Europe at Night, W. Sullivan, n.d.
In John Dryden’s comedy Amphitryon (1690), the ancient deity Mercury demands of Night, “What art thou good for . . . but only for love and fornication?” In view of our present trajectory of technological change, we might well pose the same question today. Increasingly, rather than render nighttime more accessible, we are instead risking its gradual elimination. Already, the heavens, our age-old source of awe and wonder, have been obscured by the glare of outdoor lighting. Only in remote spots can one still glimpse the grandeur of the Milky Way. Entire constellations have disappeared from sight, replaced by a blank sky. Conversely, the fanciful world of our dreams has grown more distant with the loss of segmented sleep and, with it, a better understanding of our inner selves. Certainly, it is not difficult to imagine a time when night, for all practical purposes, will have become day—truly a twenty-four/seven society in which traditional phases of time, from morning to midnight, have lost their original identities.31 The Russian government has even attempted to launch an experimental “space mirror” designed to transform night into twilight in selected locations with the aid of reflected light from the sun.32
The residual beauty of the night sky, alternating cycles of darkness and light, and regular respites from the daily round of sights and sounds—all will be impaired by enhanced illumination. Ecological systems, with their own patterns of nocturnal life, will suffer immeasurably. With darkness diminished, opportunities for privacy, intimacy, and self-reflection will grow more scarce. Should that luminous day arrive, we stand to lose a vital element of our humanity—one as precious as it is timeless. That, in the depths of a dark night, should be a bracing prospect for any spent soul to contemplate.
NOTES
(A fuller set of citations may be found at www.wwnorton.com.)
ABBREVIATIONS
Add. Mss.——Additional Manuscripts, British Library, London
AHR——American Historical Review
Assi 45——Northern Assize Circuit Depositions, Public Record Office, London
Bargellini, “Vita Notturna”——Piero Bargellini, “La Vita Notturna,” in Vita Privata a Firenze nei Secoli XIV e XV (Florence, 1966), 75–89
BC——British Chronicle (London)
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Beck, Diary——David Beck, Spiegel van Mijn Leven; een Haags Daboek uit 1624, ed. Sv. E. Veldhijsen (Hilversum, 1993)
Best, Books——Donald Woodward, ed., The Farming and Memorandum Books of Henry Best of Elmswell, 1642 (London, 1984)
BL——British Library, London
Bodl.——Bodleian Library, Oxford
Bourne, Antiquitates Vulgares——Henry Bourne, Antiquitates Vulgares; or, the Antiquities of the Common People ...(Newcastle, Eng., 1725)
Bräker, Life——Ulrich Bräker, The Life Story and Real Adventures of the Poor Man of Toggenburg, trans. Derek Bowman (Edinburgh, 1970)
Brand 1777——John Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities ... (New Castle upon Tyne, 1777)
Brand 1848——John Brand et al., Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain . . . , 3 vols. (London, 1848)
Breton, Works——Alexander B. Grosart, ed., The Works in Verse and Prose of Nicholas Breton . . . , 2 vols. (1879; rpt. edn., New York, 1966)
Burke, Popular ——Peter Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe (London, 1978)Culture
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Cannon, Diary——Memoirs of the Birth, Education, Life, and Death of Mr. John Cannon, 1684–1742, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, Taunton, England
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G and LDA——Gazetteer and London Daily Advertiser
G and NDA——Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (London)
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LC——London Chronicle
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Le Loyer, SpectersPierre Le Loyer, A Treatise of Specters of Straunge Sights, Visions, and Apparitions ... (London, 1605)
LEP——Lloyd’s Evening Post (London)
LE-P——London Evening-Post
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LM——Leeds Mercury
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ODNB——Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004)
OED——Oxford English Dictionary, 1st edn. (Oxford, 1888–1928)
PA——Public Advertiser (London)
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SH——Social History
SJC——St. James Chronicle (London)
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