Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Amari, Michele
AMARI, Michele, was born at Palermo, July 7, 1806. Having obtained a knowledge of English, he published at Palermo, in 1832, a translation of Sir Walter Scott's "Marmion." His "Guerra del Vespro Siciliano," in 1842, was suppressed, and Amari was ordered to repair to Naples. Instead, however, of doing so, he took refuge in France, where he wrote "A History of the Mussulmans in Sicily." In 1848 he returned to Palermo, having been appointed Professor of Public Law, and shortly afterwards was elected Vice-President of the Committee of War. He was sent on a diplomatic mission by the provisional government to England and France. While at Paris he published a pamphlet, entitled, "La Sicile et les Bourbons," 1849, relating to the rights of the Neapolitan sovereign and the Sicilians. On the resumption of hostilities, he returned to Palermo in 1849, but the cause of the Sicilians was by that time hopeless, and Signor Amari hastened back to the French capital, where he devoted himself to literary pursuits until 1860, when he was enabled to return to his native country. In the following year King Victor Emmanuel conferred upon him the rank of Senator. He gave his support to Count Cavour, through whose interest he was appointed President of the Lieutenancy of Sicily, with the portfolio of Finance; and subsequently Governor of Modena. In 1862 he became Minister of Public Instruction . Signor Amari has contributed many papers on the language and history of the Arabs to the Revue archéologique, and Le Journal asiatique. He has also published an English translation of the "Solwan" of Ibn Djafer. His "History of the Sicilian Vespers," mentioned above, was translated into English by Lord Ellesmere. In 1871, Signor Amari was elected one of the foreign members of the French Academy, and in 1875 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Literature from the University of Leyden. He was president of the Congress of Orientalists held at Florence in Sept. 1878.