Daily Dose

From The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton

LET

"Let him not be alone or idle (in any kind of melancholy); but still accompanied with such friends and familiars he most affects, neatly dressed, washed and combed, according to his ability at least, in clean sweet linen, spruce, handsome, decent, and good apparel; for nothing sooner dejects a man than want, squalor, nastiness, foul or old cloaths out of fashion."

From Part 2, Section 5, Member 1, Cure of Melancholy

Daily Dose

From The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Robert Burton

MERE FICTION

"You have heard my tale: but alas! it is but a tale, a mere fiction, 'twas never so, never like to be, and so let it rest."

From Remedies Against Discontents, Member 7

Daily Dose

From Selected Essays of Charles Lamb

WE BOTH (Mary & Charles)

"We both are both great readers in different directions. While I am hanging over (for the thousandth time) some passage in old Burton, or one of his strange contemporaries, she is abstracted in some modern tale, or adventure, whereof our common reading-table is daily fed with assiduously fresh supplies. Narrative teases me. I have little concern in the progress of events. She must have a story, -- well, ill, or indifferently told -- so there be life stirring in it, and plenty of good and evil accidents."

From Mackery End, In Hertfordshire