The Anatomy of Melancholy

The word. Waking and watchings can mean wakefulness or periods without sleep. Watchfull may likewise mean sleepless. Night-waking is staying awake at night, whereas night walking in the selected passage is sleepwalking.

In Burton. Burton treats wakefulness both as a feature of conduct, especially prolonged study, and as a symptom or supposed cause of illness. The distinction from sleepwalking matters: night walking occurs among disturbed experiences during sleep, not among a scholar’s waking labours.

The places. Night walking appears among disturbances of sleep. (p. 90; DJR-038-25.) Night-waking accompanies prolonged scholarly study. (p. 127; DJR-046-17.) Waking is among the things said to produce bodily heat. (p. 175; DJR-057-14.) Watchings names the long periods of sleeplessness reported by authorities. (p. 180; DJR-058-14.) Watchfull describes the sleepless sufferer who continues to fret. (p. 198–199; DJR-062-07.)

In this edition. “night walking” → “sleepwalking” (DJR-038-25); “night-waking” → “staying awake at night” (DJR-046-17); “solitarinesse, waking” → “solitude, sleeplessness” (DJR-057-14); “Mighty and often watchings” → “long and frequent periods of wakefulness” (DJR-058-14); “watchfull” → “sleepless” (DJR-062-07). The equivalents distinguish absent sleep from disturbed sleep and avoid suggesting a guard’s vigilance. Burton’s remarkable reports of months or years without sleep remain expressly reported claims.

See also. Non naturals; Still; Intention and remission.

Will and nill

Source forms: velle; nolle; nill

The word. To nill is not to will: to refuse or be unwilling. Latin velle and nolle name willing and not willing. Will we or nill we means whether we wish it or not.

In Burton. The account of the will treats willing and refusing as its two basic acts, then distinguishes human freedom in contingent matters from necessity in relation to divine purpose. The later proverbial expression introduces an argument about adversity regardless of the reader’s preference.

The places. Velle and nolle divide the will’s acts into willing and refusing. (p. 30; DJR-026-42.) Will we or nill we means willing or unwilling. (p. 337–338; DJR-093-20.)

In this edition. “Velle and Nolle, to well and nill” → “willing and refusing” (DJR-026-42); “will we, or nill we” → “willing or unwilling” (DJR-093-20). The first rendering translates the meaning of both language pairs, while the original retains the printed well. The second gives the idiom’s force. Neither changes Burton’s stated relation between contingent choice and divine necessity.

See also. Faculty; Reason; Impotent; Voluntary.

Wit

Source forms: wit; happy wits; witty

The word. Wit can mean intelligence, understanding or intellectual capacity. Witty may mean intelligent or intellectually gifted, without implying humour. Happy wits are gifted minds.

In Burton. Wit appears in the praise of Epicurus, in a defence of honourable rivalry, and in descriptions of intellectual ability coexisting with melancholy. The intelligent child in the consolation passage is another use of witty, distinct from a judgement about the child’s future moral character.

The places. Wit in the English couplet corresponds to intellect in the translated Latin. (p. 20; DJR-007-17.) Useful rivalry sharpens wit or intelligence. (p. 103; DJR-041-19.) Happy wits contrasts intellectual gifts with outward dullness and incapacity. (p. 179–180; DJR-058-13.) The disputed connection between melancholy and intellectual gifts is expressed by witty. (p. 207; DJR-064-05.) A witty child is an intelligent child of promise. (p. 346; DJR-095-15.)