Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 1, A-AME

A M B [ 7§9 ] A M E
Aflibubajae According to Cruquius, thefe women ufed likewife to
ii fell paint for ornamenting the face, &c.
AMBULANT, or Ambulatory. They gave in
' inT-.. ^ . i France the name of Ambulant commijjioners to thofe
commiffioners, or clex*ks of the king’s farms, who had
no fettled office 5 but viGted all the offices within a cer¬
tain diftridt, to fee that nothing was done in them againft
the king’s right and the intereif of the farm.
Ambulant is alio ufed to denote thofe brokers at
Amllcrdam, or exchange agents, who have not been
fworn before the magi Urates. They tran fact brokerage
bufinefs, but their tellimony is not received in the courts
of jultice.
AMBULATORY, a term anciently applied to fuch
courts, &c. as were not fixed to any certain place ; but
held fometimes in one place, and fometimes in another:
in oppoiition to flationary courts.—The court of parlia¬
ment was anciently ambulatory } fo alfo were the courts
of king’s bench, &o.
AMBURB1UM, in Roman antiquity, a prijceffion
made by the Romans round the city and pomcerium,
in which they led a victim, and afterwards facrificed
it, in order to avert fame calamity that threatened the
city.
AMBURY, or Anbury, among Farriers, denotes a
tumour, wart, or fweliing, which is foft to the touch,
and full of blood.
This diforder of horfes is cured by tying a horfe-
hair very hard about its root: and, when it has fallen
off, which commonly happens in about eight days,
itrewing fome powder of verdigrife upon the part, to
prevent the return of the complaint. If the tumour be
fo low that nothing can be tied about it, they cut it
out with a knife, or elfe burn it off with a fharp hot
iron 5 and in finewy parts, where a hot iron is impro¬
per, they eat it away with oil of vitriol, or white fubli-
mate.
Many of our farriers boafl of a fecret which infalli¬
bly cures all protuberances of this kind ; the prepara¬
tion of which is this : Take three ounces of green vi¬
triol and one ounce of white arfenic) beat them to a
eoarfe powder, and put them into a crucible} place
the crucible in the midfl of a charcoal fire, flirring the
fubflance, but carefully avoiding the poifonous fleams':
w hen the whole grows reddifh, take the crucible out
of the fire, and when cool, break it and take out the
matter at the bottom ; beat this to powder in a mortar,
and add to four ounces of this powder five ounces of
album rhq/is ; make the whole into an ointment, and let
it be applied cold to warts 5 rubbing them with it every
day. They will by this means fall off gently and eafi-
Jv, without leaving any fuellings. It is bell to keep
the borfe quiet, and without working, during the cure.
What fores remain on the parts from which the fwell-
ings fall off, may be cured with the common application
called CoimteJs'ls ointment. •
AMBUSCADE, or Ambush, in the Military Art,
properly denotes a place where foldiers may lie con¬
cealed till they find an opportunity to furprife the ene¬
my.
In the language of Scripture, thefe terms are not
always taken in their proper lignification, for laying
arabuflies for any one, attacking him in fecret, laying
fnares for him. They fometimes fignify no more than Ambui’eadfi
attacking a man who has no diflrufl of fuch a thing j ||
attacking one behind, concealing one’s felf in fome Amelot. ^
particular place in order to furprife any one. See the ^
book of Judges, ch. ix. 25, 32, 34, 35. Abimelech,
who lay lurking with his people in the heights of Si-
chem, fo, however, as to rob and treat thofe who
palled that way very ill, came and attacked the city
of Sichem with his troops divided into three bodies :
Tetendit injidias juxta Sichimam in qnatuor locis. Li¬
terally, according to the Hebrew, “ They prepared
ambufcades againil Sichem in four heads or compa¬
nies.” And a little farther, verfe. 43. “ Abimelecb,
being informed that the Sichemites had marched,
took his army and divided it into three bodies, and
laid wait for them in the field.” It feems certain, that
in thefe palfages ambuffies, properly fo called, were not
the things in qucllion. In the firll book of Samuel
Saul complains that David laid ambufcades for him :
Injidiator vfque hodiepennanens. Now nothing could
be worfe grounded than this accufation, if we under-
lland the word injidian in its proper Ggnification ; but
he might fay, though unjuftly, that David was his
fecret enemy. And in the Chronicles it is laid, that
God turned the ambullies laid by the enemies of Ifrael
upon themfelves ; that is to fay, their endeavours, their
malice, their arms, he turned againil themfelves; for
the enemies there mentioned came not in private or
by llratagem } they marched openly in arms againil If-
x'ael.
AMBY, a town of the Auflrian Netherlands, in the
province of Limburg, fituated oppofite to Maellricht,
on the call fide of the river Maefe, in E. Long. 5. 43.
N. Lat. 50. 37.
AMEDIANS, in Church Hijiory, a congregation
of religious in Italy, fo called from their profeffing
themfelves amantes Deum, “ lovers of God j” or rather
amati Deo, “ beloved of God.” They wore a gray
habit and wooden llioes, had no breeches, and girt
themfelves with a cord. They had 28 convents; and
were united by Pope Pius V. partly with the Cillercian
order, and partly with that of the Soccolanti, or wood¬
en Ihoe wearers.
AMELIA, an epifcopal city of Italy, in the Hate
of the church, feated on a mountain, in the duchy of
Spoletto. E. Long. 13. 20. N. Lat. 42. 33.
Amelia, a county in Virginia, fituated between the
Blue-x-klge and the tide waters, having Cumberland
county on the north, Prince Geoi’ge county on the eall,
and Lunenburg county on the fouth and weft. Amelia,
including Nottaway, a new county, contains 18,097
inhabitants, of whom 11,037 are Haves.
Amelia IJle, on the coaft of Eaft Florida, lies about
feven leagues north of St Auguftine, and very near Tal¬
bot illand on the fouth, at the mouth of St John’s river.
It is 13 miles long and two broad, is very fex-tile, and
has an excellent harbour. Its north end lies oppofite
Cumberland illand, between which and Amelia ille is
the entry into St Mary’s river, in N. Lat. 30. 92. W.
Long. 67. 23.
AMELLUS, Star wort. See Botany Index.
AMELOT de la Houssai, Nicholas, born at Or¬
leans in 1634, was much efteemed at the court of France,
and