412 A M E 
recorded was done ; for, during the term the record is in 
the bread of the court, but afterwards it admitted of no 
alteration: but now the courts are become more liberal, 
and, where juftice requires it, will allow of amendments at 
any time while the fuit is depending, notwithftanding the 
record be made up, and the term be pad ; for they, at 
prefent, condder the proceedings as in jicri till judgment 
is given ; and therefore, that till then they have power 
to permit amendments by the common law ; but, when 
judgment is,,once given and inrclled, no amendment is per¬ 
mitted in any fubfequent term. Midakes are alfo fre¬ 
quently helped by the datutes of amendment and jeofails, 
fo called, becaufe .when a pleader perceives any flip in 
the form of his proceedings, and acknowledges fuch error 
(jeo faile , I have failed), he is at liberty by thofe datutes 
to amend it; which amendment is feldom actually made, 
but the benedt of the arts is attained by the court’s over¬ 
looking the exceptions. 3 Black. 406. 
AME'NDS,/. [ amende , Fr. from which it feems to 
be accidentally corrupted.] Recompence; compenfation ; 
atonement: 
There I, a pris’ner chain’d, fcarce freely draw 
The air intprifon’d alfo, clofe and damp, 
Unwholefome draught; but here I feel amends , 
The breath of heav’11 frefh blowing, pure and fvveet, 
With day-fpring born; here leave me to refpire. Milton. 
■—It is a ftrong argument for retribution hereafter, that 
virtuous perfons are very oi f en unfortunate, and vicious 
perfons profperous ; which is repugnant to the nature of 
a Being, who appears infinitely wife and good in all his 
works; unlefs we may fuppofe that fuch a promifeuous 
didribution, which was neceffary for carrying on the de¬ 
signs of providence in this life, will be rectified and made 
amends for in another. Spectator. 
AME'NITY,/! [■ amenite , Fr. amcenitas , Lat.] Pleafant- 
nefs ; agreeablenefs of dtuation.—If the fituation of Ba¬ 
bylon was fuch at drd as in the days of Herodotus, it was 
a feat of amenity and pleafure. Brown. 
AMENTA'CEOUS, adj. \_amentatus, Lat.] Flanging’ 
as by a thread.—The pine-tree hath amentaceous flowers 
or catkins. Miller. 
AMENTUM, f. in botany, the name of a fpecies of 
calyx, confiding of valves, and hanging down in different 
directions front the caulis. Common oats afford a good 
example of the amentum. 
Amentum,/ in Roman antiquity, a thong tied about 
the middle of a javelin or dart, and fadened to the fore¬ 
finger, in order to recover the weapon as foon as it was 
difeharged. The ancients made great ufe of the amentum, 
thinking it helped to enforce the blow. It alfo denotes a 
latchet that bound their fandals. 
dME'RADE,/. a kind of officers among the Sara¬ 
cens, anfwering to the governor of provinces among the 
Europeans. The name is originally the fame with that 
of emir. 
To AME'RCE, v. a. \_amercicr, Fr. p.ev ap..=p<7£, 
feems to give the original.] To punifh with a pecuniary 
penalty; to exart a fine; to inflirt a forfeiture. It is a 
word originally juridical, but adopted by other writers, 
and is ufed by Spenfer of punifhments in general. Some¬ 
times with the particle in before the fine.—They fliall 
amerce him in an hundred fliekels of diver, and give them 
unto the father of the damfel, becaufe he hath brought up 
an evil name upona virgin of Ifrael. Deut. xxii. 19. Some¬ 
times it is ufed, in imitation of the Greek condrurtion, 
with the particle of: 
Millions of fpirits, for his fault amerc'd 
Of heav’n, and from eternal fplendours flung 
For his revolt. Milton. 
AME'RCER, f. He that fets a fine upon any mifde- 
meanour; he that decrees or inflirts any pecuniary punifh- 
ment or forfeiture. 
A M E 
AME'RCEMENT, or Ame'rciament, f. The pe¬ 
cuniary punifhment of an offender, who dands at the mer¬ 
cy of the king, or other lord in his court. Cowell .—All 
amercements and fines that fliall be impofed upon them, 
fliall come unto themfelves. Spenfer. 
Amercement, in law, is to be at the king’s mercy 
with regard to the quantum of a fine impofed. By magna 
c/iarta, c. 14. no man fliall have a larger amercement im¬ 
pofed upon him than his circumflances or perfonal edate 
will bear, faving to the land-owner his land, to the trader 
his merchandize, and to the hufbandman his team and in- 
druments of hufbandry : in order to afeertain which, the 
great charter alfo direrts, that the amercement, which is 
always inflirted in general terms, fliall be fet or reduced 
to a certainty by the oath of a jury. In the court-ieet 
and court-baron, this is ufually done by affeerors , or ju¬ 
rors fworn to affecre ; that is, to tux and moderate the ge¬ 
neral amercement according to the particular.circumflan- 
ces of the offence and offender. In limitation of which, in 
courts fuperior to thefe, the ancient prartice was, to in¬ 
quire by a jury, when a fine was impofed upon any man, 
how much he was able to pay by the year, faving the main¬ 
tenance of himfelf, his wife, and children. And, fince the 
difufe of fuch inquefi, it is never ufual to alfefs a larger 
fine than a man is able to pay, without touching the im¬ 
plements of his livelihood, but to inflirt corporal punifh¬ 
ment, or a dated imprifonment, which is better than ail 
exceflive fine, for that amounts to imprifonment for life; 
and by the bill of rights it is particularly declared, that 
exceflive fines ought not to beimpofed. 4 Black. 372. 
AME'RI, f. in botany. See Indigofera. 
AME'RICA, [from Americas Vefputius, who falfely af¬ 
firmed the honour of being the fird difeoverer of that con¬ 
tinent.] One of the four quarters of the globe, and by far 
the larged; which, from its late difeovery, is frequently 
denominated the New World. This vad country extends 
from the 80th degree of north to the 56th degree of fouth 
latitude; and, where its breadth is known, from the 35th 
to the 136th degree wed longitude from London; ftretch- 
ing near 9000 miles in length, and in its greated breadth 
3690. It fees both hemifpheres, has two dimmers and a 
double w inter, and enjoys all the variety of climates which 
the earth affords. It is wafned by the two great oceans. 
To the eadward it has the Atlantic, which divides it from 
Europe and Africa ; to the wed it has the Pacific or Great 
South Sea, by which it is feparated from Ada. By thefe 
feas it carries on a dirert and increafing commerce with 
the other three parts of the world. 
It is with great reafon believed, that the ancients had 
fome imperfert notion of America ; and many authors are 
quoted in confirmation of this opinion. In a book aferibed 
to Aridotle, we are told that the Carthaginians di(covered 
an ifland far beyond the pillars of Hercules, large, fer¬ 
tile, and finely watered with navigable rivers, but unin¬ 
habited. This ifland was diflant a few days failing from 
the continent; its beauty induced the difeoverers to fettle 
there ; but the policy of Carthage diflodged the colony, 
and laid a ftrirt prohibition on all the fubjerts of the (fate 
not to attempt any future eftablifliment. This account is 
alfo confirmed by an hiftorian of no mean credit, who re¬ 
lates, that the Tyrians would have fettled a colony on the 
new-difeovered iflands, but were oppofed by the Cartha¬ 
ginians for fiate r.eafons. Seneca, and other authors, are 
alfo quoted in fupport of this belief. But, however this 
may be, nobody ever believed the exiftence of this conti¬ 
nent fo firmly as to go in queft of it; at leaft, there are no 
accounts well fupported that America received any part 
of its firft inhabitants from Europe prior to the 15th cen¬ 
tury. The Welfli fondly imagine, that their country con¬ 
tributed, in 1170, to people the New World, by the ad¬ 
venture of Madoc, fon of Owen Gwynedd, who, on the 
death of his father, failed there, and colonized part of 
the country. All that is advanced in proof is, a quota¬ 
tion from one of the Britifli poets, which proves no more 
2 than 
