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Robert Burton

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Name: The Anatomy of Melancholy
Author: Robert Burton

1651 English with a close modern English rendering

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The Anatomy of MelancholyM

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1651 English Page · Branch 1081 of 1495

M

Book Mode

1651 English

unnumbered Table and closing notice

M

Madness described, 8. The extent of mel. 213. A symptome and effect of love mel. 542

Made dishes cause mel. 70

Maids, Nuns, Widows mel. 202

Magicians how they cause mel. 53 how they cure it 220

Mahometans their symptomes 671

Mans excellency, misery 1

Man the greatest enemy to man 4 & 5

Many means to divert lovers, 549. To cure them 556

Marriage if unfortunate cause of mel. 168 best cure of love melan. 573. Marriage helps, 627. miseries, 565. benefits and commendation 590

Mathematical studies commended 281

Medicines select for melanch. 362. against wind and costiveness, 401. for love melancholy 543

Melancholy in disposition, mel. equivocations, 11. definition, name, difference, 31 part and parties affected in melancholy, his affection, 32. matter, 34. species or kinds of mel. 35. mel. an hereditary disease, 61. meats causing it, 65,66,67. antecedent causes, particular parts, 174 symptomes of it, 178. they are passionate above measure, humours, 186. melancholy adust symptomes, 192. mixt symptomes of mel. with other diseases, 194. melanch. a cause of jealousie, 631 of despair, 695. melancholy men why witty, 207. why so apt to laugh, weep, swear, blush, ibid. why they see visions, hear strange noyses, speak untaught languages, prophesie, &c. 208,209

Menstruus Concubitus causa melanc. 63

Memory his seat 23

Men seduced by spirits in the night 48

Metempsycosis 26

Metals, minerals for mel. 370

Meteors strange, how caused 250

Metoposcopy fore-shewing mel. 59

Milk a melancholy meat 67

Minde how it works on the body 89

Minerals good against mel. 370

Ministers how they cause despair 698

Mirach, mesentery, matrix, meseriack veines causes of mel. 175

Mirabolanes purgers of mel. 378

Mirth and merry company excellent against mel. 281. their abuses 305

Miseries of man, 1. how they cause mel. 106 284. common miseries, 105. miseries of both sorts, 346. no man free, miseries effects in us, sent for our good, 310. miseries of Students and Scholars 127

Mitigations of melancholy 360

Monies prerogatives 418

Moon inhabited, 254. Moon in love 444

Moving faculty described 25

Mother how cause of melanch. 62

Musick a present remedy for mel. his effects, 299. a symptome of lovers, 535 causes of love mel. 493

The Anatomy of Melancholy: M

p. 1081

M

Madness described, 8. The extent of melancholy, 213. Madness as a symptom and effect of love melancholy, 542.

Elaborately prepared dishes as a cause of melancholy. 70

Melancholy in unmarried women, nuns and widows. 202

How magicians cause melancholy, 53; how they cure it, 220.

The symptoms of Muslims. 671

Human excellence and misery. 1

Humankind as its own greatest enemy. 4 and 5

Many ways to distract lovers, 549; to cure them, 556.

Unhappy marriage as a cause of melancholy, 168; marriage as the best cure for love melancholy, 573. Aids to marriage, 627; its miseries, 565; benefits and praise, 590.

Mathematical studies commended. 281

Selected medicines for melancholy, 362; for wind and constipation, 401; for love melancholy, 543.

Melancholy as a disposition; the different meanings of melancholy, 11; its definition, name and distinctions, 31; the part and people affected, and the nature of the disorder, 32; its material substance, 34; species or kinds, 35. Melancholy as a hereditary disease, 61; foods that cause it, 65,66,67; antecedent causes in particular organs, 174; its symptoms, 178; excessive passions and peculiar moods, 186; symptoms of adust melancholy, 192; symptoms mixed with those of other diseases, 194. Melancholy as a cause of jealousy, 631; of despair, 695. Why melancholic people are clever, 207; so prone to laugh, weep, swear and blush, same page; why they see visions, hear strange noises, speak languages they have never learned, prophesy and so forth, 208,209.

Intercourse during menstruation as a cause of melancholy. 63

The seat of memory. 23

People led astray by spirits at night. 48

The transmigration of souls. 26

Metals and minerals for melancholy. 370

How strange meteors are caused. 250

Forehead-reading as a way of predicting melancholy. 59

Milk as a food that produces melancholy. 67

How the mind affects the body. 89

Minerals as remedies for melancholy. 370

How ministers cause despair. 698

The mirach, mesentery, womb and mesenteric veins as causes of melancholy. 175

Myrobalans as purges for melancholy. 378

Mirth and cheerful company as excellent remedies for melancholy, 281; their abuses, 305.

Human miseries, 1; how they cause melancholy, 106,284; common miseries, 105; miseries of both kinds, 346. No one is free from them; their effects on us, and how they are sent for our good, 310. The miseries of students and scholars, 127.

Ways of alleviating melancholy. 360

The advantages of money. 418

The moon inhabited, 254; the moon in love, 444.

The faculty of movement described. 25

How the mother causes melancholy. 62

Music as an immediate remedy for melancholy; its effects, 299; a symptom of being in love, 535; a cause of love melancholy, 493.

13332.The alphabetical Table continues with M through Y. Every numerical locator is the original printed page reference, not a page number in the modern edition. Original ordering, repeated entries and faulty numbers remain. U and V share the source heading V; there are no separate X or Z sections. Digital subject links lead only to checked matching passages; unlinked destinations have not been independently verified. Printed numbers are never silently replaced by the linked passage’s page number.

13333.Maids here means unmarried women. These headings reproduce Burton’s historical classification, in which reproductive physiology and sexual abstinence figure prominently; they do not name modern diagnostic categories.

13334.Mahometans is the source’s older term for Muslims. Its placement under symptoms belongs to Burton’s polemical account of religious melancholy. Papists below is his disparaging term for Roman Catholics; the translation preserves that polemical force.

13335.Adust means burned or overheated: Burton’s humoral account distinguishes natural melancholy from pathological matter produced by the supposed burning of humours. Matter denotes the bodily substance held responsible for the disorder, not its subject matter. Humours near 186 instead concerns peculiar dispositions or moods.

13336.The Latin entry makes a claim within the discussion of inherited melancholy and parental generation. It is translated as a historical claim, without converting it into a modern statement about inheritance.

13337.Meteors has a wider historical sense here, including unusual atmospheric appearances and weather phenomena, rather than only the luminous tracks of falling extraterrestrial bodies.

13338.Metoposcopy interprets the lines of the forehead. The related physiognomical signs below concern judgments from bodily appearance. See the discussion translated in Block 032.

13339.Burton identifies mirach with the epigastrium in his anatomical survey (Block 024). Matrix means womb; meseriack veins are mesenteric veins. These terms belong to the historical localization of melancholy in bodily organs.

About This Reading Edition

Robert Burton’s Anatomy ranges across medicine, philosophy, poetry, religion, and everyday life in its inquiry into melancholy. This complete parallel edition pairs the 1651 English text with a close modern English rendering, preserving the three Partitions, Democritus Junior’s address to the reader, verse, and the historical index.

Historical Text and Translation

The historical text follows the sixth edition, printed at Oxford for Henry Cripps in 1651, using the McGill University Library copy. The supplied edition documents missing printed pages 98–99 supplied from another 1651 copy at the Bavarian State Library. Historical folio labels and their irregularities remain visible; web reader numbers identify reflowed passages and do not claim to reproduce PDF pagination.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the close modern English rendering and editorial matter. All 8,755 original and modern passage pairs remain aligned, with verse breaks, italics, continuations, and linked annotations preserved. Burton’s 6,781 historical notes retain their attribution; 6,895 editorial notes remain distinct. The introduction, Note on the Text, contextual lexicon, indexes, source documentation, and bibliography are included. The engraved frontispiece remains available in the original downloads.

Rights

Burton’s historical text is in the public domain. The modern English rendering, introduction, notes, and editorial matter are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and appear with the site owner’s permission. The complete supplied PDF, EPUB, Word, and Markdown files remain available unchanged. The PDF and Word edition preserve the original parallel page layout.