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النشر الإلكتروني

vii

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE work now restored to public notice has had an extraordinary fate. At the time of its original publication it obtained a great celebrity, which continued more than half a century. During that period few books were more read, or more deservedly applauded. It was the delight of the learned, the solace of the indolent, and the refuge of the uninformed. It past through at least eight editions, by which the bookseller, as Wood records, got an estate; and, notwithstanding the objections sometimes opposed against it, of a quaint style, and too great an accumulation of authorities, the fascination of its wit, fancy, and sterling sense, have borne down all censurcs, and extorted praise from the first writers in the English language. The great JOHNSON has praised it in the warmest terms, and the ludicrous STERNE has interwoven many parts of it into his own popular performance. MILTON did not disdain to build two of his finest poems on it; and a host of inferior writers have embellished their works with beauties not their own, culled from a performance which they had not the justice even to mention. Change of times, and the frivolity of fashion, suspended, in some degree, that fame which had lasted near a century; and the succeeding generation affected indifference towards an author, who at length was only looked into by the plunderers of literature, the poachers in obscure volumes. The plagiarisms of Tristram Shandy, so successfully brought to light by DR. FERRIAR, at length drew the attention of the public towards a writer, who, though then little known, might without impeachment of modesty lay claim to every mark of respect; and inquiry proved, beyond a doubt, that the calls of justice had been little attended to by others, as well as the facetious Yorick. WOOD observed, more than a century ago, that several authors had unmercifully stolen matter from BURTON without any acknowledgement. The time, however, at length arrived, when the merits of the "Anatomy of Melancholy" were to receive their due praise. The book was again sought for and read, and again it became

an applauded performance. Its excellencies once more stood confest, in the increased price which every copy offered for sale produced; and the increased demand pointed out the necessity of a new edition. This is now presented to the public in a manner not disgraceful to the memory of the author; and the undertakers of it rely with confidence, that so valuable a repository of amusement and information will continue to hold the rank it has been restored to, firmly supported by its own merit, and safe from the influence and blight of any future caprices of fashion.

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Presents itself unto thine eye.
A kingfisher, a swan, an hern,
Two fighting-cocks you may discern,
Two roaring bulls each other hie,
To assault concerning venery.
Symboles are these; I say no more,
Conceive the rest by that's afore.
3. The next of solitariness,

A portraiture doth well express,
By sleeping dog, cat; buck and do,
Hares, conies in the desart go:
Bats, owls the shady bowers over,
In melancholy darkness hover.
Mark well: If't be not as't should be,
Blame the bad Cutter, and not me.
4. Ith' under column there doth
stand

Inamorato with folded hand;
Down hangs his head, terse and po-
lite,

Some dittie sure he doth indite.
His lute and books about him lie,
As symptomes of his vanity.
If this do not enough disclose,
To paint him, take thyself by th'

nose.

5.Hypochondriacus leans on his arm, Winde in his side doth him much harm,

And troubles him full sore, God knows,

Much pain he hath and many woes.
About him pots and glasses lie,
Newly brought from's Apothecary.
This Saturn's aspects signifie,
You see them portraid in the skie.

6. Beneath them kneeling on his knee,

A superstitious man you see:
He fasts, prays, on his idol fixt,
Tormented hope and feare betwixt;
For hell perhaps he takes more pain,
Then thou dost heaven itself to gain.
Alas poor soule, I pitie thee,
What stars incline thee so to be?
7. But see the madman rage down-
right

With furious looks, a ghastly sight!
Naked in chains bound doth he lie
And roars amain he knows not why!
Observe him; for as in a glass,
Thine angry portraiture it was.
His picture keep still in thy pre-

sence;

"Twixt him and thee there's no difference.

8. 9. Borage and hellebor fill two

scenes,

Soveraign plants to purge the veins Of melancholy, and chear the heart Of those black fumes which make it

smart;

To clear the brain of misty fogs, Which dull our senses, and soule clogs.

The best medicine that ere God made

For this malady, if well assaid.
10. Now last of all to fill a place,
Presented is the Author's face;
And in that habit which he wears,
His image to the world appears,
His minde no art can well express,
That by his writings you may guess.
It was not pride, nor yet vain glory,
(Though others do it commonly)
Made him do this: if you must
know,

The Printer would needs have it so.
Then do not frown or scoffe at it,
Deride not, or detract a whit,
For surely as thou dost by him,
He will do the same again.
Then look upon't, behold and see,
As thou lik'st it, so it likes thee.
And I for it will stand in view,
Thine to command, Reader, adiew.

These verses refer to the old folio Frontispiece, which was divided into ten compartments that are here severally explained. Though it was impossible to reduce that Frontispiece to an octavo size for this edition, the lines are too curious to be lost. The author's portrait, mentioned in the 10th stanza, is copied in our xvth page.

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