Anatomy of Melancholy, 300-330 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 15 — Love of Learning, or overmuch Study. With a Digression of the Misery of Scholars, and why the Muses are Melancholy (Overmuch Study) (Third Again)

This section is a real goldmine of insults, or more specifically: insults against greedy ecumenical scholars. I don’t know any of those, not being very godly myself, but still these might be useful the next time you get a bad grade in an English class, and also for instructors to use the next time time […]

330 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 15 — Love of Learning, or overmuch Study. With a Digression of the Misery of Scholars, and why the Muses are Melancholy (Overmuch Study) (Again Again)

“For my part, though I be not worthy perhaps to carry Alexander’s books… but I replied still with Alexander, that I had enough, and more peradventure than I deserved… I had as lief be still Democritus Junior, and privus privatus, si mihi jam daretur optio, quam talis fortasse doctor, talis dominus [an obscure individual, if […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 300-330 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 15 — Love of Learning, or overmuch Study. With a Digression of the Misery of Scholars, and why the Muses are Melancholy (Overmuch Study) (Again)

“Saturn and Mercury, the patrons of learning, are both dry planets… Poetry and beggary are gemilli, twin-born brats, inseperable companions.” There might be an awful, awful lot of drawings for this subsection, partly because it is the longest so far (ten times as long as the others) but also mostly because I strongly identify with […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 292-300 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 14 — Philautia, or Self-love, Vainglory, Praise, Honour, Immoderate Applause, Pride, overmuch Joy, etc., Causes (Monks)

You know who else is mad with vainglory and philautia? Monks! Hypocritical monk self-love is one of the most vexing problems facing the modern world. Monks are “insensibly mad, and know not of it, such as contemn all praise and glory, think themselves most free whenas indeed they are most mad.” I’m mostly kidding about […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 292-300 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 14 — Philautia, or Self-love, Vainglory, Praise, Honour, Immoderate Applause, Pride, overmuch Joy, etc., Causes (Writers)

Writers don’t escape Burton’s condemnation, even though he is one. Quoting Cicero: “There was never yet true poet nor orator, that thought any other better than himself.” At least I think he’s quoting Cicero there, but honestly his attribution is confusing and I narrowly avoided falling down a weird Atticus/Tully/Cicero rabbit hole. Okay so I […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 287-292 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 14 — Philautia, or Self-love, Vainglory, Praise, Honour, Immoderate Applause, Pride, overmuch Joy, etc., Causes

Whatever you call it, “overmuch Joy” and love of “immoderate applause” being my personal favorites, pride is no good thing: “This acceptable disease, which so sweetly sets upon us, ravisheth our senses, lulls our souls asleep, puffs up our hearts as so many bladders.” I really wanted to draw a puffed up bladder for this […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 287-292 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 13 — Love of Gaming, etc., and Pleasures Immoderate, Causes (Hawking, Hunting, Gaming)

“They do persecute beasts so long, till in the end they themselves degenerate into beasts.” Once again, I was about to move on from this section and make some goddamned progress, but then I didn’t because I drew another goddamned picture. Maybe “immoderate desire of hawking and hunting” is an archaic source of melancholic debauchery, […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 282-285 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 12 — Covetousness, φιλαργυρίαν, a Cause (Second Drawing)

  I seem to have drawn a second illustration for Part I, Section 2, Member III, Subsection 12. I’m just really enjoying all these jabs at the rich and covetous if I’m honest: “Austin therefore defines covetousness, quarumlibet rerum inhonestam et insatiabilem cupiditatem, a dishonest and insatiable desire of gain; and in one of his […]

The Anatomy of Melancholy: Love of Gaming

Anatomy of Melancholy, 287-291 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 13 — Love of Gaming, etc., and Pleasures Immoderate, Causes

  “Tristes voluptatum exitus, et quisquis voluptatum suarum reminisci volet, intelliget [from Boethius: pleasures bring sadness in their train, as any one will perceive who recalls his own pleasures], as bitter as gall and wormwood is their last; grief of mind, madness itself.” I ate too many Oreos last night, so I guess the wormwood […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 280-282 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 11 — Concupiscible Appetite, as Desires, Ambition, Causes

For commonly they that, like Sisyphus, roll this restless stone of ambition, are in a perpetual agony, still perplexed, semper taciti, tritesque recedunt [they fall back continually, silent and sorrowful] (Lucretius), doubtful, timorous, suspicious, loath to offend in word or deed, still cogging and colloguing, embracing, capping, cringing, applauding, flattering, fleering, visiting, waiting at men’s doors, with all affability, counterfeit honesty and humility. 

Anatomy of Melancholy, 271-279 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 10—Discontents, Cares, Miseries, etc. Causes

“The common etymology will evince it, Cura quasi cor uro [cura (care) = cor uro (I burn my heart)]; Dementes curae, insomnes curae, damnosae curae, tristes, mordaces, carnifices, &c. biting, eating, gnawing, cruel, bitter, sick, sad, unquiet, pale, tetric, miserable, intolerable cares, as the poets call them, worldly cares, and are as many in number as the sea sands.”

Anatomy of Melancholy, 269-271 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 8 — Emulation, Hatred, Faction, Desire of Revenge, Causes (again)

“As Cyprian describes emulation, it is ‘a moth of the soul, a consumption, to make another man’s happiness his misery, to torture, crucify, and execute himself, to eat his own heart.'”

Anatomy of Melancholy, 266-269 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 8 — Emulation, Hatred, Faction, Desire of Revenge, Causes

But being that we are so peevish and perverse, insolent and proud, so factious and seditious, so malicious and envious; we do invicem angariare, maul and vex one another, torture, disquiet, and precipitate ourselves into that gulf of woes and cares, aggravate our misery and melancholy, heap upon us hell and eternal damnation.

Anatomy of Melancholy, 259-261 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 4 — Sorrow a Cause of Melancholy

Note to self: You skipped Subsection 3, a “Division of Perturbations” because it seemed to make more sense to draw individual perturbations before drawing the catalogue. I guess? Subsection 3 didn’t make much sense, really. Sometimes Burton says there are four perturbations but goes on to name three, and then sometimes there are seven or […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 253-258 (again) — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 2 — Of the Force of Imagination

  Oops I just realized that I did two drawings for Part I, Section 2, Member III Subsection 2, but none for Part I, Section 2, Member III Subsection 1. I guess I should backtrack a bit. I just really wanted to draw a bugbear: “What will not a fearful man conceive in the dark? […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 252-253 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 1 — Passions and Perturbations of the Mind, how they cause Melancholy

I almost missed a subsection! God forbid. It was short (relatively speaking) so I forgot it until today: Thus in brief, to our imagination cometh by the outward sense or memory, some object to be known (residing in the foremost part of the brain), which he misconceiving or amplifying presently communicates to the heart, the […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 253-258 — Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. III, Subsect. 2 — Of the Force of Imagination

  Work in progress… Well no progress really. I started this one before Covid-19 hit the US, and for a month now I haven’t managed to force myself to return to it. I finally realized that the poor thing reminded me so viscerally of normalcy that I just couldn’t handle working on it for now. […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 249-250 – Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. II, Subs. 7 – Sleeping and Waking, Causes

    Well, this section is brief and straightforward: “Nothing is better than moderate sleep, nothing worse than it if it be in extremes or unseasonably used.” Be particularly careful not to sleep “overmuch” because too much sleep will induce a “great store of excrements in the brain.” Also, do not sleep after “hard meats” […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 245-249 – Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. II, Subs. 6 – Immoderate Exercise a Cause, and how. Solitariness, Idleness (cont.)

We have covered idleness, so now on to solitude. In brief, unless you are freaking Socrates – and let’s be honest about this, because it is important, we are none of us Socrates – excessive solitude is bad for you and bad for everyone around you. This section had me thinking about those pro-introvert comics […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 241-244 – Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. II, Subs. 6 – Immoderate Exercise a Cause, and how. Solitariness, Idleness

  I didn’t draw “immoderate exercise” because who is ever melancholy from exercising too much? I really can’t identify with that at all. All I got from that bit was a good quote to whip out the next time your marathon-addict friend is espousing the joys of running until you feel like you are going […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 233 – 237 – Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. II, Subs. 5 – Bad Air a Cause of Melancholy

  Well, this section offers up just what I would expect from Burton at this point: Air should be neither too hot nor too cold, and melancholics should absolutely not sleep with their windows open because that nasty, dark night air will make their usual state of despondence… even more despondent: “The night and darkness […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 233 – 237 – Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. II, Subs. 4 – Retention and Evacuation a Cause, and how

  This section right here is the reason no one finishes this book. Retention and evacuation of what, you might ask? Body goo. This section is pretty much just about the kinds of goo and gross stuff that your body excretes. Poop takes the leading role, because everyone loves poop. There is a section on […]

Anatomy of Melancholy, 228 – 229 – Pt. I, Sec. 2, Mem. II, Subs. 2 – Quantity of Diet a Cause / Drunkenness

This is a picture of Pseudolus, drunk and garlanded. I couldn’t resist an extra drawing for Partition I, Section 2, Member II, Subsection 2, in which there are a few paragraphs on drunkenness. “Quid ego video? Cum corona Pseudolum ebrium tuum. [What do I see? Your friend Pseudolus, drunk and garlanded.]” So now you know […]