The Anatomy of Melancholy

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.