49° A M S 
to receive it as it fell. A large.body of vapour is conti¬ 
nually thrown out with a loud rumbling node. The (tones 
on the riling ground that hangs over the pool are quite 
yellow, being ftained with the fumes of lulphur and lal 
ammoniac. A,molt naufeous ImelL-rifing with the fleam 
obliged us to watch the wind, 'and keep clear of it, to 
avoid luffocation. The water is quite infipid both as to 
tafle and fmell ; the clay at the edges is white, and carried 
into Puglia-tomb upon (cabby (beep, on which account 
the lake is. farmed out at ioo ducats a year. 
AMPT'HILL, Bedfordfhire, is a (inall neat regular 
well-built town, delightfully (ituated between two hills ; 
it has two principal ftreets, eroding each other nearly at 
right angles. It has-,a good market on Thurfday, and tw o 
fairs, the 4th of May and 30th of November; alio a 11 a- 
tute fefiions, for hiring (ervants, generally a few days be¬ 
fore Cud Michaelmas. Here is a fchool endowed for 
teaching-thirteen poor children, and an hofpital, with good 
allowance for ten poor men, founded by Mr. Stone. 
Ampthill Park, the Teat- of the right honourable earl of 
Upper Olfory, is a (mail didance from the town. Here 
•w as the refidence of the injured princefs Catharine of Ar- 
ragon, during the period in which her divorce from Henry 
VIII. was in agitation; to whole memory, in 1774, the 
-carl of Upper- Oflory, in the (ite of the cadle, erefled a 
Gothic column, defigned by the late Mr. Etlex of Cam¬ 
bridge, to perpetuate the memory of this ill-fated queen, 
with an infepiptron. 
AMPUL'LA, in antiquity, a round big-bellied veffel 
.-which the ancients uled in their baths, to contain oil for 
.anointing their bodies. Alio a cup for drinking out of. 
Ampulla, among ecclefiaftical writers, denotes one of 
the lacred vellels uled at the altars. Ampullae were alio 
tiled for holding the oil tiled in chrifmation, confecration, 
coronation, &c. Among the ornaments of churches we 
find frequent mention made of ampuls or vials. In the 
inventory of the cathedral of Lincoln we meet with am¬ 
puls of cryftal, varioufly enriched with filver feet and 
covers ; one containing a tooth of St. Chriftopher, another 
: a tooth of St. Cecily, another a bone of the head of St. 
John the Baptift. 
Knights oj St. Ampulla, belong to an order inftituted 
by Clovis I. king of France; at the coronation they bear up 
the canopy under which the ampulla is carried in procellion. 
AMPU'RA, a province of the kingdom of Peru, before 
•its conqtieft by the Spaniards. Here the inhabitants wor- 
fhipped two lofty mountains from a principle of gratitude, 
•becaufe of the delcent of the water from them by which 
their lands were fertilized. It is Laid to have been con¬ 
quered by Virachoca the eighth inca. 
To AMPUTATE, v. a. [amputo , Lat.J To cut offa 
limb : a word tiled in chirurgery. 
AMPUT ATION, J. \_aviputatio , Lat.] In furgery, the 
cutting off a limb, or other part from the body. See 
Surgery. 
AM'RAM, of oy a people, and m high, Heb. 
i. e. an high people.] the father of Moles. 
AM'RAPHEL, [Ssicn of ir:s lie hath fpoke, and nbsa 
deftruction, Heb. i. e. a (peaking deftrudtion. ] the king of 
Shinar, or Babylonia, confederated with Cherdorlaomer, 
king of the Elamites, and two other kings, to make war 
again!! the kings of Pentapolis ; that is to fay, of Sodom, 
Gomorrah, and the three neighbouring cities. The kings 
who were in league with Amraphel worded thofe of Pen¬ 
tapolis, plundered their city, and carried off abundance of 
captives, among whom was Lot, Abraham’s nephew : but 
Abraham purfued them, re-took Lot, and recovered all. 
AM'RAS. See Ambras. 
AM'SANCTI. See Ampsascti. 
AMSDOR'FIANS, in church hidory, a fed! of Pro- 
tedants in the lixteenth century, who took their name 
from Amfdorf their leader. They maintained, that good 
works were not only unprofitable, but were obllacles to 
falvation. 
AMSO'NIA,/. in botany. See Tabern.e Montana. 
AMS 
AM’STERDAM, the capital city of the province of 
Holland'and of the United .Netherlands, is feated on the 
river Amdel and ail arm of the fea called the Wye.' In 
1204, it was nothing but a fmall cadle which its lords made 
•a retreat for fifhepmen, w ho at fird lived in huts covered 
with thatch : but it foon became conliderable, though, till 
the year 1490, it was fuirounded with nothing but a weak 
pallifado. The walls were tlien built with brick, to de¬ 
fend it from the incurfions of the inhabitants of Utrecht, 
with whom the Hollanders were often quarrelling ; but 
fonie time after it was almod totally reduced to allies. In 
1512, it was befieged by the people of Guelderland ; who, 
not being able to take it, fet fire to the-(hips in the har¬ 
bour. In 1325, an Anabaptift leader, with 600 of his fol¬ 
lowers, got into the city in the night-time, attacked the 
town-houfe, and defeated thofe that made any reliliance-; 
but, when day appeared, the citizens fell upon them on all 
fides, and forced them to retire into the town-houfe, v\ here 
moll of them were cut to pieces. About ten years after, 
there was another tumult railed by a parcel of fanatics, 
confiding of men and women, who ran about the dreets 
dark naked, and had a defignof making themlelves maders 
of the town-houfe; Their fiirieks and cries loon alarmed 
the inhabitants, who gave them the chaftifetnent they de- 
ferved. Amfterdam was one of the lad cities that em¬ 
braced the reformed religion. It was befieged by the 
Hollanders in 1578, and lubmitted after a liege of ten 
months. One article of the capitulation was, a free exer- 
cife of the Roman Catholic religion : but this was not 
obferved by the Protellants ; for they foon drove the ec- 
clefiafiics, monks, and nuns, out of the city, broke the 
images, and demoliflied the altars. After this time it 
became the general rendezvous of all nations and of every 
feci; and to the good fenfe and candour of the Dutch, in 
thus making it an afylum for all profeffions of religion, 
when perfecution prevailed in other parts, we may attri¬ 
bute the grandeur and opulence it now enjoys. The in¬ 
habitants were often obliged to enlarge the bounds of their 
city, and in 1675 it was increaled to its prefent extent. 
It was furrounded with a brick wall, and a large ditch 
eighty feet broad full of running water. The walls were 
fortified with twenty-fix bullions, on each of which there 
is now a windmill. There are eight gates towards the 
land, and one towards the water. 
Amfterdam, being feated on a marlliy foil, is built on 
piles of wood ; for which reafon no coaches are allowed, 
except to great men and phyficians, who pay a tax for that 
privilege ; and all kinds of goods are drawn on (ledges. 
It Hands fo low, that they would be expofed to inunda¬ 
tions, if they did not fecure themfelves by dykes and 
Unices. The fined ftreets are, the Keyfar’s Graft, or 
Emperor’s Canal ; the Heer Graft, or Lord’s Canal; the 
Cingel; and the ftreet of Haerlem. The principal canal 
is remarkable for its houfes, which are magnificent ftruc ■ 
Hires, of an equal height. Here are three prodigious 
Unices, and a great number of canals, which crofs the 
city in many parts, and render the ftreets clean and plea- 
fant; The canals are deep, their fides are lined with hewn 
(lone, and they have many (lone-bridges over different 
parts of them. The finelt is that called the Amnutrack, 
which is formed by the waters of the Amftel, into which 
the tide comes up, and on the fides of which are two large 
quays. This canal has feveral bridges. The principal is 
that next the fea, called Pont Neuf, or the “New Bridge:” 
it is 600 feet long, and feventy broad, with iron balultrades 
on each fide ; it has thirty-fix arches, of which eleven are 
■very high, and eight are lliut up to inclofe the yachts. 
From this bridge there is a mod charming profpedl of the 
■city, harbour, and fea. The harbour, though difficult of 
accefs on account of the flioals, is one of the larged and 
fined in Europe, and is always filled with a multitude 
of (hips and vellels, which look like a foreft, or rather a 
■floating city. The ftreets in general are well paved, and 
the houfes built of brick or Hone. 'Towards the fides of 
the haven, the city is inclofed with great poles driven into 
the 
