pound, its formula being (',,H-XH,. Benzylamine, C'oliiCH.NH;, is a true aromatic amine. The aro- matic amido-compounds undergo an interesting transformation when treated with nitrous acid in the cold, the resulting substances being known as diazo-compounds (q.v.).
AMIN'TA. A celebrated pastoral play by Torquato Tasso, produced at Ferrara in 1573. It is an allegory, presenting the characters of the court where Tasso lived.
AMINTE, ii'miiMt'. (1) In Molière's Les pré-
cieuses ridicules (q.v.), the sentimental name
taken by the girl Cathos. (2) A character in
Molière's L'Amour médecin.
AMIN'TOR. The hero of Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy (q.v.), a young nobleman who, though betrothed to Aspatia. yet by the king's command marries Evadne, the heroine.
AMIOT, a'myo'. See Amyot.
AMIRAWTE, am't-rant', or AD'MIRAL, ISLANDS. A group of islets in the Indian Ocean in lat. 5° S. and long. 53° E. They belong to Great Britain and are dependencies of Mauritius. There is a small population, chiefly engaged in fisheries.
AMIS ET AMILES, a'me' za ta'niel', also
called Amis et Amiloun. A chanson de geste,
dating from the twelfth or thirteenth century. It
consists of about 3500 verses, chiefly decasyllabic.
Amis and Amiles are two noble knights whose
close resemblance and whose friendship and mu-
tual sacrifices are the theme of the poem. They
first escape the machinations of the treacherous
Hardré while in the service of Charlemagne,
whose niece is given in marriage to Amis. Belli-
cent, the Emperor's daughter, loves Amiles, who is
thereby brought into great peril, but he is rescued
by Amis and obtains the princess. Amis, how-
ever, in fighting in place of his friend, has had
to perjure himself. For this he is punished
with leprosy, of which at last he is cured by the
blood of Amiles's two sons, voluntarily sacrificed
by their father. These then are miraculously re-
stored to life.
AM'ISH CHURCH, The. See Mennonites.
AMISH CHURCH, The Old. See Mennonites.
AMISTAD (a'me'st.-iD') CASE, The. A case
before the United States Supreme Court involving the legal status of kidnapped negroes. In 1839 some slaves recently kidnapped from Africa, who were being carried from Havana to Puerto Principe, Cuba, in the Spanish schooner L'Amistad, killed two of the crew, the others escaping, and ordered two whites, their owners, whose lives they spared, to steer the vessel to Africa. The latter steered north instead, and in August the vessel was captured off Long Island by a United States warship. President Van Buren wished to surrender the negroes to the Spanish Government, in accordance with the treaty of 1795, as "property rescued from pirates"; but the Supreme Court finally decided (in March, 1841) that the blacks, having been originally kidnapped, were by international law, which then prohibited the slave trade, free men. The case was argued before the Supreme Court with great ability by John Quincy Adams, and aroused much excitement throughout the country, especially among the radical abolitionists, who advocated violent measures to secure the release of the negroes. Consult: Peters, Reports of United States Supreme Court XV. (Washington, 1828-43); Barber, History of the Amistad Captives, and an interesting article in Volume XXII (N.S.) of The New England Magazine (Boston, 1900).
AMITE, a-met'. A town and parish seat of
Tangipahoa Parish, La., about 70 miles north by west of New Orleans, on the Tangipahoa River
and on the Illinois Central Railroad (Map: Louisiana, E 3). It is the centre of a prosperous agricultural community. Pop., 1890, 1510; 1900, 1547.
AM'ITO'SIS ( Gk. <i, a, priv. -)- /jiroc, mitos,
a thread of the warp). A division (rare) of the
animal or plant cell by simple constriction with-
out the formation of nuclear figures. See Cell; Mitosis.
AM'ITYVILLE. A village in Suffolk Co., N. Y., 30 miles east of New York City, on the Long Island Railroad (Map: New York, G 5). It is near the southern shore of Long Island, and is popular as a place of residence and as a summer resort. Pop., 1890, 2293; 1900, 2038.
AMTLET, Dick, or Richard. In Vanbrugh's play, The Confederacy (q.v.), the dissipated son of a vulgar old woman, who is proud of him and gives him money with which to play the fine gentleman. His breeding betrays itself, however, and he marries the daughter of Grife the Scrivener.
AMLETH, or Hamleth. Prince of Jutland, supposed to have lived in the second century B.C. According to Saxo Grammaticus, he was the son of Horvendill and Gerutha; and after the murder of his father by his uncle Fengo, who married Gerutha, he feigned himself a fool to save his own life. Saxo relates a number of little things regarding Amleth, which are a curious medley of sharp and lively observation, and apparent madness. We are told that, on one occasion, when he visited his mother, suspecting that he was watched, he commenced to crow like a cock and dance idiotically about the apartment, until he discovered, hidden in a heap of straw, a spy in the person of one of Fengo's courtiers, whom he immediately stabbed; he then so terrified his mother by his reproaches, that she promised to aid him in his intended revenge on his father's murderer, and, according to the old chronicler, really did so. Scandinavian traditions confirm the existence of a prince of this name. In the vicinity of Elsinore is shown a suspiciously modern-looking pile of stones, which bears the name of Hamlet's grave. Saxo himself does not mention the manner or circumstances of Amleth's death; but the French translator says that he was murdered at a banquet. Most of the recent historians of Denmark consider the history of Amleth fabulous. As the ultimate source of Shakespeare's tragedy of Hamlet, it possesses a perennial interest for all the civilized world. There are two Hamlet sagas in Icelandic, one of which, the romantic Ambales Saga, has been edited and translated, with an introductory essay, by I. Gollancz (1898).
AM'LWCH, am'luk. A seaport town of Anglesey, North Wales, on the northern coast of the island, 14 miles northwest of Beaumaris (Map: Wales, B 3). It is a busy but rather dirty town, deriving its importance and wealth almost entirely from the rich Parys and Mona copper mines in its vicinity. Copper-smelting is carried on in Amlwch, and a harbor has been
