The Anatomy of Melancholy

THE SYNOPSIS OF THE THIRD PARTITION.

Love and love melancholy, Memb. 1 Sect. 1.

• Preface or Introduction. Subsect. 1.
• Love's definition, pedigree, object, fair, amiable, gracious, and pleasant, from which comes beauty, grace, which all desire and love, parts affected.
• Division or kinds, Subs. 2.
  • Natural, in things without life, as love and hatred of elements; and with life, as vegetable, vine and elm, sympathy, antipathy, &c.
  • Sensible, as of beasts, for pleasure, preservation of kind, mutual agreement, custom, bringing up together, &c.
  • or Rational
    • Simple, which hath three objects as M. 2.
      • Profitable, Subs. 1.
        • Health, wealth, honour, we love our benefactors: nothing so amiable as profit, or that which hath a show of commodity.
      • Pleasant, Subs. 2.
        • Things without life, made by art, pictures, sports, games, sensible objects, as hawks, hounds, horses; Or men themselves for similitude of manners, natural affection, as to friends, children, kinsmen, &c., for glory such as commend us.
        • Of women, as
          • Before marriage, as Heroical Mel. Sect. 2. vide ♈
          • Or after marriage, as Jealousy, Sect. 3. vide ♉
      • Honest, Subs. 3.
        • Fucate in show, by some error or hypocrisy; some seem and are not; or truly for virtue, honesty, good parts, learning, eloquence, &c.
    • or Mixed of all three, which extends to M. 3.
      • Common good, our neighbour, country, friends, which is charity; the defect of which is cause of much discontent and melancholy.
      • or God, Sect. 4.
        • In excess, vide ♊
        • In defect, vide ♋

• Memb. 1. His pedigree, power, extent to vegetables and sensible creatures, as well as men, to spirits, devils, &c.
• His name, definition, object, part affected, tyranny. [Subs. 2.]
• Causes, Memb. 2.
  • Stars, temperature, full diet, place, country, clime, condition, idleness, S. 1.
  • Natural allurements, and causes of love, as beauty, its praise, how it allureth.
  • Comeliness, grace, resulting from the whole or some parts, as face, eyes, hair, hands, &c. Subs. 2.
  • Artificial allurements, and provocations of lust and love, gestures, apparel, dowry, money, &c.
  • Quest. Whether beauty owe more to Art or Nature? Subs. 3.
  • Opportunity of time and place, conference, discourse, music, singing, dancing, amorous tales, lascivious objects, familiarity, gifts, promises, &c. Subs. 4.
  • Bawds and Philters, Subs. 5.
• Symptoms or signs, Memb. 3.
  • Of body
    • Dryness, paleness, leanness, waking, sighing, &c.
    • Quest. An delur pulsus amatorius?
  • or Of mind.
    • Bad, as
      • Fear, sorrow, suspicion, anxiety, &c.
      • A hell, torment, fire, blindness, &c.
      • Dotage, slavery, neglect of business.
    • or Good, as
      • Spruceness, neatness, courage, aptness to learn music, singing, dancing, poetry, &c.
• Prognostics; despair, madness, frenzy, death, Memb. 4.
• Cures, Memb. 5.
  • By labour, diet, physic, abstinence, Subs. 1.
  • To withstand the beginnings, avoid occasions, fair and foul means, change of place, contrary passion, witty inventions, discommend the former, bring in another, Subs. 2.
  • By good counsel, persuasion, from future miseries, inconveniences, &c. S. 3.
  • By philters, magical, and poetical cures, Subs. 4.
  • To let them have their desire disputed pro and con. Impediments removed, reasons for it. Subs. 5.

• His name, definition, extent, power, tyranny, Memb. 1.
• Division, Equivocations, kinds, Subs. 1.
  • Improper
    • To many beasts; as swans, cocks, bulls.
    • To kings and princes, of their subjects, successors.
    • To friends, parents, tutors over their children, or otherwise.
  • or Proper
    • Before marriage, corrivals, &c.
    • After, as in this place our present subject.
• Causes, Subs. 2.
  • In the parties themselves,
    • Idleness, impotency in one party, melancholy, long absence.
    • They have been naught themselves. Hard usage, unkindness, wantonness, inequality of years, persons, fortunes, &c.
  • or from others.
    • Outward enticements and provocations of others.
• Symptoms, Memb. 2.
  • Fear, sorrow, suspicion, anguish of mind, strange actions, gestures, looks, speeches, locking up, outrages, severe laws, prodigious trials, &c.
• Prognostics, Memb. 3.
  • Despair, madness, to make away themselves, and others.
• Cures, Memb. 4.
  • By avoiding occasions, always busy, never to be idle.
  • By good counsel, advice of friends, to contemn or dissemble it. Subs. 1.
  • By prevention before marriage. Plato's communion.
  • To marry such as are equal in years, birth, fortunes, beauty, of like conditions, &c.
  • Of a good family, good education. To use them well. [Subs. 2.]

• In excess of such as do that which is not required. Memb. 1.
  • A proof that there is such a species of melancholy, name, object God, what his beauty is, how it allureth, part and parties affected, superstitious, idolaters, prophets, heretics, &c. Subs. 1.
  • Causes, Subs. 2.
    • From others
      • The devil's allurements, false miracles, priests for their gain. Politicians to keep men in obedience, bad instructors, blind guides.
    • or from themselves.
      • Simplicity, fear, ignorance, solitariness, melancholy, curiosity, pride, vainglory, decayed image of God.
  • Symptoms, Subs. 3.
    • General
      • Zeal without knowledge, obstinacy, superstition, strange devotion, stupidity, confidence, stiff defence of their tenets, mutual love and hate of other sects, belief of incredibilities, impossibilities.
    • or Particular.
      • Of heretics, pride, contumacy, contempt of others, wilfulness, vainglory, singularity, prodigious paradoxes.
      • In superstitious blind zeal, obedience, strange works, fasting, sacrifices, oblations, prayers, vows, pseudomartyrdom, mad and ridiculous customs, ceremonies, observations.
      • In pseudoprophets, visions, revelations, dreams, prophecies, new doctrines, &c., of Jews, Gentiles, Mahometans, &c.
  • Prognostics, Subs. 4.
    • New doctrines, paradoxes, blasphemies, madness, stupidity, despair, damnation.
  • Cures, Subs. 5.
    • By physic, if need be, conference, good counsel, persuasion, compulsion, correction, punishment. Quaeritur an cogi debent? Affir.
• In defect, as Memb. 2.
  • Secure, void of grace and fears.
    • Epicures, atheists, magicians, hypocrites, such as have cauterised consciences, or else are in a reprobate sense, worldly-secure, some philosophers, impenitent sinners, Subs. 1.
  • or Distrustful, or too timorous, as desperate. In despair consider,
    • Causes, Subs. 2.
      • The devil and his allurements, rigid preachers, that wound their consciences, melancholy, contemplation, solitariness.
      • How melancholy and despair differ. Distrust, weakness of faith. Guilty conscience for offence committed, misunderstanding, &c.
    • Symptoms, Subs. 3.
      • Fear, sorrow, anguish of mind, extreme tortures and horror of conscience, fearful dreams, conceits, visions, &c.
    • Prognostics; Blasphemy, violent death, Subs. 4.
    • Cures, Subs. 5.
      • Physic, as occasion serves, conference, not to be idle or alone. Good counsel, good company, all comforts and contents, &c. [Subs. 6.]