The Anatomy of Melancholy

In my judgment, the best directions for bedroom windows are north, east, south, and, worst of all, west. Levinus Lemnius, in book 3, chapter 3 of The Hidden Wonders of Nature, attributes so much to air and the proper arrangement of draughts and windows that he considers this alone enough to make a person sick or well, to change both body and mind. Clear air cheers the spirits and brightens the mind; thick, dark, misty, stormy air constricts and overwhelms them. We must therefore take great care over when we walk, how we position our windows, openings for light, and houses, and how we admit or exclude the surrounding air.

To avoid excessive heat, the Egyptians place their windows on top of the house like chimneys, with two shafts to draw a through-draught. In Spain they commonly make large, unglazed windows opposite one another, always closing those facing the sun. Similarly, in Turkey and Italy—except Venice, which boasts of its stately glazed palaces—they use paper windows for the same purpose, and lie “in the open air” on top of their flat-roofed houses, sleeping beneath the canopy of heaven.

In some parts of Italy they have windmills to draw cool air from hollow caves and distribute it through all the rooms of their palaces to refresh them: for example, at Costozza, in the house of Cesareo Trento, a gentleman of Vicenza, and elsewhere. Many excellent devices have been invented to improve nature through art.

If none of these methods helps, the best course is to make artificial air, which is beneficial in any event: it should always be made warm and moist, scented with sweet perfumes, and kept as pleasant and bright as possible. Let them always have roses, violets, and sweet-smelling flowers at their windows, and posies in their hands.

Laurentius recommends water lilies and a vessel of warm water to evaporate in the room. Its scent will be more delightful if orange blossom, citron peel, rosemary, cloves, bay leaves, rosewater, rose vinegar, benzoin, labdanum, storax, and similar gums are added, producing a pleasant and agreeable perfume. Bessardus Bisantinus recommends juniper smoke for melancholy people; it is much in demand among us at Oxford for sweetening our rooms.

Guianerius prescribes moistening the air with water in which fragrant herbs, vine and willow leaves, and the like have been boiled, and sprinkling the floor and posts with rosewater and rose vinegar, a practice Avicenna strongly approves. Among colours, green, red, yellow, and white are good to look at. Above all, there should be enough light, from windows by day and wax candles by night; tidy rooms, good fires in winter, and cheerful companions. For although melancholy people like to be alone in the dark, darkness greatly increases the humour.