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(apologies for X-posting) I wonder if anyone can give some help on 16C disease. In a 1575 letter to Languet, Philip Sidney writes about Protestant princes' (lack of) reaction to current dangers: > this is certain: our princes slumber altogether too much in a deep > sleep. While they are acting so peacefully, I wish that they would > watch out, lest they fall into that sickness which joins Death's > image to Death itself. The 'sickness' to which he refers could of course simply be the sin of Sloth; but I was wondering if in Early Modern Europe there was any specific disease we know about that might have been described in this way. Encephalitis lethargica seems not to have turned up until the early 20C; and African Tryponosomiasis was, I believe, not known in Europe at the time. Any help much appreciated. Roger Kuin