Abraham men

Use in the book

In the account of poverty, the labels follow a sustained description of humiliation, dependence and coercion. Burton argues that want can drive otherwise upright people into dishonest expedients and then alleges simulated disease and deliberate bodily injury among some beggars. Those actions remain distinct: an allegation of feigning does not mean an alleged injury would be unreal. He cites Joos de Damhouder’s criminal-law work, chapter 112, and claims abundant local testimony, but neither the citation nor the sweeping assertion has been independently established here. His claim about poverty’s pressure is not proof that poor or disabled people generally deceive.

The nearby authorities also require qualification. A Virgilian excerpt has lost the negative through which Sinon denies that misfortune will make him dishonest; Burton’s printed affirmative reverses that statement, and the modern text follows the printed wording. His catalogue is therefore an argument assembled through quoted and adapted voices, not an evidential record proving every named category. The following movement to extreme despair intensifies his account of distress without establishing the preceding accusations.

The later repetition changes the argumentative use. A poor relation approaches a wealthy traveller, invokes kinship and former friendship, and pleads sickness, losses or disasters. The response calls him a counterfeit crank despite his oath and protest; the traveller simply rides on. Burton continues through ignored appeals for orphans, hospitals and public works. Here suspicion is itself part of the indictment: the vocabulary of imposture can make refusal of relief seem justified without the narrative establishing fraud.

The Horatian borrowing sharpens the distinction. In its source, the man has deceived before but now has a real injury that his neighbours refuse to believe. Burton transfers the plea and rejection into his broader scene. Non ludo means I am not pretending; quære peregrinum tells the claimant to find a stranger, rendered contextually as someone who does not know him. The original source’s known deceiver cannot simply be substituted for every poor relation in Burton’s account. Even the later satire of charitable motives has a limit: after saying vainglory, supposed merit and difficulty disposing of property motivate much giving, Burton expressly acknowledges sincere and compassionate benefactors.

Related entries

Counterfeit: The broader senses of simulation, imitation and counterfeit appearance

Poverty and riches: Material want and the pressure of social exclusion

Charity: Relief, compassion and the critique of withholding assistance

Madness: Historical language of mental disturbance

Hospital: Institutions named in the rejected appeals

Places to read

1. Subsection 6 Poverty and Want as Causes of Melancholy · paragraphs 23–34; Subsection 6 Poverty and Want as Causes of Melancholy · paragraph 32poverty’s social pressures, alleged sham invalids, Dummerers and Abraham men; the Damhouder citation and reversed Virgilian negative remain qualified
2. Member 3 Charity Combining All Three Kinds of Love Pleasant Profitable and Honourable · paragraphs 7–17; Member 3 Charity Combining All Three Kinds of Love Pleasant Profitable and Honourable · paragraphs 13–15the poor relation’s appeal, pretend as plead, the Horatian denial and rejecting reply, and counterfeit crank as an accusation
3. Member 3 Charity Combining All Three Kinds of Love Pleasant Profitable and Honourable · paragraphs 18–21alleged self-interested charitable motives followed by the express concession of sincere benefactors

In this edition

“Counterfeit Cranks” becomes “sham invalids”; “Dummerers,” “people who pretend to be mute”; “Abraham men” remains unchanged and receives its explanation in the note. In the later scene, “counterfeit crank” becomes “feigned invalid.” The different number and phrasing preserve the move from a general hostile category to the accusation directed at a particular petitioner.

“Counterfeit several diseases” becomes “feign various diseases,” but “pretend sickness” becomes “Plead sickness.” The two verbs therefore cannot be treated as interchangeable evidence of deceit. “Non ludo” becomes “I am not pretending,” keeping the denial; “quære peregrinum” becomes “find someone who does not know you,” unfolding the local meaning of stranger. The denial and accusation remain separate voices.

Abraham men

Printed “Abraham men” (English; phrase).

A hostile historical label for beggars accused of feigning mental illness.

Here: Grouped with alleged sham invalids and people accused of pretending muteness.

Context: Burton asserts that poverty drives some people to deception and cites Damhouder; the allegations and exact source require collation. The name is not a diagnosis or proof of fraud.

Source: original body

Source and modern wording: Abraham men

Word and construction: The historical name is retained unchanged in the supplied modern text; the supplied editorial note provides its contextual definition.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

counterfeit

Printed “counterfeit” (English; lemma).

To feign or simulate something, here diseases.

Here: The verb names Burton’s allegation of deliberately simulated illness.

Context: His paragraph distinguishes feigning from alleged deliberate bodily injury; neither allegation is independently verified by the edition.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: counterfeit several diseases

Modern rendering: feign various diseases

Word and construction: The verb and its object align; several means various here.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

counterfeit crank

Printed “counterfeit Cranks” (English; phrase).

A sham invalid: counterfeit means feigned or simulated, and crank means invalid.

Here: A hostile label asserting that the claimant’s sickness is pretended.

Context: Damhouder’s chapter is cited as authority, but the examples and Burton’s sweeping village claim remain uncollated; the label itself supplies no proof.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: counterfeit Cranks

Modern rendering: sham invalids

Word and construction: The compound receives an equal-scope rendering: counterfeit gives sham and Cranks invalids.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “counterfeit crank” (English; phrase).

Citation key: counterfeit crank.

Here: The phrase is used to dismiss the petitioner as a cheat despite his protests.

Context: The accusation belongs to the refusing voice in Burton’s satire of uncharity, not an established narrative diagnosis.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: thou art a counterfeit crank, a cheater

Modern rendering: you are a feigned invalid, a cheat

Word and construction: The complete second-person accusation preserves the speaker’s hostile judgement; a is retained with both labels.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

crank

Printed “Cranks” (English; lemma).

Invalids or people claiming to be ill; here the noun is qualified by counterfeit.

Here: The noun supplies the invalids in sham invalids; counterfeit supplies the accusation of feigning.

Context: Burton’s allegation is kept distinct from proof about the individuals so labelled.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: counterfeit Cranks

Modern rendering: sham invalids

Word and construction: Whole phrase aligned: Cranks corresponds to invalids, not to sham. The modifier supplies the accusation.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “crank” (English; lemma).

Citation key: crank.

Here: The refusing voice calls the petitioner a feigned invalid.

Context: The wealthy traveller’s rejection does not establish that this claimant is deceiving him.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a counterfeit crank

Modern rendering: a feigned invalid

Word and construction: Crank contributes invalid; counterfeit contributes feigned.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

dummerer

Printed “Dummerers” (English; lemma).

People accused of pretending to be mute.

Here: One of the hostile vagrancy categories in Burton’s catalogue of alleged simulated disability.

Context: Burton uses the category as an example in his poverty argument, not as the result of an independently established examination.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Dummerers

Modern rendering: people who pretend to be mute

Word and construction: The modern phrase unfolds the meaning of the historical label; the allegation belongs to Burton’s account.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

non ludo

Printed “non ludo” (Latin; phrase).

Latin non means not and ludo, from ludere, means I play or jest; here the denial is that the speaker is pretending.

Here: The injured petitioner insists that his appeal is genuine.

Context: A quoted Horatian speaker who has deceived before but is now truly injured; Burton reuses the plea in the uncharity scene.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: non ludo

Modern rendering: I am not pretending

Word and construction: The negative is retained, and ludo receives the contextual meaning pretending rather than literal play.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

pretend

Printed “pretend” (English; lemma).

To put forward or allege a claim; this use does not itself entail deception.

Here: The petitioner may plead sickness, loss or other calamities as grounds for assistance.

Context: Burton describes appeals ignored by the rich man; pretend sickness must not be silently equated with counterfeit sickness.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: pretend sickness

Modern rendering: Plead sickness

Word and construction: The verb becomes plead, preserving an asserted ground for aid without certifying it false.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

quaere peregrinum

Printed “quære peregrinum” (Latin; phrase).

Latin quaere means seek or find; peregrinum means a stranger or someone from elsewhere.

Here: The instruction means find someone who does not know you in the Horatian rejection.

Context: Horace’s neighbors reject a known deceiver despite real injury; Burton inserts the line into his satire of indiscriminate refusal. The source character’s history does not establish guilt in every petitioner.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: quære peregrinum

Modern rendering: find someone who does not know you

Word and construction: The supplied rendering unfolds the contextual force of stranger; the relative clause is not a separately printed Latin phrase.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.