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At Day's Close

Page 58

by A. Roger Ekirch


  incidence of, 42

  magic rituals of, 41

  marital, in communal sleep, 283–84

  motives for, 44

  personal vendettas and, 44

  by robbers, 34, 35–36

  weapons used in, 43

  “Mus Rusticus,” 168

  My Father’s Life (Restif de la Bretonne), 115, 180

  Naish, Thomas, 294

  Napier, Richard, 290

  Naples, 72, 160

  narcolepsy, 267

  Nashe, Thomas, 7, 15–16, 56, 287, 312

  National Institute of Mental Health, 303–4, 322–23

  nation states, 45

  Natural History of Superstition, The (Trenchard), 100

  Navaho people, 4

  Naylor, Mary, 198

  needlework, 208

  neighbors, mutual support of, 111–17, 179

  acts of kindness in, 112

  crime and, 68, 88, 115–17

  firefighting in, 68, 114–15, 117

  illness in, 112–14

  limits of, 116–17

  social oversight in, 147–51, 153, 191–92

  strangers excluded from, 117

  Nelson, John, 40

  Netherlands, 21, 103, 194

  arson in, 55

  bundling in, 198, 200

  clean streets in, 27

  fires in, 52

  queesting in, 198

  walled towns of, 62

  Neville, Sylas, 81, 141, 271

  New Art of Thriving, The, 322

  Newton, Samuel, 317

  Niccols, Richard, 12

  Nichols, Lydia, 240

  Nicholson, Thomas, 306

  Nickel List gang, 41

  Nigeria, 4, 303

  Night (Churchill), 217–18

  nightcaps, 270, 275

  night-cellars, 236, 250, 251, 252

  nightcourting, 197–202

  see also bundling

  night courts, 85–86

  nightdress, 270–71

  nightfall, xxxi–xxxii, 56, 59–60, 90–92, 109

  noxious vapors as descending at, xxxi–xxxii, 12–15, 270

  terms for, xxxii, 12, 91–92

  night-gates, 63

  night kings, 166

  nightmares, 291, 292, 321

  magical prevention of, 272–73

  nightmen, 165–67, 166

  dangers faced by, 166–67

  as “goldfingers,” 166

  night-mobs, 136

  night phantoms, 317

  night season, xxv, 60, 324

  night shift workers, 174, 333, 336

  night sky, 10–13, 11, 13

  apparitions in, 10

  beauty of, 326, 339

  comets in, 10, 11, 326

  light pollution of, 10, 339

  in weather forecasting, 170–71

  see also moon; stars

  night sneaks, 37

  night-soil, 165

  night-spells, 98–99

  night vision, 124

  nightwalkers, 32, 60, 64, 65, 80, 244–45, 331

  nightwatch, 32, 65, 74, 75–84, 83, 88–89, 115, 165, 219, 223, 228

  abuse suffered by, 83–84, 224, 249, 250, 253

  clothing of, 82

  corruption among, 82

  derisory nicknames of, 83

  doorlocks checked by, 79–80

  essential duties of, 76–77, 80–81

  extortion practiced by, 82

  fire prevention by, 79, 85

  heavy responsibility of, 81

  “hue and cry” of, 75

  laws unenforced by, 82, 142

  as lookouts, 77

  mastiffs as, 76

  members of, 81

  as most ancient profession, 75

  negligence of, 82–83

  night-cellars avoided by, 250, 251

  onions eaten by, 82

  pedestrians escorted home by, 80–81

  people’s vigilance heightened by, 79

  popular contempt for, 81–82

  powers of arrest possessed by, 75, 80, 85

  sleep disturbed by, 75, 78–79, 293

  time cried by, 77–78, 79, 138, 293

  trained police force vs., 6, 80, 85, 331–32

  verses sung by, 68, 78–79

  wages of, 81

  weaponry of, 77

  young people as, 81

  youth gangs and, 249–50, 252, 253

  Nightwatch, The (Rembrandt), 82

  noctivagator, 32

  “Nocturnal Remembrancer,” 310–11

  Nocturnal Revels: or, a Universal Dream-Book, 313

  Noël du Fail, 180–81, 278

  North, Lord Frederick, 330

  North, Roger, 54

  Northumberland, Duke of, 26

  Norway, 77, 199

  noxious vapors, xxxi–xxxii, 12–15, 270

  Nuremberg, 64, 77

  Nyx, 4

  Oakey, Richard, 38

  O’Donoghue, John “of the moon,” 146

  Odyssey (Homer), 303

  Oedipus (Dryden), 322

  “Of Darknesse” (Mill), 38, 155

  oil lamps, 51, 108, 110–11, 162, 336

  Argand, 331

  construction of, 107

  Paleolithic, 5

  sources of oil for, 107–8, 330–31

  as street lighting, 72, 73, 330–31

  Old Bailey Session Papers, xxviii

  Old English literature, 20

  Old Farmer’s Almanack, 52

  “Old Robin of Portingale,” 305

  Old Wive’s Tale, The (Peele), 182

  Oliver, Peter, 288

  omens, 9, 10

  “On a Dark Night” (St. John of the Cross), 59

  “One Sleeps Better than Two,” 296

  “On Nightfall, What It Is, and Whether It Falls on Us” (Joubert), 12–13

  Orations (Cavendish), 220

  Orkney Islands, 197–98

  Orleans, Duchess of, 27, 218–19, 280

  Orleans, Duke of, 226

  Orleans, Philippe d’, 279–80

  O’Sullivan, Humphrey, xxvii, 130

  Othello (Shakespeare), 48

  Ott, Barbara, 179

  Oughtred, William, 110

  Overbury, Sir Thomas, 45, 279, 290

  owling, 242

  owls, 9, 30

  Padovano, Cyrillo, 267

  Paleolithic period, 5

  Palladius, Peder, 46

  Palmer, Barbara, Countess of Castlemaine, 221

  Palmer, Richard, 133

  pannchídes, 5

  Paolo da Certaldo, 93, 112, 142

  Paradise Lost (Milton), 69

  Paré, Ambroise, 313

  Parfit, Ann, 150

  pariahs, social, 151

  Paris, 129, 139, 252

  abandoned infants in, 237

  arson in, 54

  assemblies in, 212–13

  bakers of, 175

  cabarets of, 82, 236

  carrying lights mandated in, 67

  carrying weapons banned in, 66

  domestic servants in, 233

  filthy streets of, 27

  fires in, 49

  fixed street barriers on, 64

  homosexuals in, 230

  lantern lighting mandated in, 67

  market days of, 173

  mishaps in, 25, 26

  murders in, 43
/>   nightmen of, 165

  nightwatch of, 75, 77, 82, 83, 88

  nocturnal labor in, 160, 175

  pedestrian crime victims in, 39

  pilfering in, 240

  roads leading to, 141

  robberies in, 34

  rôdeurs de nuit in, 32

  street lighting of, 67, 73, 74, 246

  trained police force of, 331

  vagrants in, 65

  wall of, 328

  werewolves in, 19

  parish lantern, 128

  Parival, Jean-Nicholas de, 7

  Park, Agnes, 240

  Parker, Catherine, 165

  Parkman, Ebenezer, 90, 289, 320

  Parnell, Sir John, 24

  Pascal, Blaise, 59

  passion plays, 70

  Patten, Matthew, 91

  Paul, Jean, 92, 97, 121, 145, 164

  Paul III, Pope, 71

  Pausanias, 303

  pawned goods, 84

  Payne, Henry Nevil, 291

  Peacham, Henry, 218

  Pearse, George, 191

  Peasants’ War, 55

  peat, 103, 161, 169

  peddlers, 160, 319

  pedestrians, 5, 29, 32, 39, 64, 74, 126, 140, 143, 324–25, 333

  assaults on, 45, 47, 139, 224, 225

  canes and staffs of, 134

  chamberpots emptied on, 28

  curfews and, 63, 65

  “giving the wall” by, 45

  jostling of, 45

  lanterns carried by, 26, 129, 192

  nightwatch as escort for, 80–81

  nightwatch’s arrest of, 80

  personal weapons carried by, 142

  robberies of, 34, 137, 139

  self-defense of, 137

  touch used by, 133–34

  Peel, Sir Robert, 332

  Peele, George, 182

  Penn, Sir William, 187

  Pennsylvania Gazette, 56

  Pepys, Samuel, 10, 69, 136, 169, 209, 221, 304

  adultery of, 193–94

  aristocratic gangs encountered by, 223, 225

  bedtime of, 266

  bedtime rituals of, 270, 271

  books read by, 205

  bunter encountered by, 160

  burglaries feared by, 34, 37, 101

  cesspool of, 165

  communal sleep of, 282, 296

  door locks of, 79–80

  erotic dreams of, 314

  family prayers of, 272

  fireplace as chamberpot of, 297

  ghosts of, 19

  as jostled pedestrian, 45

  linkboys employed by, 125

  London plague and, 167–68, 314

  nocturnal excursions of, 129, 130, 142

  robbery feared by, 34

  servants of, 28, 240, 271, 272, 277, 287

  sleep disturbances and, 296, 297

  social world of, 187

  sore eyes of, 207

  valuables of, 93

  workman in home of, 161

  youth gangs feared by, 247

  perfume-burners, 297

  Peterson, Johanna Elenore, 41

  Philippe de Strozzi, 120

  Phillpot, Joseph, 83

  Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, A (Burke), 3

  physiology, human, 24, 25, 46

  adrenal hormones in, 290

  artificial illumination’s effect on, 303–4

  circadian rhythms in, 14, 174–75, 334

  of dreaming, 261

  immune system in, 14

  moon’s effect on, 12

  nocturnal labor’s effect on, 174–75

  prolactin in, 304, 322

  skin sensitivity and itching in, 294

  Pichler, Andre, 144

  pickpockets, 33, 34, 36, 38

  piece-work, 158

  Piers Plowman (Langland), 52, 60, 306

  Pietism, 203

  pilfering, 74, 175, 240–41, 244, 255, 256, 306

  Pilkington, Bishop Francis, 19, 298

  Pilkington, Bishop James, 59

  Pinchbeck, Christopher, Jr., 310–11

  pitch-darkness, 130–34

  pit-mirk, 127, 130

  Pius II, Pope, 178

  pixies, 18

  “pixy led,” 23

  Place, Francis, 249

  plague, 22, 48, 69, 167–68, 230, 314, 317

  planetary influence, 12

  Plato, 5, 75

  Platter, Felix, 141, 145, 253–54

  Platter, Thomas, 65, 75–76, 142, 144, 145, 176, 188, 203

  pleasure gardens, 212, 222, 328, 329

  plebians, see lower classes

  Pleiades, 138

  “Ploughman’s Wife, The” (Bretonne), 174

  Plutarch, 303

  poachers, 33, 241–42, 243–44, 306, 336

  Pocahontas, 321

  “Poet’s Dream, The,” 319

  Poland, 8, 144, 188

  candle magic in, 101

  starvation in, 22

  police force, trained, 6, 80, 85, 331–34

  political dissenters, 228, 231

  Pona, Francesco, 244

  Pool, Cardinal, 71

  Portugal, 20, 43

  Poundall, Tom, 160

  poverty, 22, 33, 42, 103, 150–51, 180, 231–37

  literacy and, 203

  of urban poor, 80, 231, 278, 290

  of working poor, 158–60, 164, 188

  Powell, Mary, 175

  prayers, 36, 59–60, 71, 74, 91, 118, 137, 206, 267, 273

  Ave Maria, 61

  early morning, 302–3

  against evil spirits, 142, 144–45

  family, 272

  in interval of wakefulness, 307–8

  nightwatch’s calls for, 78

  at supernatural encounters, 142, 144–45

  Pressy, John, 146

  Preston, Henry, 115

  Price, George, 334

  Prince Hal, 226

  Princess Cloria, The, 281

  privacy, 149–54, 201, 280, 310, 339

  social oversight vs., 149–51, 333–34

  see also solitude

  privies, 165–67, 190, 297

  close-stools, 275, 297

  Prognostication Everlasting, A (Digges and Digges), 171

  Projectors, The (Wilson), 265

  prolactin, 304, 322

  promenades, public, 212, 324, 328

  Propos Rustiques de Maistre Léon Ladulfi (Nöel du Fail), 180–81

  Prosser, Gabriel, 257

  prostitutes, prostitution, 32, 66, 75, 116, 219, 225, 226, 277, 332

  as alehouse patrons, 190, 223, 244

  autonomy of, 244–45

  badges of shame worn by, 151

  Boswell’s patronage of, 219–220, 222

  fire alarms raised by, 79

  nightwatch and, 65, 80, 82, 250

  organized, 72

  prevalence of, 244

  violence of, 245

  Protestantism, 69, 70, 71, 74, 97, 99, 152, 191, 203, 206, 228–29

  Prudentius, 140

  Prud’hon, Pierre-Paul, 86

  Prussia, 169–70, 238

  public decorum, 44–45

  Puck, 18

  Purchas, Samuel, 138

  Puritans, 60, 87, 264, 302–3

  Quarles, Francis, 288, 310

  Quidor, John, 239

  Quintili
an, 84

  Qumran, 4

  Ram Alley (Heywood), 312

  Ranelagh garden, 212

  Ranonet, Aimar de, 305

  Rape of Lucrece, The (Shakespeare), 8, 138–39

  rapes, 116, 192

  gang, 247–48

  rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, 322–23

  rationalism, scientific, 6, 325

  rats and mice:

  fires caused by, 52

  sleep disturbed by, 293

  rattle-watchmen, 77

  Rawlidge, Richard, 188

  reading, 203–7, 208

  by artificial illumination, 207

  at bedtime, 52, 281, 310

  books and, 205–6

  literacy and, 203

  of religious texts, 206–7

  silent, 203–5, 206

  Reformation, 21, 69, 99, 152, 187, 191, 203, 206, 228

  religious dissenters, 228–29, 231

  Rembrandt van Rijn, 82

  Remus, 62

  Rémy, Nicolas, 302, 307

  Renaissance, xxxii

  astronomy of, 12

  respiratory illnesses, 14–15

  Res Rustica (Columella), 173

  Restif de la Bretonne, 115, 122, 153, 174, 180

  resurrection men, 237

  Rhodon and Iris (Knevet), 138

  Richards, John, 170, 283

  Richards, Nathaniel, 213

  Richelieu, Cardinal, 213

  Richeome, Louis, 286

  Richmond, Duke of, 218

  Richter, Hans Heinrich, 238

  Ricordi Overo Ammaestramenti (Sabba da Castiglione), 13

  Ricreazione del Savio, La (Bartoli), 60, 180, 203

  Ripa, Polydorus, 86, 87

  river barriers, 64

  roads, 26, 326

  crossroads of, 19

  dangerous, 24

  infants abandoned on, 237

  as Milky Way, 130

  robberies, 33–36, 35, 43, 86

  cries for help stifled in, 40

  dark nights preferred for, 39–40

  grave, 237

  by highwaymen, 34–36, 39, 40, 41

  murder in, 34, 35–36

  nocturnal excursions and, 118–19, 137, 139, 141–42, 144

  of pedestrians, 34, 137, 139

  by prostitutes of their clients, 245

  victim’s lights extinguished in, 40

  weapons used in, 34, 36

  Robin Good-fellow, 18

  Rocco, Father, 72

  Rochester, John Wilmont, Earl of, 223–24, 225, 226

  role reversal, at festivals, 152

  Rolfe, John, 321

  Romans, ancient, 4, 62, 168, 228, 303

  night life of, 5

  nightwatch of, 75

  time divisions of, 137, 138

  Twelve Tables of, 84, 87

  Rome:

  aristocratic gangs in, 225

  carrying weapons banned in, 66

  Church festivals in, 71

  dark lanterns banned in, 67

 

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