The Anatomy of Melancholy

The word. Madness is defined in this classification as vehement mental derangement or raving without fever. Burton distinguishes it from melancholy by greater violence and from frenzy by the absence of fever and generally better memory.

In Burton. The definition gathers anger, clamour, alarming gestures and force, while excluding fear and sorrow from the type being described. These are the terms of Burton’s local taxonomy. They should not be generalized into a claim that all experiences called madness throughout the book share this exact pattern.

The places. The formal definition distinguishes madness from melancholy and frenzy. (p. 9; DJR-022-21.)

In this edition. “a vehement Dotage” → “severe mental derangement” (DJR-022-21); “raving without a Fever” → “raving without fever” (DJR-022-21). Madness remains the historical category; severe mental derangement explains vehement dotage. The distinction involving fever is preserved explicitly.

See also. Melancholy; Calenture and ague; Dotage; Distraction; Lycanthropy; Ecstasy.

Magnanimity and pusillanimity

Source forms: magnanimity; pusillanimity

The word. Magnanimity means courage or greatness of spirit in the exhortation to endurance. Pusillanimity means faint-heartedness. The opposed terms do not make Burton’s treatment of suffering a simple division between strong and weak people.

In Burton. One passage urges readers to bear affliction steadfastly as soldiers of Christ. Another rebukes healthy people who laugh at sufferers’ faint-heartedness and suppose it can be dismissed at will. Sudden bereavement and fear on a precipice ask those readers to imagine emotions they could not simply choose away.

The places. Magnanimity is called for in enduring affliction. (p. 12; DJR-023-13.) Ridicule of sufferers’ pusillanimity is challenged. (p. 206; DJR-063-24.)

In this edition. “patience, with magnanimity” → “patience and courage” (DJR-023-13); “dejected pusillanimity” → “dejected faint-heartedness” (DJR-063-24). Courage and faint-heartedness give the local senses. Preserving the second passage’s challenge prevents the first exhortation from becoming the book’s only position on emotional control.

See also. Shame.

Make away

Source forms: make away themselves; dispatch himself

The word. To make away oneself or dispatch oneself means to kill oneself. These expressions concern self-inflicted death in the cited passages, not departure or the completion of a task.

In Burton. Burton first describes the despair associated with extreme poverty. The later philosophical discussion asks whether self-killing under severe suffering can be lawful and how those who do it should be judged. The attributed arguments remain distinct from an instruction or endorsement by the edition.

The places. The expression occurs at the extreme of distress associated with poverty. (p. 159; DJR-053-33.) The philosophical discussion asks about self-killing and judgment. (p. 216; DJR-066-03.)

In this edition. “to make away themselves” → “to kill themselves” (DJR-053-33); “to make away himself” → “to kill himself” (DJR-066-03); “he may dispatch himself” → “he may kill himself” (DJR-066-03). The direct equivalents remove an obsolete euphemism while preserving the different narrative and argumentative settings.

See also. Desperate; Despair.

Manure

Source forms: well manured; manured

The word. To manure land is to cultivate or improve it. The verb has a wider scope here than adding fertilizer.

In Burton. Burton praises a well-cultivated country among England’s blessings, alongside peace and defences. In the geographical digression, he contrasts watered Damascus with a wilderness supposedly beyond cultivation. Both uses concern the condition and management of land.