Part ii.

AMUN'DEVILLE (_Lord Henry_), one of the "British privy council." After the sessions of parliament he retired to his country seat, where he entertained a select and numerous party, among which were the duchess of Fitz-Fulke, Aurora Raby, and don Juan, "the Russian envoy." His wife was lady Adeline. (His character is given in xiv. 70, 71.)--Byron, _Don Juan_, xiii. to end.

AM'URATH III., sixth emperor of the Turks. He succeeded his father, Selim II., and reigned 1574-1595. His first act was to invite all his brothers to a banquet, and strangle them. Henry IV. alludes to this when he says--

This is the English, not the Turkish court; Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds, But Harry, Harry.

Shakespeare, 2 _Henry IV._ act v. sc. 2 (1598).

AMUSEMENTS OF KINGS. The great amusement of _Ardeltas_ of Arabia Petraea, was currying horses; of _Artaba'nus_ of Persia, was mole-catching; of _Domitian_ of Rome, was catching flies; of _Ferdinand VII._, of Spain, was embroidering petticoats; of _Louis XVI._, clock and lock making; of _George IV._, the game of patience.

AMY MARCH, the artist sister in Louisa M. Alcott's _Little Women_ (1868).

AMY WENTWORTH, the high-born but contented wife of the "Brown Viking of the Fishing-smack," in John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, _Amy Wentworth_.

She sings, and smiling, hears her praise, But dreams the while of one Who watches from his sea-blown deck The ice-bergs in the sun. (1860.)

AMYN'TAS, in _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_, by Spenser, is Ferdinando earl of Derby, who died 1594.

Amyntas, flower of shepherd's pride forlorn. He, whilst he lived, was the noblest swain That ever pipèd on an oaten quill.

Spenser, _Colin Clout's Come Home Again_ (1591).

AMYN'TOR. (See AMINTOR.)

A'MYS and AMY'LION, the Damon and Pythias of mediaeval romance.--See Ellis's _Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances_.

AMYTIS, the Median queen of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Beautiful, passionate, and conscienceless, she condemns an innocent rival to the worst of fates, without a pang of conscience, and dies a violent death at the hands of one who was once her lover.

The gardens were well-watered and dripped luxuriantly.... At this time of the morning, Amytis amused herself alone, or with a few favored slaves. She dipped through artificial dew and pollen, bloom and fountain, like one of the butterflies that circled above her small head, or one of the bright cold lizards that crept about her feet. She bathed, she ran, she sang, and curled to sleep, and stirred and bathed again.--_The Master of the Magicians_, by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and Herbert D. Ward (1890).

ANACHARSIS [CLOOTZ]. Baron Jean Baptiste Clootz assumed the _prenome_ of Anacharsis, from the Scythian so called, who travelled about Greece and other countries to gather knowledge and improve his own countrymen. The baron wished by the name to intimate that his own object in life was like that of Anacharsis (1755-1794).

ANACHRONISMS. (See ERRORS.)

CHAUCER, in his tale of _Troilus_, at the siege of Troy, makes Pandarus refer to _Robin Hood_.

And to himselfe ful soberly he saied, From hasellwood there jolly Robin plaied.