The Anatomy of Melancholy

The places. Burton describes his birth chart. (p. 3; DJR-002-03.) An astrologer’s fee supplies a satirical comparison. (p. 60; DJR-015-40.) Adverse birth charts are listed as predispositions. (p. 33; DJR-027-24.) Genethliacal studies are ridiculed. (p. 167; DJR-055-21.) Planets are called rulers of the geniture. (p. 190 [first occurrence]; DJR-060-02.) Saturn’s predominance is linked with character. (p. 190 [first occurrence]; DJR-060-04.) Casting a nativity is permitted in some cases as an exercise. (p. 285; DJR-082-11.)

In this edition. “my geniture” → “my birth chart” (DJR-002-03); “casting a Nativity” → “casting a birth horoscope” (DJR-015-40); “genitures” → “birth charts” (DJR-027-24); “Genethliacal studies” → “studies of birth horoscopes” (DJR-055-21); “Lords of the geniture” → “rulers of the nativity” (DJR-060-02); “his nativity” → “a person’s nativity” (DJR-060-04); “cast a Nativity” → “cast a birth horoscope” (DJR-082-11). Birth chart and birth horoscope explain the common sense; nativity remains where the technical language is retained and locally glossed.

See also. Astrology.

Genus and species

Source forms: summum genus; specifical difference; genus; species

The word. Genus and species are levels of logical classification. Summum genus names the highest or broadest class in a definition; a specifical difference is the feature that distinguishes a species within its genus.

In Burton. The attempt to define melancholy asks both for its broad class and for what distinguishes it. The objection about imagination and the brain is therefore logical as well as medical. Elsewhere, genus and species become a comic shorthand for academic philosophy, forced to walk while medicine and law provide wealth and honours.

The places. Summum genus identifies the broad class in a definition. (p. 31; DJR-027-09.) The definition is criticized for lacking its distinctive features. (p. 31; DJR-027-08.) Genus and species stand for poorly rewarded philosophy. (p. 133; DJR-047-25.)

In this edition. “summum genus” → “highest general category” (DJR-027-09); “specifical difference” → “distinctive features” (DJR-027-08); “genus & species” → “genus and species” (DJR-047-25). Plain equivalents explain the logical role in the definition. The Latin terms remain in the verse because their personification carries the joke.

See also. Equivocation.

Glass

Source forms: glass

The word. Glass here means a mirror. It names the reflective object used in the reported divinatory procedure, rather than a drinking vessel or merely the material glass.

In Burton. Burton describes a mirror lowered on a thread at a spring near Ceres’ temple, where the outcome of illness was supposedly revealed. He groups this with another oracle and concludes that ordinary people have been deceived about future events. The procedure is divination, not a medical examination.

The places. A glass is lowered at the spring oracle. (p. 166; DJR-055-08.)

In this edition. “A glass let down by a thred” → “a mirror was lowered on a thread” (DJR-055-08). Mirror identifies the object immediately, allowing the reader to follow the procedure without importing another common sense of glass.

See also. Catoptrics and perspectives; Lodestone and adamant; Fascination.

Gossip

Source forms: gossips

The word. Gossips can be familiar companions or associates, especially women in social company. In the second example a gossip is a familiar female friend. The noun need not identify a habitual spreader of rumours.

In Burton. The general account of rivalry finds factions even among small groups of companions. The later case describes a woman publicly reproached by one of her gossips after a quarrel, then withdrawing from society. Although the story involves disclosure, the noun first identifies the relationship between the women.