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The places. Excessive solitude is introduced as a companion of idleness. (p. 87; DJR-038-01.)
In this edition. “Cozen German to Idleness” → “First cousin to idleness” (DJR-038-01); “too much solitariness” → “too much being alone” (DJR-038-01). The wording preserves both the family metaphor and the qualification excessive. The distinction between imposed and voluntary solitude follows explicitly.
See also. Solitude.
Imagination
Source forms: phantasie; læsa imaginatio
The word. Imagination or phantasie is a mental faculty that forms or handles representations. Læsa imaginatio means impaired imagination. Corrupt imagination in the medical discussion describes a disordered faculty, not simply immoral subject matter.
In Burton. The faculty is classified with common sense and memory among the internal senses. It is then made a means by which passions disturb the heart and bodily spirits. Erotic melancholy, unwanted religious thoughts and frightening appearances supply different contexts for its activity. In the last case, Burton allows an internal bodily origin for things experienced as external.
The places. Imagination is one of the internal senses. (p. 22; DJR-025-04.) Impaired imagination is said to misinform the heart. (p. 92; DJR-039-03.) Erotic melancholy is located in the brain through impaired imagination. (p. 446; DJR-115-60.) Blasphemous thoughts are suggested to the imagination. (p. 711–712; DJR-167-27.) A disturbed brain can present frightening shapes. (p. 720; DJR-169-01.)
In this edition. “Phantasie” → “imagination” (DJR-025-04); “læsa Imaginatio” → “impaired imagination” (DJR-039-03); “corrupt imagination” → “an impaired imagination” (DJR-115-60); “our phantasies” → “our imaginations” (DJR-167-27); “crased phantasie” → “disordered imagination” (DJR-169-01). Imagination unites the varying spellings and forms. Impaired or disordered clarifies the medical force without erasing the separate moral and religious claims made elsewhere.
See also. Conceit; Species in perception; Simulacra; Cerebral chambers; Apprehension; Maternal impressions.
Impertinent
The word. Impertinent means irrelevant or not belonging to the matter under discussion. The criticism here concerns whether a digression fits the book, rather than whether it is impolite.
In Burton. Burton justifies a digression on imagination because of its role in melancholy. He also defends digressions as refreshment for a weary reader, comparing them with sauce that revives a poor appetite.
The places. Burton answers the charge that digressions are frivolous and impertinent. (p. 93; DJR-039-06.)
In this edition. “frivolous and impertinent” → “frivolous and irrelevant” (DJR-039-06). Irrelevant states the objection directly. Burton’s answer preserves both the digression’s relevance to the illness and its restorative pleasure.
See also. Equivocation; Confer and conference.
Impostume
The word. An impostume is an abscess. Burton uses the bodily image figuratively for accumulated matter in his head that presses to be discharged through writing.
In Burton. His account of beginning the book joins a burdened heart, a pregnant head and an abscess. Writing becomes an evacuation that promises relief. The succession of images explains his need to write without constituting a literal medical case history.
The places. Writing is represented as the discharge of an impostume. (p. 5; DJR-003-07.)
In this edition. “a kind of impostume in my head” → “a kind of abscess in my head” (DJR-003-07). Abscess supplies the recognizable bodily term, preserving its place beside pregnancy and evacuation in the account of authorship.
See also. Chirurgery.
Impotent
The word. Impotent here means ungovernable or lacking self-command. Applied to desire, it concerns the inability to restrain a passion, rather than an absence of sexual capacity.
In Burton. Burton’s preliminary catalogue calls love madness, a hell and an incurable force. The Latin phrase attributed to Seneca and its following English explanation emphasize raging desire that has escaped control, anticipating the later treatment of love melancholy.
The places. Love is described as impotent and raging lust. (p. 72; DJR-018-16.)
In this edition. “impotentem & insanam libidinem” → “ungovernable and insane desire” (DJR-018-16); “an impotent and raging lust” → “an uncontrolled and raging lust” (DJR-018-16). Ungovernable and uncontrolled make the older sense explicit. The Latin formulation and Burton’s English restatement remain separate.
See also. Concupiscence; Will and nill.
Incubus
Source forms: incubus; witch-ridden
The word. Incubus names an oppressive nightmare experience, described here as being ridden or crushed in sleep. Witch-ridden expresses the sufferer’s supposed explanation of that pressure.
In Burton. The disease list includes incubus among disorders associated with parts of the brain. In the discussion of imagination, the sleeper imagines an old woman sitting heavily on the body. Burton explains the experience through humours and vapours troubling imagination, replacing the supposed assailant with an internal cause.
The places. Incubus occurs in the catalogue of disorders. (p. 7–8; DJR-022-14.) The witch-ridden sleeper imagines an old woman’s weight. (p. 93; DJR-039-10.)
In this edition. “Incubus” → “nightmare oppression” (DJR-022-14); “Incubus, or Witch-ridden” → “incubus, or “witch-ridden,”” (DJR-039-10). Nightmare oppression explains the catalogue term. The later technical name and familiar expression remain together because the passage itself describes their experience.
See also. Daemon and genius.
Indifferent
The word. Indifferent means middling in this passage: occupying a middle rank between the supposedly wise and those dismissed as fools. It does not describe a lack of interest or concern.
In Burton. Burton mocks competing claims to superiority. After the saying that some peoples have two eyes, others one and others none, he depicts the reader’s own party as claiming wisdom, granting a middle place to some outsiders and contemptuously dismissing the rest.
The places. Indifferent marks the middle rank in a satirical classification. (p. 40; DJR-011-24.)
In this edition. “others indifferent” → “others are middling” (DJR-011-24). Middling makes the hierarchy legible. The translation preserves the insults and the turn against the person who laughs at others.
See also. Judgment; Mediocrity; Honest.
Inseparable and individual
Source forms: individuall; numericall
The word. Individual can mean indivisible or inseparable. Numerical identity, by contrast, means being the very same particular thing. The two examples turn on closeness and sameness in different senses.
In Burton. Sorrow is described as melancholy’s inseparable companion through paired saints and the faithful Achates. Later, the image of a river distinguishes the same place from the same water, helping Burton describe a disease that shows likeness amid varied symptoms.
The places. Individual describes the inseparability of companions. (p. 183; DJR-059-01.) Numerical identity is distinguished from sameness of place. (p. 190; DJR-059-53.)
In this edition. “as individuall as Saint Cosmus and Damian” → “as inseparable as Saints Cosmas and Damian” (DJR-059-01); “the same numericall water” → “the very same water” (DJR-059-53). Inseparable avoids the modern implication of separateness. Very same states numerical identity in ordinary language while leaving the river comparison intact.
See also. Actuality.