BURTON'S ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, he (Dr. Johnson) said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.--Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 580. 8vo. edit.
BURTON'S ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY is a valuable book, said Dr. Johnson. It is, perhaps, overloaded with quotation. But there is great spirit and great power in what Burton says when he writes from his own mind.--Ibid, vol. ii. p. 325.
It will be no detraction from the powers of Milton's original genius and invention, to remark, that he seems to have borrowed the subject of L' Allegro and Il Penseroso, together with some particular thoughts, expressions, and rhymes, more especially the idea
of a contrast between these two dispositions, from a forgotten poem prefixed to the first edition of BURTON'S ANATOMY OF
MELANCHOLY, entitled, 'The Author's Abstract of Melancholy; or, A Dialogue between Pleasure and Pain.' Here pain is melancholy. It was written, as I conjecture, about the year 1600. I will make no apology for abstracting and citing as much of this poem as will be sufficient to prove, to a discerning reader, how far it had taken possession of Milton's mind. The measure will appear to be the same; and that our author was at least an attentive reader of Burton's book, may be already concluded from the traces of resemblance which I have incidentally noticed in passing through the L' Allegro and Il Penseroso.--After extracting the lines, Mr. Warton adds, as to the very elaborate work to which these visionary verses are no unsuitable introduction, the writer's variety of learning,
his quotations from scarce and curious books, his pedantry sparkling with rude wit and shapeless elegance, miscellaneous matter, intermixture of agreeable tales and illustrations, and, perhaps, above all, the singularities of his feelings, clothed in an uncommon quaintness of style, have contributed to render it, even to modern readers, a valuable repository of amusement and information.-- Warton's Milton, 2d edit. p. 94.
THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY is a book which has been universally read and admired. This work is, for the most part, what the author himself styles it, 'a cento;' but it is a very ingenious one. His quotations, which abound in every page, are pertinent; but if he had made more use of his invention and less of his commonplace-book, his work would perhaps have been more valuable than it is. He is generally free from the affected language and ridiculous metaphors which disgrace most of the books of his time.-- Granger's Biographical History.
BURTON'S ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, a book once the favourite of the learned and the witty, and a source of surrepti-tious learning, though written on a regular plan, consists chiefly of quotations: the author has honestly termed it a cento. He collects, under every division, the opinions of a multitude of writers, without regard to chronological order, and has too often the modesty
to decline the interposition of his own sentiments. Indeed the bulk of his materials generally overwhelms him. In the course of his folio he has contrived to treat a great variety of topics, that seem very loosely connected with the general subject; and, like Bayle,
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when he starts a favourite train of quotations, he does not scruple to let the digression outrun the principal question. Thus, from the doctrines of religion to military discipline, from inland navigation to the morality of dancing-schools, every thing is discussed and determined.--Ferriar's Illustrations of Sterne, p. 58.
The archness which BURTON displays occasionally, and his indulgence of playful digressions 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 writing excellent poetry, but he seems to have cultivated this talent too little. The English verses prefixed to his book, which pos-
sess beautiful imagery, and great sweetness of versification, 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. 154, 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 enquiries shortened, by knowing where they might look for what both ancients and moderns had 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 THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY. DEMOCRITUS JUNIOR AD LIBRUM SUUM.
Vade liber, qualis, non ausum dicere, felix, Te nisi felicem fecerit Alma dies.
Vade tamen quocunque lubet, quascunque per oras, Et Genium Domini fac imitere tui.
I blandas inter Charites, mystamque saluta
Musarum quemvis, si tibi lector erit.
Rura colas, urbem, subeasve palatia regum, Submisse, placide, te sine dente geras. Nobilis, aut si quis te forte inspexerit heros, Da te morigerum, perlegat usque lubet.
Est quod Nobilitas, est quod desideret heros, Gratior haec forsan charta placere potest.
Si quis morosus Cato, tetricusque Senator, Hunc etiam librum forte videre velit,
Sive magistratus, tum te reverenter habeto; Sed nullus; muscas non capiunt Aquilae.
Non vacat his tempus fugitivum impendere nugis, Nec tales cupio; par mihi lector erit.
Si matrona gravis casu diverterit istuc, Illustris domina, aut te Comitissa legat:
Est quod displiceat, placeat quod forsitan illis, Ingerere his noli te modo, pande tamen.
At si virgo tuas dignabitur inclyta chartas
Tangere, sive schedis haereat illa tuis:
Da modo te facilem, et quaedam folia esse memento
Conveniant oculis quae magis apta suis. Si generosa ancilla tuos aut alma puella Visura est ludos, annue, pande lubens.
Dic utinam nunc ipse meus [6](nam diligit istas) In praesens esset conspiciendus herus.
Ignotus notusve mihi de gente togata Sive aget in ludis, pulpita sive colet, Sive in Lycaeo, et nugas evolverit istas, Si quasdam mendas viderit inspiciens,
Da veniam Authori, dices; nam plurima vellet
Expungi, quae jam displicuisse sciat.
Sive Melancholicus quisquam, seu blandus Amator, Aulicus aut Civis, seu bene comptus eques
Huc appellat, age et tuto te crede legenti, Multa istic forsan non male nata leget.
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Quod fugiat, caveat, quodque amplexabitur, ista
Pagina fortassis promere multa potest.
At si quis Medicus coram te sistet, amice
Fac circumspecte, et te sine labe geras:
Inveniet namque ipse meis quoque plurima scriptis, Non leve subsidium quae sibi forsan erunt.
Si quis Causidicus chartas impingat in istas, Nil mihi vobiscum, pessima turba vale;
Sit nisi vir bonus, et juris sine fraude peritus, Tum legat, et forsan doctior inde siet.
Si quis cordatus, facilis, lectorque benignus Huc oculos vertat, quae velit ipse legat; Candidus ignoscet, metuas nil, pande libenter, Offensus mendis non erit ille tuis,
Laudabit nonnulla. Venit si Rhetor ineptus, Limata et tersa, et qui bene cocta petit,
Claude citus librum; nulla hic nisi ferrea verba, Offendent stomachum quae minus apta suum. At si quis non eximius de plebe poeta,
Annue; namque istic plurima