Saturday, August 15, 2015

The Pleasantest Dotage

Hey! Just because I seem to be wearying of King James and his cronies doesn't mean I've given up on his contemporary Robert Burton or THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY! Here's something I just read, for example. There's a bad word in it! But hey, it was 1621. Also, the same word is in the Bible. The KING JAMES Bible, come to think of it! Look up I Kings 16:11 if you don't believe me. Who am I kidding? You don't have a Bible. So don't come crying to me. But here's Burton: "Philodotus the Physician cured a melancholy King, that thought his head was off, by putting a leaden cap thereon: the weight made him perceive it, and freed him of his fond imagination... The pleasantest dotage that ever I read, saith Laurentius, was of a Gentleman at Senes in Italy, who was afraid to piss, lest all the Town should be drowned; the Physicians caused the bells to be rung backward, and told him the Town was on fire, whereupon he made water, and was immediately cured."