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← ExitThe Anatomy of Melancholy

Reading language

Contextual Lexicon

In this edition. “reason another” → “reason another” (DJR-026-47); “perverts judgment” → “perverts judgement” (DJR-040-05). Reason is retained; the second selected passage develops the conflict through judgement without repeating the headword. The modern text follows this moral argument without treating it as a comprehensive explanation of illness.

See also. Faculty; Judgment; Wit; Synderesis; Conscience; Will and nill.

Receipt

Source forms: receipts

The word. A receipt is a prescription or medicinal recipe. The selected plural names customary formulas relied upon by practitioners, not acknowledgments of payment.

In Burton. Burton reproaches prescribers and patients for placing profit or remedies above trust in God. Receipts and medicines belong to the practical means whose proper place he is debating in a religious argument about treatment.

The places. Ordinary receipts are the practitioner’s customary prescriptions. (p. 223; DJR-068-19.)

In this edition. “ordinary receipts” → “customary prescriptions” (DJR-068-19). Prescriptions clarifies the medical sense; customary explains ordinary. The complaint concerns reliance and motivation, rather than a claim that every recipe is ineffective.

Recreate

Source forms: recreate

The word. To recreate can mean restore or refresh someone’s strength and spirits, as well as provide recreation. The restorative sense remains active in this final counsel.

In Burton. Burton joins wholesome recreation to deliberate guidance of thought and assistance from friends. Refresh and recreate describes what these activities should do for a distressed person; it is more than a recommendation to fill time with amusement.

The places. Recreation is intended to refresh and restore the distressed soul. (p. 722; DJR-169-28.)

In this edition. “refresh and recreate his distressed soul” → “refresh and restore his distressed soul” (DJR-169-28). Restore brings out the verb’s purpose, while recreation remains the name of the activity. Skill, effort and friends’ help preserve the means surrounding it.

See also. Mirth; Solitude; Tables.

Rectification

Source forms: rectified; rectification

The word. Rectification is correction, improvement or regulation according to the subject. In these passages it covers treatment of jealousy, regulation of sexual activity and improvement of air.

In Burton. Jealousy deserves rectification because Burton treats it as a branch of love melancholy. The source index compresses a regimen topic into Venus rectified. In the discussion of air, rectification includes choosing a place and changing the air through human arrangements.

The places. Jealousy requires treatment comparable to that of passionate love. (p. 591; DJR-144-07.) The source index names the regulation of sexual activity. (unnumbered Table and closing notice; DJR-172-236.) Improvement of air forms part of the proposed cure. (p. 259; DJR-076-20.)

In this edition. “to be rectified alike” → “similar treatment” (DJR-144-07); “Venus rectified” → “Sexual activity properly regulated” (DJR-172-236); “the rectification of Aire” → “improving the air” (DJR-076-20). The equivalents follow the object being corrected. Venus is explained as sexual activity; rectified in that heading does not mean editorial correction or necessarily moral amendment.

See also. Non naturals.

Religion and superstition

Source forms: Religion; superstition

The word. Religion and superstition are evaluative categories in Burton’s argument. His distinction between true and false religion depends on whether the deity and the manner of worship meet his own religious commitments.

In Burton. Burton uses Cicero and Zanchi to define false religion, then applies the distinction polemically. Yet he permits beneficial contemplation and a positive spiritual ecstasy before condemning their abuse. His later category of religious deficiency shows that he can criticize both excessive devotion and insufficient concern for religion.

The places. False religion is defined through false gods or false worship. (p. 638–639; DJR-152-22.) Contemplation and ecstasy receive qualified approval before abuse is condemned. (p. 656; DJR-156-10.) The heading introduces melancholy arising from religious deficiency. (p. 683; DJR-161-28.)

In this edition. “Religion is twofold, true or false” → “religion is of two kinds, true or false” (DJR-152-22); “vain superstition” → “empty superstition” (DJR-152-22); “a divine melancholy” → “a divine melancholy” (DJR-156-10); “Religious Melancholy in defect” → “Religious Melancholy from Deficiency” (DJR-161-28). The modern text retains the distinctions and the author’s polemical judgments. It does not make superstition a neutral synonym for every form of religious practice.

See also. Religious melancholy; Zeal; Enthusiasm; Epicure; Precise; Tables.

Religious melancholy

Source forms: Religious Melancholy

The word. Religious melancholy names Burton’s category of melancholy shaped by religious beliefs, practices, fears or their supposed deficiency. It includes several different conditions rather than a single modern diagnosis.

In Burton. The opening account makes symptoms follow a person’s prior religious inclinations and bodily humour. The later division includes both excessive devotion and deficient religion. In the treatment of despair, Burton distinguishes lasting rejection from temporary loss of hope and expressly allows the latter to afflict devout believers.

The places. Religious inclinations are said to shape the humour’s effects. (p. 632–633; DJR-151-23.) The heading extends the category to religious deficiency. (p. 683; DJR-161-28.) Temporary despair is distinguished from final despair. (p. 694; DJR-163-40.)

In this edition. “precisely given” → “strictly religious” (DJR-151-23); “Religious Melancholy in defect” → “Religious Melancholy from Deficiency” (DJR-161-28); “final and temporal” → “final and temporary” (DJR-163-40). The heading retains religious melancholy; the contextual phrases clarify strict observance, deficiency and duration. Enthusiasm and reprobation remain historical religious categories with their own explanations.

See also. Melancholy; Religion and superstition.

Remedy by diversion

Source forms: alienate his mind

The word. To alienate his mind here means to turn the sufferer’s attention elsewhere. Remedy by diversion is an explanatory heading for that redirection, not Burton’s name for a separate medical school.

In Burton. The recommended response combines counsel, persuasion, removal of distressing circumstances and changes in the person’s way of life. It includes ingenious contrivances and both gentle and harsh means. Diversion works alongside efforts to understand and settle the troubling belief.

The places. Alienating the mind redirects attention and seeks reassurance. (p. 294–295; DJR-084-05.)

In this edition. “to alienate his mind” → “turn his mind elsewhere” (DJR-084-05); “security and satisfaction” → “security and reassurance” (DJR-084-05). Turn his mind elsewhere avoids suggesting social estrangement. Reassurance explains the intended satisfaction, while gentle or harsh preserves the breadth of the historical proposal.

See also. Mirth; Intention and remission.

Salvation

Source forms: salvation; safety

13624.Edited source passages: p. 223 (DJR-068-19). Existing edition notes: DJR-068:E17. DJR-068:E17 identifies Ecclesiasticus and repairs the printed 1.12.and 12. to 1:11–12 in the modern text while preserving the original reference.

13625.Edited source passages: p. 722 (DJR-169-28). Existing edition notes: DJR-169:E28. DJR-169:E28 explains art, industry and honest and integrates the Latin laxare animum into the modern sentence.

13626.Edited source passages: p. 591 (DJR-144-07); unnumbered Table and closing notice (DJR-172-236); p. 259 (DJR-076-20). Existing edition notes: DJR-076:E20, DJR-144:E04, DJR-172:E23. DJR-144:E04 explains the love-melancholy classification. DJR-172:E23 identifies the regimen sense; the source index’s number remains a retained source reference. DJR-076:E20 places the air discussion within historical humoral and environmental theory.

13627.Edited source passages: p. 638–639 (DJR-152-22); p. 656 (DJR-156-10); p. 683 (DJR-161-28). Existing edition notes: DJR-152:E21, DJR-156:E10, DJR-161:E28. DJR-152:E21 locates the Cicero phrase in On the Nature of the Gods 1.117 rather than the printed book 2 and records its altered grammar and context. DJR-156:E10 uses the later Taylor translation only as a contextual Porphyry parallel; Bonaventure and Erasmus remain uncollated. DJR-161:E28 explains the polemical labels in the heading.

13628.Edited source passages: p. 632–633 (DJR-151-23); p. 683 (DJR-161-28); p. 694 (DJR-163-40). Existing edition notes: DJR-151:E17, DJR-161:E28, DJR-163:E38. DJR-151:E17 identifies the causal account as Burton’s and his physicians’ historical theory. DJR-161:E28 explains the heading’s labels. DJR-163:E38 distinguishes theological reprobation from clinical diagnosis, defines final as lasting to life’s end and connects David’s words with Psalm 22.

13629.Edited source passages: p. 294–295 (DJR-084-05). Existing edition notes: DJR-084:E04. DJR-084:E04 explains artificial invention as a devised contrivance and will not be known as refusal to acknowledge troubles. The statement about immediate cures is Burton’s reported claim, not an independently established result.

13630.Edited source passages: p. 708 (DJR-166-45); p. 713 (DJR-167-42). Existing edition notes: DJR-166:E40, DJR-167:E41. DJR-166:E40 explains provoked as moved, without anger, and leaves the bare Isidor attribution provisional. DJR-167:E41 defines elect and retains the uncertainty about the question attributed to Solomon.