Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/825

Rh A M S A M U 781 prosperity of Amsterdam so much so, that it excited the Cupidity of the earl of Leicester, who made a futile at tempt to surprise it in 1587; and its position was still further improved by the peace of Westphalia in 1648, which closed the navigation of the Scheldt, and conse quently ruined the trade of Antwerp. Two years later, the stadtholder William II. intended to surprise it, but the bold attitude of the inhabitants obliged him to give up his project. Amsterdam suffered so severely from the war in the time of Cromwell, that more than 4000 houses stood tenantless; and the French occupation during the First Empire inflicted a more permanent injury upon the city. Since 1813, however, much of its former commercial influence has returned ; and the completion of the above- mentioned canal will, no doubt, confirm its position as the chief commercial city of the kingdom, its secondary place as a seaport lately having been due to the difficulty of access to it from the sea. Among the many eminent men who saw the light in Amsterdam may be mentioned the celebrated philosopher Baruch, Spinosa (1632), the flower painter Van Huysum (1682), the naturalist Swammerdam (1637), and the poet Bilderdyk (1750). (See Caspar Com- melins, Beschryving van Amsterdam, and J. Wagenaar s work bearing the same title.) AMSTERDAM, an uninhabited and almost inaccessible island in the Indian Ocean, in 37 58 S. lat, and 70 34 E. long., about 60 miles S. of St Paul s Island, and nearly mid way between the Cape of Good Hope and Tasmania. It was discovered by Van Diemen in 1633. AMULET (in late Latin amuletum, probably from the Arabic hamalet, a pendant), anything worn as a charm, generally, but not invariably, hung from the neck, to pro tect the wearer against witchcraft, sickness, accidents, and other evils, or to deliver him from ills under which he labours. Amulets have been of many different kinds, and formed of different substances, stones, metals, and strips of parchment being the most common, with or without characters or legends engraved or written on them. Gems have often been employed and greatly prized, serving for ornaments as well as for charms. Certain herbs, too, and animal preparations have been used in the same way. In setting them apart to their use as amu lets, great precau tions have been taken that fitting times _be selected, stellar and other magic influences propitious, and everything avoided that might be supposed to destroy or weaken the force of the charm. From the earliest ages the Oriental races have had a firm belief in the prevalence of occult evil influences, and a superstitious trust in amulets and similar preservatives against them. There are refer ences to, and apparently correctives of, these customs in the Mosaic injunctions to bind portions of the law upon the hand and as frontlets} between the eyes, as well as write them upon the door-posts and the gates ; but, among the later Jews especially, the original design and meaning of these usages were lost sight of ; and though it has been said that the phylacteries were not strictly amulets, there is no doubt that they were held in superstitious regard. Amulets were much used by the ancient Egyptians, and also among the Greeks and Romans. We find traces of them too in the early Christian church, in the emphatic protests of Chrysostom, Augustine, and others against them. The fish was a favourite symbol on these charms, from the word i^u s being the initials of I^crovs Xpto-ros ecu b los tram;/) A firm faith in amulets still prevails widely among Asiatic nations. The accompanying wood cut represents the boxes employed to hold written charms worn by Arab women at the present day. Talisman, also from the Arabic, is a word of similar meaning and use, but some distinguish it as importing a more powerful charm. A talisman, whose &quot; virtues are still applied to for stopping blood and in cases of canine madness,&quot; figures prominently in, and gives name to, one of Scott s Tales of tJie Crusaders. A measure of belief in amulets or charms exists, but appears to be diminishing, among the unedu cated of our own country and time. (See Arpe, De Prodigiis Naturae et Artis Operibus Talismanes et Amuleta dictis, Hamburg, 1717; Ewele, Uebcr Amulete, 1827; and Kopp s Palceographica Critica, vols. iii. and iv., 1829.) AMURATH or MUKAD I. was born in 1326 A.D. (726 A.H.), succeeded his father Orkhan as sultan of the Ottoman Turks in 1360, and died in 1389. He is entitled to notice as being the first who led the Turkish arms into Europe, which he quickly overran as far as the Balkan. In 1361 he made himself master of Adrianople, where he fixed his residence, built a splendid mosque, and otherwise added to the architectural adornment of the city. The first treaty of peace between a Christian people and this formidable neighbour was struck in 1365, when the little republic of Ragusa put itself under his protection. His power becoming more and more formidable, Urban V. preached a crusade disastrous, as it proved, for the crusaders against him ; and John Palaeologus, the Greek emperor, entered into an alliance with him. He had seve ral rebellions to contend against, but he was invariably successful. One of his sons persuaded a son of Palasologus, who had been sent by his father to learn the art of war under Amurath, to join him in a revolt ; but the youthful conspirators were defeated. Immediate revenge was taken by the sultan on his own son, and the young Palasologus was sent back to his father with an imperious demand that he too should be punished. Like all great conquerors, Amurath was active in military reform ; he perfected the discipline of the spahis (or cavalry) and woinaks (or baggage corps), &nd gave stability to the janissaries, a body of troops that had been first incorporated by his father. Of literary culture he was altogether destitute, signing his treaties by dipping his hand in ink, and impressing the mark of three fingers together, with the thumb and fourth finger at a slight distance on each side. He lost his life at the close of a great battle at Kossova, which he had successfully fought against Lazarus, despot of Servia, and was succeeded by his son Bajazet. AMURATH II., the tenth emperor of the Turks, was born about 1404, and died February 9, 1451. He suc ceeded Mohammed I. in 1422. At first he had to contend against a pretender, the pseudo-Mustapha, who was sup ported by the Greek emperor and others ; but through the assistance of an astute state prisoner, Mohammed Bey (Michael Ogli), he obtained a bloodless victory over him. He then turned his arms against the Greek emperor him self, but failed in the siege of Constantinople. Against his younger brother Mustapha he was successful by bribes. In April 1429 he besieged and took Saloniki (Thessalonica], which was under Venetian rule, thus opening up the way for the final subjugation of Greece. He continued almost without any reverses of fortune till 1442, when Hunniades defeated his forces in the battle of Vasag, and obliged him to make peace with the Christian princes. The treaty was hardly concluded when his son Ala-Eddin died. In his grief he abdicated in favour of his son Mohammed, a boy of fourteen, while he retired to Mag nesia in search of repose. But the Christian princes took advantage of his abdication to renew their attacks, and he was called to oppose them, which he did with terrible sue-