BRIGHT, Timothy.

Second and ‘best’ edition of Bright’s treatise on the disease of melancholy, apparently issued after that published by Thomas Vautrollier the same year, and ‘more accurately printed … the misprints have been corrected and the pagination is correct’ (Keynes). It was cited by Richard Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy. Lowndes wrote: ‘This curious work was probably [Burton’s] prototype.’

The first preface connects physical illness and distemper with mental disease. The second is addressed to a melancholic friend whose suffering was supposedly the inspiration for Bright’s work. Bright first examines whether good nourishment can cause melancholy by affecting the humours, a proposition which he argues for, noting that ‘burnt choler’ is one cause of melancholy. Similarly, ‘adustion’ or excessive heating or drying is given as the cause for an ‘unnatural melancholy’. There is a metaphysical discussion of the body’s relationship with the soul, how bodily illness can affect the soul (analogous with the mind), and the faculties that are performed by the soul, which include smelling and tasting. Bright then describes the symptoms of melancholy, including weeping, of which he notes the cause and the reason for their saltiness, which he says arises from the heat of the eyes. He asks why people when weeping put their fingers to their eyes, and examines the physical manifestations of weeping, joyful weeping and weeping while laughing, as well as sighing and blushing, discussing the causes thereof. Bright makes the distinction between melancholy and the sadness brought about by an afflicted conscience, for example caused by contemplation of one’s sinfulness.

The cures of melancholy are then described. Firstly, a regimen of behaviour: Bright recommends listening to music while avoiding looking on ugliness or being in darkness, and avoiding excessive motion and dry heat, etc. Secondly, a long discourse on diet: Bright suggests capers instead of olives, recommends sweet and moist fruits, fowls instead of beasts for meat, especially those birds that work more than fly, such as partridge, pheasant and goose, which birds’ eggs to eat, which fish – Burton noted that Bright approved of eels, lampreys and crayfish, but eschewed lobsters and crabs – to have a glass of claret with dinner, etc. etc. In this section Bright also suggests that bright and clean apparel should be worn by the melancholic, that their house should be bright and airy and in a good situation, and lists precious stones that can be beneficial, with their various effects. Thirdly and finally, there is a chapter on the medicinal cures of melancholy, consisting of herbal remedies and decoctions, followed by further remedies designed for strengthening the melancholic after purging.