AMAZONS, a fabulous race of female warriors, who had a queen of their own, and excluded all men from their community; to perpetuate the race, they cohabited with men of the neighbouring nations; slew all the male children they gave birth to, or sent them to their fathers; burnt off the right breasts of the females, that they might be able to wield the bow in war.

AMBASSADOR, “an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth” (Wotton).

AMBER, a fossil resin, generally yellow and semi-transparent, derived, it is presumed, from certain extinct coniferous trees; becomes electric by friction, and gives name to electricity, the Greek word for it being electron; has been fished up for centuries in the Baltic, and is now used in varnishes and for tobacco pipes.

AMBERGER, a painter of Nuernberg in the 16th century, a disciple of Holbein, his principal work being the history of Joseph in twelve pictures.

AMBERGRIS, an ashy-coloured odorous substance used in perfumery, presumed to be a morbid fragment of the intestines of the spermaceti whale, being often found floating on the ocean which it frequents.

AMBERLEY, LORD, son of Lord John Russell, wrote an “Analysis of Religious Belief,” which, as merely sceptical, his father took steps to secure the suppression of, without success.

AMBLESIDE, a small market-town near the head of Lake Windermere, in the Wordsworth or so-called Lake District.

AMBLYOPSIS, a small fish without eyes, found in the Mammoth Cave, U.S.

AMBOISE (5), a town on the Loire, 14 m.  E. of Tours, with a castle, once the residence of the French kings.  The Conspiracy of A., the conspiracy of Conde and the Huguenots in 1560 against Francis II., Catharine de Medici, and the Guises.  The Edict of A. (1563) conceded the free exercise of their worship to the Protestants.

AMBOISE, GEORGE DE, CARDINAL, the popular Prime Minister of Louis XII., who, as such, reduced the Public burdens, and as the Pope’s legate in France effected a great reform among the religious orders; is said to have died immensely rich (1460-1510).

AMBOYNA (238), with a chief city of the name, the most important of the Moluccas, in the Malay Archipelago, and rich before all in spices; it belongs to the Dutch, who have diligently fostered its capabilities.

AM`BROSE, ST., bishop of Milan, born at Treves, one of the Fathers of the Latin Church, and a zealous opponent of the Arian heresy; as a stern puritan refused to allow Theodosius to enter his church, covered as his hands were with the blood of an infamous massacre, and only admitted him to Church privilege after a severe penance of eight months; he improved the Church service, wrote several hymns, which are reckoned his most valuable legacy to the Church; his writings fill two vols. folio.  He is the Patron saint of Milan; his attributes are a scourge, from his severity; and a beehive, from the tradition that a swarm of bees settled on his mouth when an Infant without hurting him (340-397).  Festival, Dec. 7.