EMB 
acquainting the people with their errand. 
At Rome they were introduced to the Se- 
nate, and delivered their commissions to 
them. 
Embassadors should never attend any 
public solemnities, as marriages, fnnerals, 
&c. unless their masters have some interest 
therein : nor must they go into mourning 
on any occasions of their own, because they 
represent the persons of their prince. By 
the civil law, the moveable goods of an 
embassador, which are accounted an ac- 
cession to his person, cannot be seized on, 
neither as a pledge, nor for payment of a 
debt, nor by order or execution of judg- 
ment, nor by the King’s or state’s leave, 
where he resides, as some conceive ; for 
all actions ought to be far from an embas- 
sador, as well that which toucheth his ne- 
cessaries, as his person : if, therefore, he 
hath contracted any debt, he is to be called 
upon kindly, and if he refuses, then letters 
of request are to go to his master. Nor 
can any of the embassador's domestic ser- 
vants, 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 parties suing out and execut- 
ing it shall suffer and be liable to such pe- 
nalties and corporal punishment as the 
Lord Chancellor, or either of the chief 
justices, shall think fit to inflict. Yet em- 
bassadors cannot be defended when they 
commit any thing against that state, or the 
person of the prince with whom they re- 
side ; and if they are guilty of treason, fe- 
lony, &c. or any other crime against the 
law of nations, they lose the privilege of an 
embassador, and may be subject to punish- 
ment as private aliens. 
EMBER iveeks, or days, in the Christian 
Church, are certain seasons of the year, set 
apart for the imploring God’s blessing, by 
prayer and fasting, upon the ordinations 
performed in the church at such times. 
These ordination-fasts are observed four 
times in the year, viz. the Wednesday, Fri- 
day, and Saturday after the first Sunday in 
Lent, after Whit-sunday, after the four- 
teenth of September, and the thirteenth of 
December ; it being enjoined, by a canon 
of the church, that deacons and ministers 
be ordained, or made, only upon the Sun- 
days immediately following these ember- 
fasts. The ember-weeks were formerly 
observed in different churches with some 
variety, but were at last settled as they are 
now observed, by the council of Placentia, 
anno 1095. The council of Mentz, .con. 
EMB 
vened by Charlemagne, mentions the em- 
ber-weeks as a new establishment. 
EMBERIZA, the bunting, in natural 
history, a genus of birds of the order Pas- 
seres. Generic character : bill conic ; man- 
dibles receding from each other, from the 
base downwards; the lower with the sides 
narrowed in ; the upper containing a large 
knob of use to break hard seeds. There 
are, according to Gmelin, seventy-seven 
species. Latham enumerates sixty-three, 
of which the most important are the fol- 
lowing : E. nivalis, the snow bunting. These 
birds are about the size of a chaffinch, and 
have been found in the most northern lati- 
tudes to which navigators have penetrated. 
They are found, not merely on the land 
about Spitzbergen, but upon the ice conti- 
guous to it, though merely graminivorous 
birds, of which genus they are the sole 
species found in that climate. In the north 
of Great Britain they sometimes appear in 
vast flocks, and are considered as the har- 
bingers of a severe winter. They are 
known in Scotland by the name of snow- 
flake. E. hortulana, the ortolan, is soijie- 
what less than the yellow-hammer, is com- 
mon in France and Italy, in Germany and 
Sweden. These birds are migratory, and in 
their passage, are caught in vast multitudes 
to be fed for the table, being considered 
as extremely delicate and luxurious food. 
They are inclosed by professional feeders 
in dark rooms, where oats, and other grains* 
and seeds are provided for them in the ful- 
lest abundance. On these articles they 
feed with such voracity, that in a shore 
time they attain that size, which it is im- 
possible for them to exceed, and constitute, 
it may almost be said, one mass of exqui- 
sitely flavoured and luscious fat. From 
this state they would soon sink in lethargy* 
but they are now killed by their owners 
for the market. A full-fed ortolan weighs 
about three ounces. It rarely passes far- 
ther north than Russia, and is not to bo 
found in England. By many its notes are 
particularly admired. It sometimes builds 
on low hedges, and occasionally on the 
ground, and generally breeds twice a year, 
E. citrineila, or the yellow hammer, is ex- 
tremely common in Great Britain, where 
it lays its eggs on the ground, or in some 
low bush, constructing it with little art ; it 
possesses no interesting musical tones, and 
is tame and stupid in its character ; it feeds 
on grain and insects, and is to be found in 
almost every country in Europe ; its flesh 
here is generally bitter, but in Italy the 
