Homely

Use in the book

The poverty discussion supplies the old entry’s central examples. Philopoemen is set to chop wood because he is plainly dressed; Terence receives a low place at Caecilius’s table because of his shabby appearance; Dante is refused a seat at a feast because his clothes are poor. The point is the social failure to recognize merit beneath modest clothing. The editorial notes preserve two important limits to Burton’s compression: Philopoemen was the general, although Burton calls him an orator, and Terence’s source continues with recognition of his talent and an invitation to dine. The nearby account of Terence’s miserable withdrawal likewise selects one disputed version from the biography. These are examples as Burton deploys them, not three unqualified historical demonstrations.

Consolation reverses the scorn attached to plain possessions. The poor man’s wooden and earthenware “homely stuffe” is contrasted with the rich man’s gold and silver: Burton claims safety for the former and fear of poison for the latter. That contrast serves the argument for contentment rather than neutrally describing every household. Later a staged poor speaker says he is “clad homely” and asks whether this makes him worse or contemptible. Plainness here is precisely what the reply refuses to treat as disgrace.

Writing can also be homely. Burton runs together hostile judgments of Seneca as a “homely shallow writer” to demonstrate that even a distinguished author cannot please all readers. The phrase belongs to the disparaging account he is rehearsing. At the opening of the love partition he himself admits material that is “more homely, light, or comicall”, associated with the theatre, marketplace, street and tavern. He asks that it be interpreted generously. Familiar matter and a supposedly shallow intellect are therefore distinct local uses, even though both can be opposed to elevated literary expectations.

Léry’s reported comparison of Brazilian nakedness and European clothing uses “homeliness” for unadorned simplicity. The quoted argument says elaborate outfits provoke desire more strongly, while expressly allowing the Brazilian women equal natural beauty. It would reverse that qualification to translate their plainness as ugliness. The label “Barbarian” belongs to the European observer’s language. Burton adopts the comparison for his larger claim that ornament intensifies attraction.

The kissing passage shifts from plainness to over-familiar intimacy. “Too homely kisses” follow a detailed account of erotic excess, but Burton has already denied that all kisses are improper, allowing charitable, friendly, modest and ceremonial kinds. His next paragraph conditionally invokes severe theological positions; the editor notes that his compressed Aquinas claim omits the distinction between acts and intention, and that other citations need qualification. The later “homely embracings” occur in a hostile catalogue of dancing’s effects. This too is bounded by an explicit later objection and reply: Burton says he does not condemn dancing, and approves it when timely, moderate and sober. The intimacy described in the charge should not be turned into a universal rejection of kissing or dancing.

Related entries

Tires and weeds: The plain clothing behind social judgments.

Fulsome: Offensiveness is distinct from plain appearance or familiar conduct.

Brave: Splendid dress supplies the contrasting valuation of appearance.

Places to read

1. Democritus Junior to the Reader · paragraphs 17–19Seneca’s praise and hostile reception, including the plain, shallow writer description and Burton’s application to himself.
2. Subsection 6 Poverty and Want as Causes of Melancholy · paragraphs 47–50poverty, disputed Terence biography and the three examples of plain clothes misjudged; see the correction of Philopoemen’s profession and the source’s omitted reversal for Terence.
3. Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities · paragraphs 19–21costly excess contrasted with humble utensils and the consolatory claim of safety.
4. Member 3 Against Poverty and Want and Other Such Adversities · paragraphs 42–44the poor speaker’s plain clothing and challenge to social contempt, followed by intellectual rather than hereditary nobility.
5. Section 1. Member 1. Subsection 1 The Preface · paragraphs 20–22mixed literary matter and the appeal for a charitable reading of familiar or comic material.
6. Artificial Attractions of Love and Incitements to Lust Gestures Clothes Dowry and So On · paragraphs 25–27Léry’s comparison, equal natural beauty and Burton’s conclusion about ornament.
7. Persistence and Opportunity of Time and Place; Meetings, Conversation, Singing, Dancing, Music, Amorous Tales and Sights, Kissing, Familiarity, Tokens, Gifts, Bribes, Promises, Declarations, Tears, and So On · paragraphs 44–51proper kisses expressly allowed before excessive familiarity is condemned; conditional theological claims and the return to love’s progression.
8. Persistence and Opportunity of Time and Place; Meetings, Conversation, Singing, Dancing, Music, Amorous Tales and Sights, Kissing, Familiarity, Tokens, Gifts, Bribes, Promises, Declarations, Tears, and So On · paragraphs 31–33; Persistence and Opportunity of Time and Place; Meetings, Conversation, Singing, Dancing, Music, Amorous Tales and Sights, Kissing, Familiarity, Tokens, Gifts, Bribes, Promises, Declarations, Tears, and So On · paragraphs 46–52familiar embraces in the hostile dance catalogue, qualified by the objection and Burton’s positive account of appropriate dancing.

In this edition

The inherited pairs “homely attired” → “plainly dressed” and “homely outside” → “shabby appearance” make dress and outward presentation explicit. “Homely stuffe” → “humble utensils” narrows the general noun to the household objects actually enumerated. “Am clad homely” → “dress plainly” preserves the adverbial use in the poor speaker’s answer.

Literary “homely” becomes “plain” in the Seneca criticism but “homelier” in Burton’s description of familiar material. “Homeliness” becomes “simplicity” in Léry’s comparison. Finally, “too homely kisses” → “kisses too familiar” and “homely embracings” → “familiar embraces” preserve the intimacy sense. The first retains the explicit degree word “too”; the second depends on its accusatory context rather than containing that degree word itself.

homely · local use 1

Printed “homely” (English; lemma).

Plain, unpolished or commonplace.

Here: Homely characterizes literary manner in the hostile description of Seneca. Shallow is a separate judgment of intellectual depth.

Context: Burton assembles criticism of Seneca to show that even an admired writer cannot satisfy everyone.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: an homely shallow writer

Modern rendering: a plain, shallow writer

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

homely · homely attired

Printed “homely attired” (English; lemma).

Dressed plainly or poorly.

Here: Homely describes unostentatious clothing that causes Philopoemen to be mistaken for someone who should chop wood. The note corrects Burton’s orator to general.

Context: Burton’s poverty argument exposes judgment by appearances through reported anecdotes.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: homely attired

Modern rendering: plainly dressed

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

Further local use

Printed “homely” (English; lemma).

Citation key: homely.

Here: Homely is adverbial: plainly. The first-person poor speaker challenges the inference that plain dress deserves contempt.

Context: Burton stages a consolatory reply in the poor person’s voice, rather than giving autobiographical wardrobe evidence.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: am clad homely

Modern rendering: dress plainly

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

homely · homely outside

Printed “homely outside” (English; lemma).

Plain or shabby outward appearance.

Here: Outside means outward presentation; Terence is initially placed low at Caecilius’s table. The source’s later recognition of talent is compressed away by Burton.

Context: A reported example of status judged through dress, beside Philopoemen and Dante.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: homely outside

Modern rendering: shabby appearance

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

homely · homely stuffe

Printed “homely stuffe” (English; lemma).

Plain, inexpensive equipment or household objects.

Here: Stuffe is material or equipment here, specifically wooden and earthenware utensils; homely marks their modest character.

Context: Consolation contrasts a poor person’s supposed safety with the rich person’s fear of poison.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: homely stuffe

Modern rendering: humble utensils

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

homely · local use 2

Printed “homely” (English; lemma).

Plain or familiar in literary manner.

Here: The familiar material is associated with theatre, street and tavern stories, and Burton requests a charitable reading.

Context: Burton acknowledges mixed matter and asks the reader not to misconstrue the comic subject.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: some things more homely, light, or comicall

Modern rendering: some homelier, lighter or comic material

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

homely · homeliness

Printed “homeliness” (English; lemma).

Plainness or lack of elaborate ornament.

Here: The noun contrasts habitual nakedness with elaborate European dress. Equal natural beauty is expressly allowed; barbarian is the European speaker’s designation.

Context: Burton quotes Léry’s comparative argument and uses it to support his claim about art’s power to provoke desire.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: that Barbarian homeliness

Modern rendering: that barbarian simplicity

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

homely · local use 3

Printed “homely” (English; lemma).

Familiar or intimate.

Here: Too marks excess. Homely here describes erotic familiarity, not a kiss’s plain appearance; earlier Burton expressly permits several kinds of proper kisses.

Context: Burton condemns the specific erotic excess under discussion; ensuing theological claims are conditional and some misstate their cited sources.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: too homely kisses

Modern rendering: kisses too familiar

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.

Further local use

Printed “homely embracings” (English; lemma).

Citation key: homely.

Here: Homely means familiar or intimate and embracings means embraces. The anti-dance catalogue is later limited by Burton’s explicit acceptance of moderate, sober and timely dancing.

Context: A report beginning with an unnamed critic’s condemnation, extended by Burton; the later objection and reply must qualify any generalization.

Source: original body

Source wording and original alignment: homely embracings

Modern rendering: familiar embraces

Alignment scope: Equal-scope phrase/construction in the paired body texts

Word and construction: The indexed form contributes the defined sense to this complete aligned unit.