The Anatomy of Melancholy

The word. Costiveness means constipation or retention of the ordinary bowel waste. Costivenesse is a spelling variant.

In Burton. Burton places costiveness first among the forms of retention discussed as causes of melancholy. In the symptom catalogue, it appears with poor digestion, undigested matter and obstructions. The same condition can thus occupy a place in the causal discussion and in the description of a patient’s bodily troubles.

The places. Costiveness is placed under retention and evacuation. (p. 78; DJR-036-05.) Constipation appears among nutritive disturbances. (p. 180; DJR-058-15.)

In this edition. “Costiveness” → “constipation” (DJR-036-05); “costivenesse” → “constipation” (DJR-058-15). Constipation gives the direct modern equivalent for both spellings.

See also. Purging.

Counterfeit

Source forms: counterfeit

The word. Counterfeit can be a noun for a person pretending or acting a part. The particular role must be supplied by context.

In Burton. In the reported treatment of a man who believes he is dead, another person is placed nearby as a supposed corpse and made to eat. The patient addresses this counterfeit and then imitates him. The noun identifies the staged performer, not the patient or a forged object.

The places. A man acts the part of a corpse in a therapeutic deception. (p. 298; DJR-084-37.)

In this edition. “the counterfeit” → “the pretended corpse” (DJR-084-37). Pretended corpse names the role and keeps the two people in the anecdote distinct.

See also. Abraham men; Mountebank; Habit and disposition.

Crased

Source forms: crased; crasie; crazed

The word. Crased, crasie and crazed can describe impairment, infirmity or broken bodily health. The word family is not confined to mental derangement.

In Burton. A sustained habit of imagining ends with fancy crased: the Latin phrase immediately calls the imagination injured. The portrait of unhappy wealth describes people as crasie among other bodily complaints. In consolation for bereavement, crazed accompanies sickly and the image of an exhausted traveller. The affected subject determines whether impaired or frail is appropriate.

The places. Fancy is described as injured or impaired. (p. 196; DJR-061-18.) The outward splendour of wealth conceals infirmity. (p. 321; DJR-089-40.) The deceased is imagined remaining frail and sickly. (p. 345; DJR-095-05.)

In this edition. “crased” → “impaired” (DJR-061-18); “crasie” → “infirm” (DJR-089-40); “crazed and sickly” → “frail and sickly” (DJR-095-05). The equivalents keep the bodily senses from becoming unintended claims of mental illness.

See also. Stupid; Madness.

Cure

Source forms: cure

The word. Cure can mean a pastoral charge: the care of a congregation entrusted to a clergyman. Here it identifies the church appointment or parish so served.

In Burton. Burton concludes a satirical account of patronage with the matching pair of patron and clergyman, like a lid fitted to a dish. The declaration that the cure is well supplied belongs to that irony. It concerns filling a pastoral office, not curing a disease.

The places. A patron and clergyman are matched in a satirical conclusion. (p. 142 [printed 128]; DJR-049-30.)

In this edition. “the cure is well supplied” → “The parish is well provided for” (DJR-049-30). Parish makes the institutional sense clear, while the apparently satisfied conclusion retains the satire.

See also. Church patronage.

Curiosity

Source forms: nice; curious; curiously; curiosity; curious Wroks

The word. Curious and curiosity range from painstaking attention and elaborate workmanship to excessive scruple or misplaced inquiry. The word family does not always carry the modern neutral sense of wanting to learn.