The Anatomy of Melancholy

The word. Nepenthe names Homer’s grief-banishing drug, used here through an interpretation that makes it timely, consoling speech. Burton’s argument depends on the capacity of words to ease distress.

In Burton. Gentle speech becomes a remedy, a charm and refreshment for an agitated mind. Burton invokes an interpretation of the Homeric gift as speech suited to its occasion, rather than a medicinal plant. The sequence makes the manner and timing of consolation part of its efficacy.

The places. Nepenthe becomes the culminating image for timely consolation. (p. 292 [296]–297; DJR-084-21.)

In this edition. “Nepenthe” → “nepenthe” (DJR-084-21); “opportunity of speech” → “speech suited to the occasion” (DJR-084-21). The name is retained while opportunity is explained as fitness to the occasion. The reading follows Burton’s appeal to the allegorical interpretation, without replacing Homer’s narrative with it.

See also. Mirth.

Nice

Source forms: nice; nice education; nice gentlewomen; nicely

The word. Nice can mean delicate or fastidious; nice education is an excessively delicate upbringing. Nicely can mean with excessive scruple. These examples do not use nice simply to praise pleasantness.

In Burton. The gentlewoman’s disgust and the pampered child’s upbringing both concern delicacy. The discussion of women’s illness extends the word into a class-based contrast between labour and leisure. In the account of games, excessive scruple is distinguished from reasonable objections to actual abuse.

The places. Nice describes the gentlewoman whose disgust is intensified by speech. (p. 147; DJR-051-13.) Nice education is paired with coddling. (p. 149 [sequence; printed 145]; DJR-050-53.) Nice gentlewomen belong to Burton’s contrast with labouring women. (p. 204; DJR-063-09.) Nicely describes excessive objections to games. (p. 274–275; DJR-080-01.)

In this edition. “nice Gentlewoman” → “delicate gentlewoman” (DJR-051-13); “nice education” → “delicate upbringing” (DJR-050-53); “nice gentlewomen” → “delicate gentlewomen” (DJR-063-09); “too nicely” → “too scrupulously” (DJR-080-01). Delicate and scrupulously distinguish the personal, educational and moral contexts. The account of games still allows justified criticism of harmful conduct.

See also. Curiosity.

Non naturals

Source forms: non-natural; non-natural things

The word. The six non-naturals are conditions of life that can support or disturb health: diet, retention and evacuation, air, exercise and rest, sleep and waking, and the passions. Non-natural is a technical category, not a judgment that these things are unnatural.

In Burton. Burton calls them necessary because people cannot avoid their influence. Their use or misuse changes the body, so they supply a framework for both causes and the management of illness. The synopsis gives the same category a structural place among the necessary causes.

The places. Necessary causes are explained as unavoidable conditions of life. (p. 65; DJR-033-29.) The synopsis introduces the six non-natural things. (p. 99; DJR-020-35.)

In this edition. “six non-natural things” → “six non-natural things” (DJR-033-29); “six non-naturall things” → “six non-natural things” (DJR-020-35). The technical name is retained and explained. Necessary does not mean that their harmful misuse is inevitable; it describes the conditions themselves.

See also. Air; Diet and regimen; Exercise; Waking; Perturbation; Rectification.

Obnubilate

Source forms: obnubilate

The word. To obnubilate is to cloud or darken. Burton uses the verb for a mind supposedly obscured by melancholy vapour.