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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

Reading language

Contextual Lexicon

In this edition. “ex traduce” → “propagated from the parent” (DJR-026-03). The English phrase states the theory directly; the accompanying candle comparison preserves Burton’s explanatory image. His opening attribution to some authorities remains essential.

See also. Soul; Maternal impressions.

Excrements

Source forms: excrements

The word. Excrements can mean waste or residual matter generally, including bodily discharges and secretions. Its scope in these passages is wider than faeces.

In Burton. Excessive sleep is said to accumulate excrements in the brain and other parts, within the historical account of humours and spirits. The contrasting description of a dry brain mentions few excrements in the eyes and nostrils. The bodily locations make the broader sense clear.

The places. Too much sleep is said to accumulate residual matter. (p. 90; DJR-038-24.) Dryness is associated with few discharges from eyes and nostrils. (p. 198; DJR-062-05.)

In this edition. “great store of excrements” → “a great accumulation of waste matter” (DJR-038-24); “Few excrements in their eyes and nostrils” → “few discharges from the eyes and nostrils” (DJR-062-05). Waste matter gives the general category; discharges specifies the visible secretions. Both follow the immediate bodily context.

See also. Concoction; Strangury; Meat; Defecate.

Exercise

Source forms: exercise; Exercise

The word. Exercise can be activity of the body or mind, but it can also name a particular academic performance or assignment. The object and setting determine its scope.

In Burton. The scholar fears being out in his next exercise: faltering in an academic task. The medical headings, meanwhile, distinguish excessive exercise as a cause from exercise of body and mind properly regulated. Together they show that the book concerns both intellectual performance and the management of activity.

The places. The scholar fears failure in an academic exercise. (p. 195; DJR-061-07.) Excessive exercise is introduced among causes. (p. 84; DJR-037-15.) Exercise of body and mind is to be regulated. (p. 265; DJR-078-01.)

In this edition. “his next exercise” → “his next academic exercise” (DJR-061-07); “Immoderate exercise” → “Excessive exercise” (DJR-037-15); “Exercise rectified of Body and minde” → “Exercise of body and mind regulated” (DJR-078-01). Academic supplies the institutional context of the scholar’s task. Regulated gives rectified its sense of bringing activity into an appropriate order.

See also. Non naturals.

Exhibition

Source forms: exhibition; Lecture

The word. An exhibition is financial maintenance, support or a stipend. A lecture in this institutional setting can be an endowed teaching post, rather than one spoken lesson.

In Burton. Burton imagines an appeal for support to maintain or enlarge a college, teaching foundation or library. His criticism falls on patrons who resent the revenues devoted to learning and would rather see existing institutions ruined or diverted to other uses.

The places. An appeal for an exhibition seeks support for learning. (p. 281–282; DJR-081-20.)

In this edition. “an exhibition” → “financial support” (DJR-081-20); “College, Lecture, Library” → “college, lectureship, library” (DJR-081-20). Financial support removes the modern association with a public display. Lectureship identifies the continuing educational provision among the institutions named.

See also. Art.

Experimental

Source forms: try conclusions; conclusions; experimentall

The word. Experimental can mean learned or tested through experience. To try conclusions is to make experiments or practical trials; conclusions here are things attempted, not merely propositions reached by reasoning.

In Burton. Burton warns against trying a recipe on oneself simply because it appears in a book. He praises practical trials in cultivating imported medicinal plants, and describes his mother’s skill in remedies learned through experience. These passages give experience different settings and values; they do not amount to one uniform account of experimental method.

The places. Trying conclusions from a recipe can cause harm. (p. 229–230; DJR-069-38.) Practical trials concern the cultivation of medicinal plants. (p. 367; DJR-099-42.) Burton describes his mother’s experience of treatment. (p. 394–395; DJR-105-30.)

In this edition. “try conclusions” → “making experiments” (DJR-069-38); “tryed excellent conclusions” → “conducted excellent experiments” (DJR-099-42); “experimentall medicines” → “remedies learned from experience” (DJR-105-30). Experiments makes the practical trials clear. Remedies learned from experience avoids suggesting that the historical claim rests on a modern clinical testing procedure.

See also. Art.

Explode

Source forms: exploded; explode

The word. To explode can mean to hiss down, drive away by noisy disapproval, or reject contemptuously. These uses concern public rejection and ridicule rather than an explosion.

In Burton. The allegorical crowd expels Virtue and Wisdom while admiring Fortune and Folly, reversing the expected relation between merit and success. In the catalogue of national prejudices, people explode foreign fashions while their neighbours return the contempt. The verb helps make disapproval audible or socially forceful.

The places. The crowd drives Virtue and Wisdom away. (p. 19; DJR-007-12.) People ridicule the customs of other nations. (p. 39; DJR-011-21.)

In this edition. “were hissed out, and exploded by the common people” → “the crowd hissed and jeered them off” (DJR-007-12); “explode many of their fashions” → “ridicule many of their customs” (DJR-011-21). Hissed and jeered them off preserves the public action; ridicule conveys the more general contempt for customs.

See also. Baffle; Censure; Tax.

Exquisite

Source forms: exquisite torments; exquisite knowledge

The word. Exquisite can mean exact or highly developed, but in a description of torment it means extreme or acutely painful. The favourable modern association with beauty or delicacy cannot govern every use.

In Burton. The historical account of a city’s devastation uses exquisite to intensify torture. The warning against medical practice from books demands exquisite knowledge: exact knowledge sufficient to judge how a remedy should be used. Each noun determines a different force for the adjective.

The places. Exquisite intensifies the description of torture. (p. 165; DJR-054-48.) Exquisite knowledge is required before practising from books. (p. 230; DJR-069-41.)

In this edition. “exquisite torments” → “agonising torture” (DJR-054-48); “exquisite knowledge” → “exact knowledge” (DJR-069-41). Agonising conveys severity without favourable overtones. Exact conveys the precision demanded by the warning about remedies.

See also. Painful; Art.

Fact

Source forms: fact; foule fact

The word. Fact means a deed or act in these passages. Its moral character comes from the description and context; the word does not simply mean a true statement or an established piece of information.

In Burton. David’s fact is a condemned deed. A foul fact may produce disgrace when committed or exposed, yet Burton also argues that an offender should not be mocked. In the catalogue of deaths discussed by religious authorities, the same fact again means the same deed, with the question of approval belonging to the surrounding argument.

13484.Edited source passages: p. 90 (DJR-038-24); p. 198 (DJR-062-05). Existing edition notes: DJR-038:E15, DJR-062:E04. The physiological explanation remains historical. DJR-062:E04 retains the extraordinary claim of months without sleep as a transmitted report, without treating the vocabulary explanation as confirmation.

13485.Edited source passages: p. 195 (DJR-061-07); p. 84 (DJR-037-15); p. 265 (DJR-078-01). Existing edition notes: DJR-061:E06. The headings establish the distinction between excess and regulation; they are not a complete catalogue of the particular activities discussed in those sections.

13486.Edited source passages: p. 281–282 (DJR-081-20). Existing edition notes: DJR-081:E20. DJR-081:E20 explains these institutional senses and the modern repair of the source’s awkward phrase “they repine many.” The article does not identify a particular foundation beyond those Burton names generically.

13487.Edited source passages: p. 229–230 (DJR-069-38); p. 367 (DJR-099-42); p. 394–395 (DJR-105-30). Existing edition notes: DJR-099:E36, DJR-105:E29. DJR-105:E29 identifies Dorothy Burton in the margin and explains the broad practical sense of surgery. The spider-amulet narrative remains Burton’s account, not independent proof of a remedy.

13488.Edited source passages: p. 19 (DJR-007-12); p. 39 (DJR-011-21). Existing edition notes: DJR-007:E14, DJR-011:E19. DJR-007:E14 preserves the source’s sequence of allegorical names. DJR-011:E19 treats the national caricatures as Burton’s examples of reciprocal prejudice, not endorsements of the stereotypes.

13489.Edited source passages: p. 165 (DJR-054-48); p. 230 (DJR-069-41). Existing edition notes: DJR-054:E40, DJR-069:E26. The violent episode remains Burton’s historical report. In DJR-069-41 he moves from a printed example to a friend’s case he says he knew; DJR-069:E26 preserves that distinction and leaves the friend unnamed.

13490.Edited source passages: p. 30 (DJR-026-49); p. 99 [supplied] (DJR-040-30); p. 151 (DJR-051-49); p. 216–217 (DJR-066-08). Existing edition notes: DJR-026:E36, DJR-040:E23, DJR-051:E43, DJR-066:E08. DJR-066:E08 qualifies Burton’s compression of Augustine’s argument and notes the difficulty in his claim about Jonah. The lexical rendering does not remove those historical and theological qualifications.