Laudator Temporis Acti

Robert Burton (1577-1640), The Anatomy of Melancholy (Oxford: Henry Cripps, 1638), Part. 2. Sect. 2. Memb. 5 (p. 284):

He that will intend to take his rest must goe to bed animo securo, quieto & libero, with a ^ysecure and composed minde, in a quiet place: omnia noctis erunt placidâ composta quiete; and if that will not serve, or may not be obtained, to seeke then such means as are requisite. To lye in clean linnen and sweet; before he goes to bed, or in bed, to hear ^zsweet Musick, which Ficinus commends lib. I. cap. 24. or as Jobertus med. pract. lib. 3. cap. 10. ^ato read some pleasant Author till he be asleep, to have a bason of water still dropping by his bed side, or to lie near that pleasant murmure, lene sonantis aquae, Some floud-gates, arches, falls of water, like London Bridge, or some continuate noise which may benum the senses, lenis motus, silentium & tenebrae, tum & ipsa voluntas somnos faciunt; as a gentle noyse to some procures sleepe, so, which Bernardinus Tilesius lib. de somno well observes, silence, in a darke roome, and the will it selfe, is most available to others. Piso commends frications, Andrew Borde a good draught of strong drinke before one goes to bed; I say, a nutmeg and ale, or a good draught of muscadine, with a tost and nutmeg, or a posset of the same, which many use in a morning, but me thinks, for such as have drie braines, are much more proper at night; some prescribe a ^bsup of vineger as they go to bed, a spoonefull, saith Aetius Tetrabib. lib. 2. ser. 2. cap. 10. lib. 6. cap. 10. Aegineta lib. 3. cap. 14. Piso, a little after meat, ^cbecause it rarefies melancholy, and procures an appetite to sleep.

^y Sepositis curis omnibus quantum fieri potest, una cum vestibus, &c. Kirkst.
^z Ad horam somni aures suavibus cantibus & sonis delinire.
^a Lectio jucunda, aut sermo, ad quem attentior animus convertitur, aut aqua ab alto in subjectum pelvim delabatur, &c. Ovid.
^b Aceti sorbitio
^c Attenuat melancholiam, et ad conciliandum somnum juvat.

In note a, read subjectam for subjectum, as in other editions.