cause Amergin's wife Sceine or Sgenea was drowned there), now known as Bantry Bay, and set sail; and that they should not return until the Danaans had had time to assemble their forces. After suffering much from a storm, in which five of the eight sons of Milesius perished, which the ancient records ascribe to the magical powers of the Danaans, the Milesians landed again and defeated the Danaans. They suffered, however, severely in the engagement, and lost among other persons Scota, Amergin's mother. His father had died long before in Spain. Scota was buried in Glen-Scota, near Tralee, to which this circumstance has given name.

In the struggle for the conquest of Ireland Amergin highly distinguished himself, and in the decisive battle of Tailtan or Talten, in Meath, he, with his two surviving brothers, slew the three Danaan princes, who were also brothers. The legend of this conflict bears an obviously close resemblance to that of the Horatii and the Curiatii in the early history of Rome. This battle secured Ireland to the sons of Milesius: two of whom, Heremon and Heber Fion, divided the kingdom between them, while Amergin continued to be archpriest and chief of the literati. O'Flaherty makes Heremon sovereign of the whole kingdom, and gives to Heber Fion the rank of tanist or heir apparent. Heber Fion fell soon after (A. M. 2737, в. с. 1264) in battle against his brother Heremon, but his partisans continued the struggle; and in a battle between Heremon and them (A. M. 2739, в. с. 1262) at Bile-tene, in East Meath, Amergin was slain. O'Flaherty makes him fall by the hand of Heremon, and places his death A. M. 2937, в.с. 1013; but O'Halloran does not even say on which side he was engaged.

In an Irish poem concerning Irish authors, by G. Comde O'Cormac, or O'Cormaic, quoted by O'Flaherty, Amergin is thus described: "Amergin of the white knees, the first author of Ireland; historian, judge, poet, philosopher." O'Flaherty quotes a supposed fragment of Amergin's poetry, which he renders into Latin thus: "Aris præpositus fit doctior, aptior armis." In the "Leabhar Gabhaltus," or Ghabhaltus, i. e. "Book of Conquests," or " of Invasions," a compilation made in the fourteenth century from older documents then existing, and in another book of the same name composed in the beginning of the seventeenth century, are preserved three poems said to be written by Amergin; and in the Sebright collection of Irish MSS. in Trinity College, Dublin, is preserved a small tract on the qualifications of a bard; in the third line of which the author describes himself as "Amergin Glungel, of hoary head and gray beard." These works are described by Mr. O'Reilly in the Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic

Mr. O'Reilly considers them to be of great antiquity, but not the genuine productions of Amergin, whose existence he refers to the same period as O'Flaherty. Two of these supposed poems of Amergin are published with an ancient glossary subjoined to the first poem in Hardiman's “Irish Minstrelsy,” vol. ii. pp. 347, seq. This editor affirms the genuineness of these remains, and refers Amergin to about the same period before Christ as O'Flaherty.

In the obscurity which envelopes the early history of Ireland it is impossible to judge whether Amergin was a real or fictitious personage, and how much of his history is founded in truth; but the chronology of the foregoing notice may be rejected with little hesitation. The Milesian or Scottish conquest of Ireland, which may be regarded as a real historical event, belongs, there is reason to believe, to a very much later date. (O'Flaherty, Ogygia, translated by Hely; O'Halloran, General History of Ireland; Sir James Ware; History and Antiquities of Ireland, by Harris; Thomas Moore, History of Ireland, in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopædia; O'Reilly, Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820.) J. C. M.

or

AMERGIN, MAC-AMALGAID AMALGAIDH, lived about the middle of the sixth century after Christ, and was chief poet to Dermod, king of Ireland, who reigned from A. D. 538 to 559, according to O'Halloran's "General History of Ireland," or from A. D. 544 to 565, according to O'Reilly. Amergin was the original author of the "Dinn Seanchas" (or Seanchais or Senachas), or "History of noted Places in Ireland," a work which has been enlarged by additions of a subsequent period, some of them as late as the eleventh century. (Sir James Ware's History of the Writers of Ireland, by Harris; O'Reilly, Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820.)

J. C. M.

AMERGIN, MAC-AMALGAIDH, an Irish writer of the latter part of the seventh century. He lived in the time of Finghin, king of Munster, who reigned, according to O'Reilly, from A.D. 662 to 696. He was the author of a tract on the privileges and punishments of the different ranks in society, a copy of which is extant among the Sebright MSS. in Trinity College, Dublin. (O'Reilly, Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820.) J. C. M.

AMERIGHI, or MORIGI, MICHELANGELO. [CARAVAGGIO.]

AMERIGO VESPUCCI. [VESPUCCI.] AMEROTIUS or AMEROTTUS, HADRIA'NUS, a grammarian of the sixteenth century, was born at Soissons and died in the year 1560. His works are - 1. "De Dialectis diversis Declinationum Græcanicarum Corintho et aliis " (" Of the different Dialects of the Greek Declensions, selected from Co

ex 3.

66

"De Dialectis Græcorum ex Corintho aliisque Grammaticis collectis" ("Of the Dialects of the Greeks," &c.). Paris, 1536, 8vo. Adelung conjectures, with much probability of truth, that this may be another edition of the preceding work. Compendium Græcæ Grammatices, perspicua Brevitate complectens quicquid est Octo Partium Orationis " ("A Compendium of Greek Grammar," &c.), 4to., supposed to have been printed at Paris about 1520. Montfaucon, in his "Bibliotheca Manuscriptorum," mentions another work entitled "De Arithmetica" as deposited, in manuscript, in the library of the Vatican at Rome. (Jöcher, Allgemeines Gelehrten-Lexicon; Adelung, Supplement to Jöcher.)

J. W. J.

AMERPACH, VITUS or VEIT, a learned German of the sixteenth century, of whose life little is known, the scattered facts respecting it not having been collected by any special biographer. De Thou, in mentioning his death in the year 1557, adds that he was seventy years of age, which would make the date of his birth about 1487, while in reality he was born nearly twenty years later. This is ascertained from the prefatory epistle to Amerpach's poems, dated 1550, in which he mentions that about thirty years before he had made some proficiency in music and poetry, when a boy of fourteen at school at Ingolstadt. The time of his birth, therefore, was about 1506; the place, as may be collected from his styling himself Vendingensis, was Wendingen in Bavaria. His name is written by himself, in all of his works that we have seen, Amerpachius, though other writers have frequently changed the pinto a b. It was first assumed by his father, the family name having formerly been Trolmann, as we learn from an epitaph by Vitus on his brother George

"In patre mutatum cognomen vulgus avitum
Quod Trolmannus erat, fecit Amerpachius."

After going to school at Ingolstadt, he studied philosophy, law, and theology at the university of Wittenberg, where it is said that he adopted Protestant opinions, which he afterwards abandoned. If so, he was free from the usual bitterness of those who have changed their views on those subjects; for in his poems, though there is a eulogistic epitaph on Eccius, the opponent of Luther, and a desire is expressed for concord in religion, no ill feeling is shown towards the Protestant party. He married at Wittenberg, returned to Bavaria, and became professor of philosophy at Ingolstadt, where he continued for the rest of his life. On his death, in 1557, he was succeeded in his professorship by his son George, who was also a Latin poet.

Amerpach is universally spoken of as one of the most learned men of his time. His

them his translations and annotations; if otherwise, they are only five :- 1. “Antiparadoxa cum duabus Orationibus de Laudibus Patriæ et de Rationibus Studiorum," Strassburg, 1541, 8vo. ("Antiparadoxes, with two Orations in praise of his Country, and on the Arrangement of Studies.") 2. "De Anima," Wittenberg, 1542, 4to., a treatise on the Soul, reprinted at Lyon, 1555, 8vo., and at Basil in 1567, and also at the same place, without date, in conjunction with the similar treatises of Vives, Melanchthon, and Conrad Gesner. 3. "Libri Sex de Philosophia Naturali," Basil, said in Gesner's Bibliotheca to be printed in 1548, but in the edition at the British Museum dated in the preface 1549. In the title-page to this work it is stated that in it "a way is paved and a gate is opened to the understanding, not only of the treatises of Aristotle upon natural philosophy, but those of more recent writers, and so of the things themselves; " and in the preface Amerpach mentions that in some parts of the work he has dissented, not only from the opinions of Aristotle's interpreters, but from those of the philosopher himself, and that on subjects not of minor importance, but relating to the sum total of his philosophy. 4. "Ad Andream Alciatum Epistola de Furto per Lancem et Licium concepto," Basil, 1548, a letter to Alciatus, the jurisconsult, on a peculiar mode of searching for stolen property among the Romans. 5. "Variorum Carminum Viti Amerpachii nonnullorumque aliorum Liber," Basil, 1550, 8vo. This collection of “ various poems of Amerpach and of some other persons" comprises several epitaphs and epigrams, and may therefore be supposed to include the work "Epigrammata et Epitaphia," mentioned in Gesner, with the same date, place of printing, and printer's name, Oporinus. In a preface, written in very smooth and Ciceronian Latin, the author refers with much complacency to his early efforts in poetry, but his verse will hardly be found equal to his prose; and in the "Deliciæ Poetarum Germanorum," selected by Gruter, a single leaf only is devoted to Vitus Amerpach, while his son George occupies several. The poems abound in biographical hints respecting the author. These are all the original productions of Amerpach; the remainder of his works consist of commentaries on the three books of Cicero "De Officiis;" a paraphrase of Cicero's oration for Archias; a translation of and commentary on the poems of Pythagoras and Phocylides; a commentary on Pontanus on Meteors; a commentary on Horace's Art of Poetry; an edition of the Constitutions of Charlemagne on ecclesiastical and civil affairs, with explanatory notes; expositions of the poems of Ovid, called "Tristia" and " Epistolæ ex Ponto;" expositions of the "Partitiones Oratoriæ" of Cicero; enarrations or explanatory commen

book entitled "Topica;" an edition of Donatus on the eight parts of speech for the use of schools; enarrations on the familiar letters of Cicero; a translation of some orations of Isocrates and Demosthenes; of the oration of St. Chrysostom on Providence; of Epiphanius on the Catholic Faith, and of Suidas on the Priesthood of Jesus Christ; and enarrations on some orations of Cicero. These works are given in chronological order on the authority of Gesner's Bibliotheca, with some insertions from Adelung's Supplement to Jöcher. The date of the first is 1539, and of the last 1554. (Conrad Gesner, Bibliotheca, edition of 1583, p. 818.; Iselische Historische Lexikon, i. 353.; Adelung, Supplement to Jöcher's Gelehrten Lexico, i. 722.; Poems and other Works of Amerpach.)

T. W.

AMERSFOORDT, JAKOB, was born at Amsterdam on the 24th of November, 1786. Before the age of twelve he lost his father, but the assistance of the friends of the family enabled him to pursue his studies, first in the Latin school at Amsterdam, then at the Athenæum of that city, and afterwards at the university of Leyden. By a Latin oration at the school, he obtained at the age of nineteen the notice and friendship of Jeronimo de Bosch. At the Athenæum he wrote a history of that institution for the Students' Literary Society, and was one of the founders of a Students' Oriental Society for the cultivation of Oriental literature, to which he was strongly attached. After taking a doctor's degree at Leyden, he obtained the professorship of Oriental literature at the Athenæum of Harderwyk in 1816, but only held it for two years, that institution being broken up in 1818 on account of the paucity of students. He succeeded, after a period of gloomy prospects, in obtaining the professorship of theology at the Athenæum of Franeker, and was rector magnificus there from October, 1821, to June, 1823. He was appointed librarian, and spent much of his time in preparing, in conjunction with his brother Henricus, who was appointed his assistant for that purpose, a new catalogue of the library, which was intended to be printed. In the midst of these occupations, while paying a visit to Leyden, to be present at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the raising of the siege, he was attacked by illness, and died in that city on the 23d of October, 1824. Amersfoordt was a man of high promise, but his own fastidiousness in composition, and the incessant occupation of his time at Franeker by his duties as librarian, which in his speech as rector magnificus he alludes to as replete with difficulties, prevented him from publishing much. His works are 1. "Dissertatio Philologica de variis Lectionibus Holmesianis Locorum quorundam Pentateuchi Mosaici," Leyden, 1815, 4to.; a

66

Pentateuch, in Holmes's Oxford edition of the Septuagint, composed by Amersfoordt on the occasion of his applying for the doctor's degree. 2. Oratio de Studio Literarum Arabicarum variis post renatam in Europa Doctrinam ætatibus itidem variato," Harderwyk, 1816, 4to.; an oration on the vicissitudes of the study of Arabic literature since the revival of letters. 3. "Oratio de Religionis Christianæ Popularitate," Leeuwarden, 1818, 4to. An oration on the popularity of the Christian religion, or its adaptation to be generally received. This is reprinted in the "Annales Academiæ Groninganæ" for 1817-18. At the time of his death he was preparing for the press an "Oratio de certo in naturali quoque Theologia agnoscendo," or on the power of obtaining certitude in the inquiries of natural theology, which he proposed to enlarge by very copious notes: it has not yet been published. Amersfoordt had two younger brothers, one of whom, Henricus, who survived him, is the author of several works. (Life by J. W. de Crane in Algemeene Konst-en Letter-Bode, Haarlem, 1824, ii. 394-399.; J. A. Philipse, Narratio eorum quæ, ipso Rectore Franequeræ, acciderunt, in Annales Academiæ Groninganæ, 1825, p. 10–16.)

T. W.

AMERSFOORT, EVERT VAN, a Dutch painter of the early part of the seventeenth century, mentioned by Van Mander, who simply informs us that he was one of the scholars of Frans Floris. (Van Mander, Het Leven der Schilders.)

R. N. W.

"La

AMERVAL, AMERNAL, or perhaps more properly D'AMERVAL, ELOY D', was born at Bethune, according to some towards the end of the fourteenth century, according to others about the beginning of the sixteenth. This latter supposition cannot be correct, as his work was printed as early as the year 1508. Nothing more is stated of him than that he was master of the choristers in his native city. He was the author of a singular work entitled grande Dyablerie qui traicte comment Sathan fait Demonstrance à Lucifer de tous les Maulx que les Mondains font selon leurs Estatz, Vocations et Mestiers: et comment il les tire à Dampnation," &c. De Bure, in his Bibliography, has placed this work erroneously in the class "Demonomania;" it is a poem on moral theology, in two books, containing altogether two hundred and sixty-nine chapters, and written in the form of a dialogue. There are three editions in the royal library of the British Museum, all printed at Paris : one, by Alain Loctrian, 8vo., without date; a second, by Michel le Noir, 8vo., without date ; and a third, by Michel le Noir, fol., printed in the year 1508. Dr. Dibdin gives extracts from this poem in his "Bibliographical Decameron," vol. i. p. 219, &c. (La Croix du Maine and Du Verdier, Les Bibliothèques Françoises, edit. Rigoley de Juvigny; Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, art. "D'Amerval;" Adelung, Supplement to Jöcher's Allgemeinen GelehrtenLexico; Biographie Universelle.) J. W. J. AMES, FISHER, the son of Nathaniel Ames, was born at Dedham, Massachusetts, on the 9th of April, 1758. At the age of seven he lost his father, whose widow was left with a large family in straitened circumstances. Fisher, the youngest son, was sent to Harvard College at the age of twelve, and after remaining there four years, during which he studied hard, he took his degree and quitted college with a high reputation for his attainments. His wish was to enter the legal profession, but for several years the urgent necessity of providing for his maintenance compelled him to act as teacher in a school. At length, in 1781, he was enabled to enter on the practice of the law. The display of his ability as a speaker, and the notice he attracted by political contributions to the public journals, combined to procure for him, in 1788, a seat in the Massachusetts convention for ratifying the constitution. During its proceedings he attracted particular attention by a speech on biennial elections; and in due course he became a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature. In this position his talents were soon so widely known, that he was sent from the district of Suffolk as their first representative to the Congress of the United States. In this situation he remained for eight years, the whole period of the presidency of Washington, of whose measures he was an ardent supporter. As a speaker he was soon acknowledged as second to none in the Congress, and as a practical man of business his services were most valuable; in matters of finance, especially, the solidity of his judgment gave great weight to his opinion. He was always a thorough advocate for British connection, and entertained the utmost horror of the excesses of the French revolution. The height of his fame was attained by his speech on the British treaty in 1795, which produced a powerful impression. At the time of its delivery he had been suffering for several months under an illness which had greatly reduced his strength, and he attended the long debate without the hope of taking part in it; but when the time came for the vote, his feeling of the vital importance of the question would not suffer him to be silent. He rose and delivered a speech which left all his best efforts far behind in comprehensiveness, elegance, and power. The effect it produced was such that a member on the opposition side moved an adjournment of the vote, "that they might not be influenced by a sensibility which their cooler judgment would condemn." The exhaustion of this effort, in his then weakly state, did irreparable injury to the health of the speaker.

On Washington's retirement, Fisher Ames also quitted public life, and retired to Dedham, where he both occupied a farm and practised his profession, until increasing debility obliged him to give it up. At this period also he resumed political essay-writing, especially in a series called "Lessons from History," directed against the principles of revolutionary France. On the death of Washington, he was appointed to deliver a funeral oration before the legislature of Massachusetts, a task in which he hardly acquitted himself so well as on less formal occasions. In 1804 he was elected president of Harvard College, but declined the honour on account of ill health. He continued in an increasing state of debility until the 4th of July, 1808, when he died, completely worn out. His remains were carried to Boston, and honoured with a public funeral.

In 1809, "The Works of Fisher Ames" were published in 1 vol. 8vo., with a portrait, and a life prefixed, by Dr. Kirkland, president of Harvard College, and one of his most intimate personal friends. The works consist entirely of his speeches and letters, collected from the journals of the day. The peculiar interest attached to these speeches has, in the course of years, much diminished; but enough remains to show the character of Ames' eloquence, - solidity of thought, with perhaps an exuberance of illustration. Fisher Ames is still considered one of the first of American orators. A volume of his " Essays on the Influence of Democracy" was reprinted in London, 1835, 8vo., but its merits seem to us hardly sufficient to sustain the reputation which the author has among his own countrymen. (Life, by Dr. Kirkland, prefixed to The Works of Fisher Ames, Boston, 1809, 8vo. ; Encyclopædia Americana, edited by Lieber and Wigglesworth, i. 212.; Marshall, Life of Washington (London edit. 1807, 4to.), v. 172. 207, &c.)

J. W.

AMES, JOSEPH, captain in the navy in the service of the commonwealth, was born at Yarmouth, March 5.1619. He entered the navy at an early age, and was in several engagements between the fleets of the English and Dutch. In one of these, the action of July 31. 1653, in which the Dutch received a signal defeat, and their admiral, Van Tromp, was killed, Ames so distinguished himself that the parliament presented to him a gold medal engraved by Simon, inscribed "For eminent service in saving ye Triumph, fired in fight w. ye Dutch, in July, 1653." When he left the naval service is not exactly known; but his grandson, the antiquary, believed it was about 1673. He then retired to Yarmouth, where he died December 1. 1695. Captain Ames was a dissenter, and was connected with a Presbyterian congregation at Yarmouth. He married twice, and had a large family, of whom six survived him; the eldest was John, father of the antiquary. J. T. S.

AMES, JOSEPH, the author of the earliest extensive work on the history of British typography, was descended from a Norfolk family which has produced other distinguished members, and was born at Great Yarmouth on the 23d of January, 1688-9. His father, who died when Joseph was about twelve years old, appears to have been master of a vessel trading between Yarmouth and London, and to have finally settled in London, where he placed his son at a little grammar-school in Wapping.

At

the age of fifteen, Ames was apprenticed to a plane-maker in King Street or Queen Street, near Guildhall; and after serving his time to that business, he removed to Wapping, near the Hermitage, where, until the time of his death, he carried on the business of shipchandler, or ironmonger, according to another account. It is curious to observe the variations of contemporary writers upon this point, and difficult, if not impossible, now to get at the truth. Gough observes, that it was said that after the expiration of his ap. prenticeship Ames took up his freedom, and became a liveryman of the Joiners' Company; but he adds that, on inquiry both at Joiners' Hall and at the Chamberlain's Office, it does not appear that he ever took up his freedom. Horace Walpole, in his "Catalogue of Engravers," styles Ames a shipchandler; Rowe Mores, in a note on p. 85. of his "Dissertation upon English Typographical Founders and Founderies," says he was a plane-iron maker, and lived at the Hermitage; the Reverend W. Cole, who says that he was well acquainted with Ames, and several times went to see him, states that "he lived in a strange street or lane in Wapping, where he was by trade a pattenmaker, and kept a shop there;" and Gough says that his letters were directed to him as an ironmonger. Walpole's account is perhaps the most probable, since the miscellaneous character of a shipchandler's business might give rise to various statements as to his occupation. In 1714 Ames married a daughter of William Wrayford, a merchant of London; and by her he had six children, of whom but one, a daughter, survived him. His wife died in 1734.

Ames's taste for antiquities early discovered itself, and was fostered by his intercourse with the Reverend John Russel, preacher at St. John's, Wapping, and the Reverend John Lewis, the historian of the Isle of Thanet, who was introduced to Ames by Russel. Another of his friends who encouraged this inclination was Peter (afterwards Sir Peter) Thompson, a Hamburg merchant, and member of parliament for St. Albans, with whom Ames formed an acquaintance when attending the lectures of

At least as early as 1730, Lewis, who had himself collected notes on the subject, suggested to Ames the compilation of a history of printing in England; but he then declined to undertake such a work, because Palmer, a printer, was engaged upon one of similar character, and because he deemed himself incompetent to such an undertaking. Palmer's work, which is entitled "The general History of Printing, from its first Invention in the City of Mentz to its first Progress and Propagation through the most celebrated Cities in Europe," was published in 1732, and fell so far short of the expectations of Ames, Lewis, and the public, that Ames was induced to devote himself to the undertaking, in which he was greatly assisted by his friends, and by access to the libraries of Lord Orford, Sir Hans Sloane, Anstis, and others. After several years of diligent research, he published, in 1749, in a quarto volume of about six hundred pages, his "Typographical Antiquities; being an historical Account of Printing in England, with some Memoirs of our antient Printers, and a Register of the Books printed by them, from the year MCCCCLXXI to MDC; with an Appendix concerning Printing in Scotland and Ireland to the same time." Ames confesses, in his preface, his incompetence for so great a task, but observes, "though it is not so perfect a work as I could wish, yet, such as it is, I now submit it to the public, and hope, when they consider in what obscurity and confusion printing in its infancy was involved, they will acknowledge that I have at least cleared away the rubbish, and furnished materials towards a more perfect structure." Imperfect as the work is, it is no small testimony to its accuracy that it has been used as a foundation by later and more erudite writers. Dibdin observes that, "considering that it was the first book upon the dry and difficult subject upon which it treats, it has unquestionably great merit, and was attended with this good effect; namely, to stimulate similar researches in others, and thereby to bring to light valuable and long-forgotten information relating to the state of ancient English literature." "Every impartial living antiquary," he proceeds to say, "whatever may be his opinion of the literary attainments of the author, must cheerfully acknowledge his obligations to Ames's work, in a manner as full and satisfactory as appears to have marked the public testimonies of its worth recorded in the journals of the day." Herbert published a greatly extended and improved edition of the "Typographical Antiquities," in 3 vols. 4to., in 1785, 1786, and 1790; and the work has been still further enlarged by Dibdin, whose edition forms four handsome volumes, quarto, which were published in 1810, 1812, 1816, and 1819, respectively. To each of these editions is