Constancy

Use in the book

Elionora Meliorina constantly believes herself married to a king. Her kneeling conversations and her interpretation of street glass as a jewel from her husband exemplify the firmness of the reported conviction. Constantly is therefore not a guarantee of sound judgement: the manner of believing is its contribution.

Atticus likewise maintains a settled resolution against his friends’ appeals in Burton’s account of his death. The passage describes his determination without making that action a model the reader should follow. The partition eventually separates human judgement of bodies and property from the divine judgement of souls, and closes by urging charity rather than rash condemnation.

In treatment counsel, constancie joins perseverance and obedience, especially against changing physicians and remedies at every disappointment. In the discussion of calming the mind, constancy stands beside mirth and good hope. These are sustaining dispositions within Burton’s historical programme; they have a different object from the conviction in the symptom account.

The religious discussion exposes the distinction between conviction and truth at the collective level: rival religions are maintained with equal constancie and assurance. Burton reports the sceptical inference that their conflict undermines confidence before rejecting it. The word names the firmness of their adherents, not a logical adjudication between doctrines. The meteorological constantly gives a separate, non-moral application: winds blow steadily at set times.

A constant wife is a faithful wife in Burton’s complaint about scarce human virtue. Conversely, his men as constant in their choice as Nero are being mocked for fickleness, so the adjective cannot be read as sincere praise there.

Related entries

Happiness and fortune: Steadiness amid changing circumstances.

Habit and disposition: The difference between a passing state and an established condition.

Hope: Hope as a sustaining companion to steadfastness.

Places to read

1. Subsection 4 Symptoms Arising From Education, Custom, Duration, Our… · paragraphs 4–6Firm belief within a sequence of reported imaginings.
2. Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 8–10Atticus’s resolution and the following comparison with public honours for dangerous conduct.
3. Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 21–22The partition’s later appeal to charitable judgement.
4. Subsection 2. Concerning the Patient · paragraphs 33–35Confidence followed by perseverance in a course of treatment.
5. Member 3. Air Corrected. With a Digression on Air · paragraphs 16–18Steady winds in a series of geographical questions.
6. Member 6 Subsection 1 Disturbances of the Mind Corrected Through The… · paragraphs 2–4Steadfastness beside cheerfulness and good hope.
7. Member 3 Charity Combining All Three Kinds of Love Pleasant Profitable And… · paragraphs 27–29A faithful wife in the rhetorical catalogue of scarce virtues.
8. By Counsel and Persuasion, the Foulness of the Deed, the Faults of Men And… · paragraphs 56–58Ironic praise of men’s constancy is explicitly reversed by the charge of fickleness.
9. Member 2 Subsection 1 Religious Melancholy From Deficiency: Those… · paragraphs 1–3Equal firmness in conflicting beliefs, within a reported objection.

In this edition

‘constantly beleeved’ becomes ‘firmly believed’, ‘constantly died’ becomes ‘died steadfastly’, and constancy becomes steadfastness in the calming prescription. Continually alone would obscure the strength of belief or resolution in those passages. This is a local distinction: ‘continually and constantly’ is actually rendered ‘continually and steadily’ of winds. The edition renders ‘equall constancie and assurance’ as ‘equal firmness and certainty’, preserving the two coordinated terms in the reported sceptical argument.

Constancy · constantly · local use 1

Printed “constantly” (English; family).

Firmly or steadfastly.

Here: The adverb marks the strength of Elionora Meliorina’s belief, not its truth.

Context: Burton reports Marcellus Donatus’s account; the royal marriage and jewels belong to the woman’s conviction.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: constantly beleeved

Modern rendering: firmly believed

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

Constancy · constantly · local use 2

Printed “constantly” (English; family).

With settled resolution.

Here: Atticus’s refusal to abandon his decision is described as steadfast.

Context: This is Burton’s historical narrative, not a recommendation; the end of the partition asks for charitable judgement of people who die by suicide.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: constantly died

Modern rendering: died steadfastly

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

Constancy · constancie · local use 1

Printed “constancie” (English; family).

Steadiness in adhering to a course.

Here: The patient is told not to change physician or remedy over every trifle.

Context: Burton adapts a Senecan comparison originally concerning sustained reading into historical treatment counsel.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: perseverance, obedience and constancie

Modern rendering: perseverance, obedience and constancy

Word and construction: Constancie supplies constancy; perseverance and obedience remain separate companion virtues.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Constancy · constantly · local use 3

Printed “constantly” (English; family).

Steadily or regularly.

Here: The adverb characterizes winds rather than a human resolution.

Context: Burton asks why winds blow in particular places, seasons and directions; these are questions in his geographical digression.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: continually and constantly

Modern rendering: continually and steadily

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

Constancy · constancy

Printed “constancy” (English; family).

Steadfastness or firmness of mind.

Here: Constancy is one of the proposed sustaining alternatives to fear and sorrow.

Context: Burton gathers medical authorities’ historical advice to pacify the mind.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: mirth, constancy, good hope

Modern rendering: cheerfulness, steadfastness, and good hope

Word and construction: Constancy supplies steadfastness; mirth and good hope supply the other two distinct supports.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Constancy · constancie · local use 2

Printed “constancie” (English; family).

Firmness or persistence in maintaining a position.

Here: Equally forceful religious conviction becomes part of an argument from disagreement.

Context: Burton reports the sceptics’ inference in order to oppose it; the firmness attributed to the sects is not proof that their beliefs are true.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: equall constancie and assurance

Modern rendering: equal firmness and certainty

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention, Alignment convention.

constant

Printed “constant” (English; lemma).

Faithful or steadfast in a relationship.

Here: The wife belongs to a rhetorical catalogue of virtues said to be scarce.

Context: Burton’s moral complaint and bird proverb are historical rhetoric, not verified sociological or ornithological claims.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a constant wife

Modern rendering: a faithful wife

Word and construction: Constant supplies faithful; wife supplies wife, and the article is retained.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “constant” (English; lemma).

Here: The apparent praise of men’s faithfulness is reversed by comparison with Nero and by the following far more fickle.

Context: Burton’s ironic comparison makes this a reproach; it does not praise Nero as a faithful husband.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: as constant in their choice

Modern rendering: just as constant in their choice

Alignment scope: Corresponding comparison with modern just reinforcing original as.

Word and construction: Constant remains constant within the ironic comparison; just reinforces as and is not an additional separate source word.

Sense relation: The same lexical sense in a further distinct local use or qualification.