The anatomy of melancholy : what it is with all the kinds, causes, symptons, prognostics & several cures of it / In three partitions with their several sections members & subsections philosophically, medicinally, historically opened & cut up by Democritus Junior [Robert Burton] with a satirical preface conducing to the following discourse.
- Burton, Robert, 1577-1640.
- Date:
- 1924
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The anatomy of melancholy : what it is with all the kinds, causes, symptons, prognostics & several cures of it / In three partitions with their several sections members & subsections philosophically, medicinally, historically opened & cut up by Democritus Junior [Robert Burton] with a satirical preface conducing to the following discourse. Source: Wellcome Collection.
20/778
![“ The archness which Burton displays occasionally, and his indulgence of playful digres¬ sions from the most serious discussions, often give his style an air of familiar conversation, notwithstanding the laborious collections which supply his text. He was capable of writ¬ ing excellent poetry, but he seems to have cultivated this talent too little. The English verses prefixed to his book, which possess beautiful imagery, and great sweetness of versi¬ fication, have been frequently published. His Latin elegiac verses addressed to his book, shew a very agreeable turn for raillery.”—Ibid. p. 58. “ When the force of the subject opens his own vein of prose, we discover valuable sense and brilliant expression. Such is his account of the first feelings of melancholy persons, written, probably, from his own experience.” [See p. 161, of the present edition.]—Ibid. p. 60. “ During a pedantic age, like that in which Burton’s production appeared, it must have been eminently serviceable to writers of many descriptions. Hence the unlearned might furnish themselves with appropriate scraps of Greek and Latin, whilst men of letters would find their inquiries shortened, by knowing where they might look for what both ancients and moderns have advanced on the subject of human passions. I confess my inability to point out any other English author who has so largely dealt in apt and original quotation.”—Manuscript note of the late George Steevens, Esq.* in his copy of Tut A.NATOMY OF Mej.ANCHOL\](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31357465_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
