Generous

Use in the book

Noble spirits are not invulnerable. Public disgrace can drive generous minds into despair, and reduced circumstances can make them withdraw from society. Burton’s example of Terence is a reported story selected from a biography that also preserves competing accounts. The claim concerns many people in such circumstances, not an inevitable consequence of nobility. Elsewhere love can make low-minded people generous, meaning noble in spirit; Burton immediately distinguishes this from making the covetous liberal and magnificent, a financial change.

Approval and attribution matter. In the war satire, courageous and generous spirits is the flattering title given to men charged with cruelty. In the humoral discussion, what Cardano describes as extraordinary courage under torment is successively called generosity, frenzy and, rather, insensibility. Burton then speaks in his own voice: he takes such people to be mad or desperate rather than properly melancholic. The distinctions belong to his historical categories and cannot be converted into a modern claim about people with mental illness.

The death catalogue’s generous courage is praise attributed to Seneca, amid arguments for voluntary death. Burton subsequently rejects the doctrines and examples, then urges mitigation of harsh judgments where reason has been impaired. His conclusion leaves the fate of souls to God and asks charity to hope for the best. Neither the initial praise nor the subsequent condemnation should be detached from this final qualification.

Other objects change the application. Fine wines contribute to a luxuriant sensory display. A horse becomes more generous, or spirited, through gradual training; Burton applies the analogy to gentle treatment and allows avoidance when habituation fails. A well-bred mare appears in a reported comparison criticizing delayed marriage. Generous and base identifies noble-born and low-born people mingling in dances, not their relative willingness to give.

The extension to physiology is explicit. In Generosum membrum, generosum means noble or eminent and membrum an organ: the liver is a generous part because of the importance assigned to its blood-making function. The most generous melancholy is likewise the noblest kind in an astrological contrast attributed to Melanchthon, with Augustus and Catiline as opposed examples. The printed marginal symbols do not agree with the body’s astrological account, and the two are left distinct.

The susceptibility argument is carefully qualified. No noble-minded person is exempt from passing melancholy, while Rhazes is cited for the greater susceptibility of keen minds and noble spirits. Later Trincavellius says that fear and sorrow often do not appear in a noble and valiant person; Burton expressly agrees that neither symptom is universal. These claims concern different categories and qualifications, not a single inevitable effect of noble character.

Nobility also supports clemency: the generous lion supposedly spares the prostrate animal, and Ovid’s noble mind admits gentle impulses. Burton places his own English verse after the Latin. In a religious contrast, true religion fosters noble courage, whereas his later anti-Catholic polemic alleges that tales and terrors dismay even the noblest spirits. The latter is an accusation within the work, not an authenticated general account of Catholic conduct.

A preliminary joke calls a female attendant well-born or noble, with Burton’s explicit warning that the words are spoken in jest. In Lemnius’s account of offspring, generositate means excellence or nobility of the parents: his alleged explanation belongs to historical physiology, not a modern account of heredity. Latin wine described as generosum is strong or full-bodied in the catalogue of supposed aphrodisiacs; the adjoining marginal verse actually concerns their failure.

Related entries

Magnanimity and pusillanimity

Wine

Honest

Absolute: Completeness and excellence; the inherited comparison awaits an assigned article

Honour and nobility

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to His Book · paragraphs 28–30the well-born attendant, with Burton’s explicit jest caution.
2. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 1–4necessary soldiering distinguished from falsely bestowed heroic praise.
3. Subsection 5. Melancholy as a Passing State, Loosely So Called; the Different Meanings of the Word · paragraphs 2–4passing melancholy from which noble-mindedness gives no exemption.
4. Subsection 4. Composite Parts · paragraphs 9–11the liver as noble organ in historical physiology.
5. Subsection 2. The Part Affected The Faculty Affected and the People Affected · paragraphs 26–28Rhazes’s attributed susceptibility claim and the ensuing literary exception.
6. Subsection 4. The Stars as a Cause. Signs From Physiognomy, Metoposcopy and Chiromancy · paragraphs 7–9the noblest melancholy in a reported astrological classification, with discrepant marginal symbols.
7. Subsection 6. Parents as a Cause Through Inheritance · paragraphs 10–15parents’ excellence in Lemnius’s attributed physiological account of offspring.
8. Subsection 6. Shame and Disgrace as Causes · paragraphs 29–30; Subsection 6. Shame and Disgrace as Causes · paragraphs 35–37noble minds, disgrace and sensitive reputation.
9. Subsection 6 Poverty and Want as Causes of Melancholy · paragraphs 46–48adversity, social withdrawal and the disputed Terence example.
10. Subsection 3 Particular Symptoms From the Influence of Stars, Parts of the Body and Humours · paragraphs 25–27generosity redescribed as frenzy or insensibility, followed by Burton’s intervention.
11. Subsection 2 Symptoms of Windy Hypochondriacal Melancholy · paragraphs 11–13noble courage, symptoms that often do not appear, and Burton’s express denial of universality.
12. Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 6–14; Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraph 15; Section 4 Member 1 Prognosis of Melancholy · paragraphs 16–22attributed praise of voluntary death, rejection, and the final plea for charitable judgment. The abrupt printed-page change is retained.
13. Member 4 Exercise of Body and Mind Regulated · paragraphs 4–6fine wines among luxurious pleasures.
14. Subsection 2 Help From Friends Through Counsel and Comfort Gentle and Harsh Methods Ingenious Devices Reassurance Changes in the Way of Life and Removal of Troubling Objects and So Forth · paragraphs 11–14the spirited horse as an analogy for gradual habituation, followed by conditional avoidance.
15. Member 7 Against Rejection, Abuse, Injuries, Contempt, Disgrace, Insults, Slander, Mockery and the Like · paragraphs 35–40gentleness, the noble lion and Ovid’s noble mind, followed by Burton’s separate English verse.
16. Member 2. Subsection 1. Causes of Heroic Love: Bodily Temperament, Plentiful Diet, Idleness, Place, Climate, and So Forth · paragraphs 46–48strong wine in the alleged aphrodisiac catalogue, with a marginal verse on failure.
17. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 49–52love making the base noble, separately from financial liberality.
18. Member 4 Subsection 1 Symptoms or Signs of Love Melancholy in Body and Mind Good and Bad Signs and So Forth · paragraphs 30–32noble-born and low-born dancers mingled together.
19. Subsection 5 The Last and Best Cure for Love Melancholy Is to Let Lovers Have Their Desire · paragraphs 64–66the well-bred mare in Burton’s reported marriage analogy.
20. Its Object, God; What His Beauty Is; How It Attracts. The Parts and People Affected · paragraphs 25–27true religion distinguished from superstition and said to foster noble courage.
21. Causes of Despair: The Devil, Melancholy, Meditation, Distrust, Weakness of Faith, Harsh Ministers, Misunderstanding Scripture, Guilty Consciences, and So On · paragraphs 35–37the polemical allegation that religious terrors dismay even noble spirits.

In this edition

“Generous minds” → “Noble minds”; “generous spirits” → “noble spirits”; “this generosity” → “this nobility of spirit”; “generous courage” → “noble courage”; and “generous wines” → “fine wines”. These inherited pairs preserve the social and moral register in the human cases and the different evaluation of wine. In the endurance passage, “fury, or rather stupidity” becomes “frenzy—or rather insensibility”; the correction and Burton’s own response remain visible.

The horse’s “much more generous” is retrieved as “more spirited” within a compressed construction also containing couragious/courageous; the modernization does not separately repeat much or then before. “generous Mare” → “well-bred mare,” and “generous and base” → “noble and low-born”. “base fellows become generous” becomes “low-minded fellows noble,” while the subsequent covetous/liberal contrast supplies the different financial meaning.

“Generosum membrum, Melancthon stiles it, a generous part” becomes the single sentence “Melanchthon calls it a noble organ.” The modern text consolidates the Latin and original English repetition, so neither small original unit alone accounts for the entire sentence. “The most generous melancholy” → “The noblest melancholy” preserves the superlative in the reported astrological contrast.

The Latin “generosi animi” means noble minds, but its sentence says they are often disturbed; Burton’s separate English adds despair. “Generosa ancilla” is “a well-born attendant”: generosa supplies well-born and ancilla attendant. “à parentum generositate” becomes “from their parents’ excellence,” with their supplied from context. “Vinum imprimis generosum” becomes “Above all, strong wine.” In the clemency example, “mens generosa” contributes “A noble mind” to the fuller translated verse: mens means mind and generosa noble.

generositas

Printed “generositate” (Latin; lemma).

Nobility or excellence; here excellence of the parents.

Here: Offspring are alleged to fall short of their parents’ excellence.

Context: Lemnius’s attributed explanation concerns marital performance within historical spirits physiology, not financial giving or established modern heredity. Burton’s subsequent English intensifies the claim with weaklings and intellectual disability.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: à parentum generositate

Modern rendering: from their parents’ excellence

Word and construction: Parentum supplies parents’, generositate excellence and à from; their is supplied from the preceding offspring-parent relationship.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generosity

Printed “generosity” (English; lemma).

Nobility or greatness of spirit.

Here: Extraordinary endurance is redescribed as frenzy or insensibility.

Context: Burton first reports Cardano’s humoral explanation, then intervenes with but I take to distinguish madness or desperation from melancholy properly so called.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: this generosity, fury, or rather stupidity

Modern rendering: this nobility of spirit, frenzy—or rather insensibility

Word and construction: Each term has its own counterpart; generosity is not an isolated settled diagnosis or approval.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generosum membrum

Printed “Generosum membrum” (Latin; phrase).

Generosum means noble or eminent; membrum an organ or bodily part.

Here: The liver is accorded eminent status as the workshop of blood in historical physiology.

Context: Burton attributes the phrase to Melanchthon and then repeats it in English.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Generosum membrum

Modern rendering: a noble organ

Alignment scope: component phrase within a consolidated wider sentence

Word and construction: Generosum means noble or eminent and membrum organ; a is supplied by English grammar. The modern sentence consolidates the Latin phrase and the adjacent original English repetition.

Translator-supplied words: a

Wider original wording: Generosum membrum, Melancthon stiles it, a generous part

Wider modern rendering: Melanchthon calls it a noble organ.

Wider alignment scope: wider construction consolidating the Latin and its original English restatement

Wider word and construction: Both original noun phrases are rendered once as a noble organ; Melancthon stiles it supplies the attribution.

Further local use

Printed “a generous part” (English; phrase).

Citation key: generous part.

Here: Part means bodily organ; generous accords it eminent functional status.

Context: Burton repeats Melanchthon’s Latin description of the liver in English; the modern sentence combines both versions.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a generous part

Modern rendering: a noble organ

Word and construction: Generous becomes noble and part organ within the consolidated modern sentence.

Sense relation: The English repetition names the same eminent organ as the Latin phrase.

Translation layer: The Latin and original English share one modern rendering, not two independent modern sentences.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous

Printed “Generous” (English; lemma).

Noble in disposition, spirit or birth; locally noble-minded.

Here: Noble minds are especially disturbed by public disgrace.

Context: Burton’s English expansion adds despair to the preceding Latin attributed to Platter; the English phrase is aligned only to its own modernization.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Generous minds

Modern rendering: Noble minds

Word and construction: Generous is noble, not financially giving.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generous” (English; lemma).

Citation key: generous.

Here: People of noble spirit withdraw from company when adversity makes them feel despised.

Context: The construction is many in such cases, not every person; Terence’s withdrawal is said to have happened and the source preserves rival accounts.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: many generous spirits in such cases

Modern rendering: Many noble spirits in such circumstances

Word and construction: The adjective and its noun are retained together, with the quantity and circumstance preserved.

Sense relation: Noble disposition remains vulnerable to social suffering.

Uncertainty: The Terence biography’s poverty narrative is disputed within the supplied source comparison.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generous” (English; lemma).

Citation key: generous.

Here: Love is said to turn low-minded people noble, separately from turning misers into generous spenders.

Context: Burton allows some good qualities amid troublesome effects; this is not an unrestricted approval of love’s consequences.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: it makes base fellows become generous

Modern rendering: it makes low-minded fellows noble

Word and construction: Base and generous are moral-spiritual opposites; the following financial contrast is distinct.

Sense relation: Nobility of spirit can be an acquired beneficial change, not only an inherited status.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generous” (English; lemma).

Citation key: generous.

Here: Violent men receive the flattering title of noble spirits.

Context: Burton reports a complaint about false honour, not his own certification of their nobility.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: couragious and generous spirits

Modern rendering: courageous and noble spirits

Word and construction: The translated description remains the praise other people bestow in the critical narrative.

Sense relation: The same laudatory word can be misapplied by a society.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generosi animi” (Latin; phrase).

Citation key: generosus animus.

Here: Noble minds are often disturbed by shame, dishonour or committed error.

Context: The Latin attributed to Platter does not itself say despair; that is added by Burton’s separate English expansion.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: sæpe moventur generosi animi

Modern rendering: Noble minds are often disturbed

Word and construction: The subject is moved ahead of the verb in English: generosi animi supplies noble minds, sæpe often and moventur are disturbed.

Sense relation: The Latin supplies the noble-minded disposition but not the English expansion’s despair.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generous” (English; lemma).

Citation key: generous.

Here: Even nobility of mind gives no exemption from passing sorrow.

Context: Burton expressly speaks of transitory melancholy dispositions, distinguished from the enduring condition; the claim is not a diagnosis of every person.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: so patient, so generous, so godly

Modern rendering: patient, noble-minded, godly

Word and construction: Generous contributes noble-minded in a list whose repeated so is compressed by the modern sentence.

Sense relation: Noble-mindedness is no immunity to ordinary sorrow.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “most generous spirits” (English; phrase).

Citation key: generous spirit.

Here: Rhazes is cited for special susceptibility among keen minds and noble spirits.

Context: This is an attributed historical susceptibility claim, followed by Burton’s broad statement of inclusion and a literary Stoic exception.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: most generous spirits

Modern rendering: noblest spirits

Word and construction: The superlative evaluation of spirit is retained.

Sense relation: The same noble disposition appears in a reported account of susceptibility.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “a generous spirit, and a valiant” (English; phrase).

Citation key: generous spirit.

Here: Trincavellius says fear and sorrow often do not appear in such a person.

Context: The nonappearance is attributed to courage, without stating deliberate concealment. Burton then expressly agrees that fear and sorrow are not universal symptoms.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: a generous spirit, and a valiant

Modern rendering: a noble and valiant spirit

Word and construction: Generous means noble and valiant remains valiant; the coordinated adjectives share spirit in the modern phrase.

Sense relation: Noble courage belongs to a qualification of the symptom account, not an inevitable symptom pattern.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generous spirits” (English; phrase).

Citation key: generous spirit.

Here: True religion is said to foster courage and noble spirit under persecution.

Context: The preceding paragraph distinguishes true religion from superstition; Burton’s confidence claim is devotional rather than a guarantee of individual reactions.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: begets generous spirits

Modern rendering: fosters noble spirits

Word and construction: Begets becomes fosters and generous noble, preserving true religion as the preceding subject.

Sense relation: Noble spirit is an effect attributed to true religion.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “most generous spirits” (English; phrase).

Citation key: generous spirit.

Here: Religious terror is alleged to dismay even the noblest spirits.

Context: This is Burton’s polemical accusation against Catholics, not a neutral account of their teaching or universal conduct; the later financial generosity translates a different word.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: to daunt even the most generous spirits

Modern rendering: dismaying even the noblest spirits

Word and construction: The adversative force of even and the superlative are retained.

Sense relation: Noble spirit can be vulnerable to the religious terror alleged in the polemic.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous and base

Printed “generous and base” (English; phrase).

Generous means noble-born; base means low-born in this rank contrast.

Here: People of different ranks dance together.

Context: Comus and Hymen personify revelry and marriage; permission is described in some cases, not as a universal rule.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: generous and base

Modern rendering: noble and low-born

Word and construction: The contrast concerns social rank, alongside age and wealth distinctions.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “generosa ancilla” (Latin; phrase).

Citation key: generosa ancilla.

Here: Generosa means noble or well-born; ancilla a female servant or attendant.

Context: The author addresses his book, inviting it to welcome the woman; Burton explicitly says the words are a jest and warns against misunderstanding.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: generosa ancilla

Modern rendering: a well-born attendant

Word and construction: The adjective and noun each retain their contribution; a is supplied by English grammar.

Sense relation: Nobility of birth or character applies to the attendant in the preliminary joke.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous courage

Printed “generous courage” (English; phrase).

Generous means noble or magnanimous; courage is fortitude.

Here: The phrase occurs in praise attributed to Seneca of voluntary deaths.

Context: The praise belongs to one side of Burton’s debate; he subsequently rejects its doctrines and finally qualifies harsh judgment with pity and uncertainty about salvation.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: their generous courage in so doing

Modern rendering: their noble courage in doing so

Word and construction: Noble preserves the attributed praise; in so doing points to the preceding voluntary-death examples.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous horse

Printed “generous” (English; phrase).

Spirited or courageous.

Here: A trained horse becomes bolder rather than afraid at alarming sounds.

Context: Burton uses animal habituation as an analogy for gradual, gentle treatment, expressly rejecting abrupt change.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: much more generous at the hearing of such things, much more couragious then before

Modern rendering: more spirited and courageous on hearing them

Word and construction: The modern joins the two comparative descriptions and does not separately repeat much or then before.

Qualification: Corresponding wider construction: spirited gives generous; courageous gives couragious. The modernization compresses repeated comparative degree.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous lion

Printed “generous Lion” (English; phrase).

A noble lion, exemplifying magnanimity.

Here: The lion supposedly spares a prostrate beast in the argument for gentleness.

Context: This is a moral and natural-history comparison used to recommend clemency; it does not establish a zoological rule or merely describe pedigree.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: A generous Lion will not hurt a beast that lies prostrate

Modern rendering: A noble lion will not hurt a prostrate beast

Word and construction: Generous becomes noble; the lion’s claimed restraint toward the prostrate animal is preserved.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “mens generosa” (Latin; phrase).

Citation key: mens generosa.

Here: Mens means mind; generosa noble, here receptive to gentleness.

Context: The Ovid couplet supports clemency; Burton’s separate English verse follows and is not treated as its literal translation.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Et faciles motus mens generosa capit

Modern rendering: A noble mind admits gentle impulses

Word and construction: Mens generosa contributes a noble mind, faciles motus gentle impulses and capit admits; the introductory Et is not separately represented.

Sense relation: The adjacent human noble mind shares the lion comparison’s clemency rather than mere social rank.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous mare

Printed “generous Mare” (English; phrase).

A well-bred mare, of noble stock.

Here: The animal comparison illustrates selective mating altered by perceived loss of beauty.

Context: Burton applies a reported Plutarch anecdote to his criticism of delayed marriage; the analogy and social assumptions are historical.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that generous Mare in Plutarch

Modern rendering: that well-bred mare in Plutarch

Word and construction: Generous is well-bred, a stock/breeding judgment rather than a description of giving.

Uncertainty: The exact Plutarch passage and wording remain uncollated in the supplied edition.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous melancholy

Printed “most generous melancholy” (English; phrase).

The noblest or most elevated kind of melancholy in the reported classification.

Here: Augustus is made the noble example, opposed to Catiline’s bad kind.

Context: Burton reports Melanchthon’s astrological explanation, with an inconsistent symbol sequence in the margin; neither is a modern diagnosis or established causal account.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: The most generous melancholy

Modern rendering: The noblest melancholy

Word and construction: The superlative is preserved; the adjective evaluates the kind rather than describing generosity with money.

Uncertainty: The original marginal astrological symbols differ from the body; no reconciliation is imposed.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

generous wine

Printed “generous wines” (English; phrase).

Excellent or full-bodied wine.

Here: The wines form part of an extravagant display appealing to the senses.

Context: Burton describes luxurious entertainments; this use evaluates wine quality, not human liberality or quantity.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: generous wines

Modern rendering: fine wines

Word and construction: Fine supplies the wine’s excellence; the broader historical sense may include fullness or strength.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.

Further local use

Printed “Vinum imprimis generosum” (Latin; phrase).

Citation key: vinum generosum.

Here: Vinum means wine, generosum strong or full-bodied, imprimis especially or above all.

Context: The catalogue records supposed aphrodisiacs in Burton’s historical account of luxurious diet; the adjacent marginal couplet concerns failed aphrodisiacs and is misattributed to Ovid.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: Vinum imprimis generosum

Modern rendering: Above all, strong wine

Word and construction: Word order changes; imprimis gives above all, generosum strong and vinum wine.

Sense relation: Wine’s fullness or strength is explicit in this Latin application; no efficacy claim is endorsed.

Alignment conventions: Alignment convention.