroe 
Isles, Shetland, Orkneys, Scotland, and the 
Cheviot-hills. r J hey visit at that season all 
paits of the northern hemisphere, Prussia, 
Austria, and Siberia. They arrive lean, and 
return fat. In Austria they are caught and 
fed with millet, and, like the ortolan, grow’ 
excessively fat. In their flights they keep 
very close to each other, mingle most con- 
fusedly together, and fling themselves col- 
lectively into the form of a ball; at which 
instant the fowler makes great havock among 
theim See Plate Nat. Hist, fig. 179. 
2. r l he miliaris, or grey einberiza, is of a 
greyish colour, spotted with black in the 
belly, and the orbits are reddish. It is the 
bunting of English authors, and a bird of Eu- 
rope. 
3. I he hortulana, or ortolan, has black 
wings; the first three feathers on the tail are 
white on the edges, only the two lateral are 
black outwardly. The orbits of the eyes are 
naked and yellow ; the head is greenish, and 
yellow towards the inferior mandible. It 
feeds principally upon the millet, grow s very 
fat, and is reckoned a delicate morsel by cer- 
tain epicures, especially when fattened arti- 
ficially. 'Ihese birds are found in several 
parts of Europe, but are not met with in Bri- 
tain; are common in France and Italy, and 
some parts of Germany and Sweden, mi- 
grating from one to the* other in spring and 
autumn ; and in their passage are caught in 
numbers, in order to fatten for the 'table. 
I his species will sometimes sing very pret- 
tily, and has been kept for that purpose. 
The song is not unlike that of the yellow- 
hammer, but finer and sweeter. In some 
parts it makes the nest in a low' hedge, in 
others on the ground. It is carelessly con- 
structed, not unlike that of the lark.' The 
female lays four or live greyish eggs, and in 
general has two broods in a year. These 
birds receive both their Greek, and Latin 
name from their food, the millet. Aris.otle 
calls them cynchromi, and the Latins mili- 
arias. The latter kept and fattened them in 
their ornithones, or fowl-yards, as the Italians 
do at present. 
4. The cilrinella, or yellow-hammer,- has a 
blackish tail, only the two outward side-fea- 
thers are marked on the inner edge with 
'sharp white spots. It is a bird of Europe, 
and comes about houses in winter; it builds- 
its nest in banks or on low fences. 
5. The schuniclas, or reed-sparrow, has a 
blackhead, a blackish-grey body, and a white 
spot on the quill-feathers. ‘ It inhabits marshy 
plac es, most commonly among reeds, from 
which it takes its name. Its nest is worthy 
of notice for the artful contrivance of it, 
being fastened to four reeds, and suspended 
by them like a hammock, about three feet 
above the water; the cavity of the nest. is 
deep, but narrow; and the materials are 
bushes, fine bents, and hairs. It lays four or 
live eggs ot a blueish white, marked with ir- 
regular purplish veins, especially on the 
larger end. It is a bird much admired for 
its song, and like the nightingale sings in the 
night. 
^ kj 3 /.nuia. ut 
, , -- UlllilllJg; Willi 
the head and whole under-side of the body 
black; hind part of the neck in some pale 
yellow, and in others white; coverts ot the 
wings and primaries, black, the last edged 
with white; part of the scapulars, lesser'co- 
verts of the wings, and rump, white ; back 
black, edged with dull yellow; tail of the 
same colours, and each feather sharply point- 
ed ; the legs are red. 
7. The cirlus is brown; breast spotted; 
eye-brows pale yellow ; the two outmost tail- 
feathers with a white wedged spot. It inhabits 
France and Italy, and feeds on seeds, worms 
and insects. Se*e Plate Nat.. Hist. fig. 177 . ^ 
8. The-ciris; the head blue ; belly orange ; 
back green; the feathers green-brown, in- 
habits South America; varies in colour by 
age, sex, or climate; builds in orange groves 
See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 178.. 
These birds inhabit, in vast, numbers, the 
island of Cuba, where they commit great ra- 
vages among the early crops of rice, which 
precede those of Carolina. They arrive 
very lean ; but soon grow so fat, as to fly with 
difficulty, and when shot, often burst with 
the fall. They continue in Carolina not 
much above three weeks, and retire by the 
time the rice begins to harden ; going on to 
4 " 
