At
DAY’S
CLOSE
NIGHT IN TIMES PAST
A. Roger Ekirch
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
New York London
FOR ALEXANDRA, SHELDON, AND CHRISTIAN
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
GENESIS 1:1–5
CONTENTS
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
SHUTTING-IN
PART ONE: IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH
PRELUDE
ONETerrors of the Night: Heavens and Earth
TWOMortal Perils: Plunder, Violence, and Fire
PART TWO: LAWS OF NATURE
PRELUDE
THREEThe Fragility of Authority: Church and State
FOURA Man’s House Is His Castle: Domestic Fortifications
FIVEDarkness Visible: Navigating the Nightscape
PART THREE: BENIGHTED REALMS
PRELUDE
SIXWorks of Darkness: Labor
SEVENThe Common Benefactress: Sociability, Sex, and Solitude
EIGHTKnightwalkers: Princes and Peers
NINEMasters by Night: Plebeians
PART FOUR: PRIVATE WORLDS
PRELUDE
TENOrdinances of the Bedchamber: Rituals
ELEVENUnraveling the Knitted Sleeve: Disturbances
TWELVESleep We Have Lost: Rhythms and Revelations
COCK-CROW
Notes
Index
ILLUSTRATIONS
Peter Paul Rubens, Return from the Fields, seventeenth century, Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence / Art Resource, New York
Georg Mack the Elder, Comet Seen at Nuremberg during November, 1577, seventeenth century, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museum zu Berlin / Bildarchiv Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Art Resource, New York
Anon., The Influence of the Moon on the Heads of Women, seventeenth century, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
Matthias Grunewald, The Devil Attacking the Window (detail from St. Anthony the Hermit from the Isenheim Altarpiece), ca. 1512–1516, Musée d’Unterlinden, Colmar / Bridgeman Art Library
Claude Gillot, The Witches’ Sabbath, eighteenth century, Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Art Library
William Hogarth, Night (pl. 4 of The Four Times of the Day), 1738
William Hogarth, A Night Encounter, ca. 1740, Private Collection (Courtesy of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London)
Essaias van de Velde, A Village Looted at Night, 1620, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Jan Beerstraten, The Great Fire in the Old Town Hall, Amsterdam, 1652, seventeenth century, Johnny van Haeften Gallery, London / Bridgeman Art Library
Gerard Vlack, Sleeping Servant, n.d., Courtesy of the Graphische Sammlung der ETH, Zurich
Jean Le Pautre, The 1674 Festival at Versailles Organized by Louis XIV to Celebrate the Re-conquest of the Franche-Comté, seventeenth century, Chateau de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles / Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Art Resource, New York
Gabriel Bella, The Good Friday Procession in Illuminated Saint Mark’s Square, eighteenth century, Biblioteca Querini Stampalia, Venice / Art Resource, New York
Anon., The Midnight Magistrate, eighteenth century, courtesy of the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime, 1808, Louvre, Paris / Art Resource, New York
Thomas Rowlandson, Housebreakers, 1788, Huntington Library, San Marino, California
Anon., Clipping the Church, nineteenth century, Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, Taunton
Thomas Frye, Young Man Holding a Candle, eighteenth century, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Trophîme Bigot, A Boy Pouring Oil into a Lamp, 1620, Galleria Doria-Pamphilj, Rome / Alinari, Art Resource, New York
Gerrit van Honthorst, Dentist, 1622, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
Vincent van der Vinne, The Safe Refuge, 1714, from Adriaan Spinniker, Leerzaame Zinnebeelden (1757; rpt. edn., Soest, Netherlands, 1974), 174
Thomas Rowlandson, A Linkboy, 1786, The Frances Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York. Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Francis Fitz Randolph (Mary E. Hill, class of 1945-4)
Adriaen Brouwer, Dune Landscape by Moonlight, seventeenth century, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museum zu Berlin / Bildarchiv Preussicher Kulturbesitz, Art Resource, New York
Thomas Bewick, Benighted Traveler, n.d.
Anon., The Labourer’s Clock, or a Very Easy Method of Telling the Time at Night by the Stars, eighteenth century, Musée de la Révolution Francaise, Vizille / Bridgeman Art Library
Pehr Hilleström, The Testing of an Egg, 1785, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Joseph Wright of Derby, The Blacksmith’s Shop, eighteenth century, Hermitage, St. Petersburg /Bridgeman Art Library
Anon., John Hunt, Nightman and Rubbish Carter, near the Wagon and Horses in Goswell Street, near Mount Mill, London, eighteenth century, Private Collection / Bridgeman Art Library
Francesco Bassano the Younger, Autumn Harvest (Grape-picking), 1585–1590, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna / Erich Lessing, Art Resource, New York
Jan Asselijn, Crab Catching in the Night, seventeenth century, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
Jean Jacques de Boisseau, Evening in the Village, 1800, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Jan Steen, The Ace of Hearts, seventeenth century, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Hans Sebald Beham, A Spinnstube, 1524, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Gerrit Dou, Scholar with a Globe, seventeenth century, Sammlung Schönborn-Buchheim, Vienna
Joseph Wright of Derby, Girl Reading a Letter by Candlelight, with a Young Man Peering over Her Shoulder, ca. 1760–1762, Private Collection / Bridgeman Art Library
Wolfgang Heimbach, Nocturnal Banquet, 1640, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna / Art Resource, New York
Giuseppe Grisoni, Masquerade at King’s Opera House, 1724, Victoria and Albert Museum, London / Art Resource, New York
William Hogarth, A Rake’s Progress (pl. 3), 1735
William Hogarth, The Bagnio (pl. 5 of Marriage à la Mode), 1745
Anon., Drunken Rakes and Watchmen in Covent Garden, 1735, Guildhall Library, Corporation of London
François Morellon la Cave, Night Meeting of the Adamites, eighteenth century, Hulton-Deutsch Collection / Corbis
Johann Konrad Seekatz, Gypsies Before a Campfire, eighteenth century, The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York / Art Resource, New York
John Quidor, The Money Diggers, 1832, Brooklyn Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Alastair Bradley Martin 48.171
William Hogarth, The Idle ’Prentice Betrayed by a Prostitute (pl. 9 of Industry and Idleness), 1747
Georg Merckel, The Curious Death of the Hegen Family, Christmas Eve, 1558, sixteenth century, Graphic Arts, Zentralbibliothek Zurich
Matthias Stom, Old Woman Praying, seventeenth century, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
An
on., Tobias and Sara, ca. 1530, Victoria & Albert Museum, London / Art Resource, New York
William Hogarth, The Idle ’Prentice Returned from Sea and in a Garret with a Prostitute (pl. 7 of Industry and Idleness), 1747
Anon., A Boulster Lecture, seventeenth century, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
William Hogarth, Francis Matthew Schutz in His Bed, late 1750s, Norwich Castle Museum / Bridgeman Art Library
Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781, Detroit Institute of Arts / Bridgeman Art Library
Gerrit van Honthorst, The Flea Hunt, 1621, Dayton Art Institute. Museum Purchase with Funds Provided in Part by the 1980 Art Ball
Thomas Rowlandson, Haymakers at Rest, 1798, courtesy of Windsor Castle, The Royal Collection © 2004, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Jan Saenredam, Night, seventeenth century, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Jacob Jordaens, The Dream, or The Apparition by Night, seventeenth century, Staatliches Museum Schwerin
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Beggar’s Dream, ca. 1769, Louvre, Paris / Art Resource, New York
Henry Fuseli, Midnight, 1765, courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Alisa Mellon Bruce Fund, Washington, D.C.
Philip James de Loutherbourg, Coalbrookdale by Night, 1801, Science Museum, London / Bridgeman Art Library
Thomas Rowlandson, A Peep at the Gas Lights in Pall-Mall, 1809, Guildhall Library, Corporation of London / Bridgeman Art Library)
Anon., Lantern Smashing in Vienna, 1848, from Genaue Darstellung der Denkwürdigen Wiener Ereignisse des Jahres 1848 in ihren Uraschen und Folgen (Vienna, 1849)
Europe at Night, W. Sullivan, n.d., Hansen Planetarium, SPL / Photo Researchers, Inc.
COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS
Paul Bril, Fantastic Landscape, n.d., Galleria Borghese, Rome / Scala, Art Resource, New York
Hieronymous Francken, Witches’ Kitchen, 1610, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna / Art Resource, New York
Philip James de Loutherbourg, Attack by Robbers at Night, ca. 1770, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes / Bridgeman Art Library
Egbert van der Poel, Fire in a Village at Night, 1655, Private Collection / Bridgeman Art Library
Jacopo Bassano, Workshop of Weavers, sixteenth century, Accademia, Venice / Art Resource, New York
Anon., Ferry by Moonlight, n.d., Guildhall Art Gallery, Corporation of London
Gerrit van Honthorst, The Matchmaker, 1625, Centrall Museum, Utrecht / Art Resource, New York
Cornelis Troost, Those Who Could Walk Did; the Others Fell, 1739, Mauritshuis, Royal Gallery of Paintings, The Hague
Leandro Bassano, Camp at Night, n.d., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg
Thomas Luny, Teignmouth by Moonlight, eighteenth century, Private Collection / Bridgeman Art Library
David Teniers the Younger, The Invocation, seventeenth century, Bordeaux Musée des Beaux-Arts / Cliché du M.B.A. de Bordeaux / photographe Lysiane Gautheir
Giulio Carponi, The Kingdom of Hypnos, seventeenth century, Bonhams, London / Bridgeman Art Library
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“YOU JUST GO too slow,” my smiling ten-year-old daughter, Sheldon, teased recently about the pace of my writing. If only the words had come more easily! That I have not taken longer is owing to the help of friends and family coupled with the kindness of institutions on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The inspiration for this book came many years ago from André-Philippe Katz, a close friend in graduate school. Despite our plans to collaborate, other responsibilities prevented his participation. The book would have benefited enormously from his remarkable intellect and imagination.
Financial assistance for research and writing originated from a variety of sources. I am profoundly grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities; the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; the American Council of Learned Societies; the American Philosophical Society; the Virginia Center for the Humanities; and the American Historical Association. Virginia Tech generously provided research assistance and leaves from teaching.
Over the past two decades, I relied upon the staffs and resources of many splendid institutions. I am indebted to the Public Record Office (formerly at Chancery Lane as well as Kew); the British Library; the Guildhall Records Office in London; the British Library of Political & Economic Science at the London School of Economics; the Bodleian Library of Oxford University; the Cambridge University Library; St. John’s College, Cambridge; Chetham’s Library in Manchester; the record offices of Dorset and Hertfordshire; the Hereford City Library; the District Central Library in Rawtensall; the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society; the Bristol Central Library; the Department of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin; the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish Record Office, both in Edinburgh; the University of Wales, Bangor; the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth; and the Archives Geneve. In the United States, I am grateful to the Library of Congress; Alderman Library at the University of Virginia; the Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary; the New York Public Library; the Beinecke Library at Yale University; the Lewis Walpole Library; the North Haven (Connecticut) Historical Society; the Bennington (Vermont) Historical Society; the Harvard University Law School Library; Houghton Library at Harvard; and the Suffolk County Court House in Boston. At the Library of Virginia in Richmond, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Sandra G. Treadway and her colleagues. Still other institutions, identified elsewhere, supplied the book’s artwork. They have my deep appreciation.
Closer to home, I benefited from the diligence and generosity of the staff of Newman Library at Virginia Tech, including the late Dorothy F. McCombs, Bruce Pencek, and, most of all, Sharon Gotkiewicz, Lucy Cox, Janet R. Bland, Nancy Weaver, Michele Canterbury, Robert Kelley, and others in the interlibrary loan office headed by Harry M. Kriz. They worked tirelessly on my behalf and always with good cheer. Thanks also to Annette Burr for her expertise in art history. Ruth Lipnik Johnson and Becky Woodhouse at the Roanoke County Public Library were tremendous assets. I am grateful to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the use of their genealogical facilities in Salem. I wish to thank Rabbi Manes Kogan for letting me consult the fine library at Beth Israel Synagogue in Roanoke.
A small legion of translators enabled me to canvass a broad range of non-English sources, far beyond my own limited command of French and Latin. Of vital help were Cornelia Bade, Trudy Harrington Becker, Maebhe Ní Bhroin, Blanton Brown, Michel Dammron, Doreen Ebert, Christopher J. Eustis, Dinia Fatine, Jennifer Hayek, Christine Huzil, Berwyn Prys Jones, Andy Klatt, Rabbi Manes Kogan, Keun Pal Lee, Francesca Lorusso-Caputi, William L. McKone, Michele McNabb, Annick Mikailoff, Violaine Morand, Luciano Nardone, Sera Oner, Lida Ouwehand, Joseph Pierro, Shannon Prince, Haingonirina Ramaroson, Alexander Shaffer, Carey Smith, Giuliana E. Taylor, and Naomi de Wolf.
Colleagues at Virginia Tech who assisted my research and writing included Linda Arnold, Mark V. Barrow, Jr., Glenn R. Bugh, David Burr, the late Albert E. Moyer, Steven Soper, Robert Stephens, Peter Wallenstein, Joseph L. Wieczynski, and Young-tsu Wong. Most of all, Frederic J. Baumgartner lent a helping hand, answering repeated questions and drawing my attention to useful sources. He and Richard F. Hirsh both took the time, at any early stage, to read the manuscript. Linda Fountaine, Janet Francis, and Rhonda Pennington all made this project easier, as did a number of students, whether in sharing their insights, scanning illustrations, or volunteering references. I thank especially Sarah Taylor, Jamie Rife, Anne Elizabeth Wohlcke, David Ferro, Estare Alston, Bridgett Dehart, Nicole Evans, Doris Johnson, Eric Robertson, Al Harrison, Larry McCall, and Carlton Spinner. Soo Kang logged countless hours helping me to wade through eighteenth-century newspapers on microfilm, and Lindsay Metts chased down loose ends in Charlottesville. Jason Cruff kindly assisted in organizing my sources. Keith Wilder provided expert help in Edinbur
gh.
Many friends and professional acquaintances shared references or research of one sort or another. I am grateful to James Axtell, Jonathan Barry, Sharon Block, Mark J. Bouman, Amy Turner Bushnell, Cary Carson, John E. Crowley, David Dauer, Cornelia Dayton, Carl B. Estabrook, Paul Finkelman, Jan Garnert, Karla Girona, David D. Hall, Barbara Hanawalt, Ruth Wallis Herndon, William Lee Holladay, Marja Holmila, Steven C. Hughes, Craig Koslofsky, Allan Kugel, Michael Meranze, Kathryn Mary Olesko, David Smolen, John M. Staudenmaier, SJ, Keith Thomas, and Marc Weissbluth. Robert Gifford and Jennifer Veitch addressed my questions about interior lighting. The clinical insights of Thomas A. Wehr were immensely helpful as I tried to unravel the complexities of preindustrial sleep.
As always, Jack P. Greene was a welcome voice of encouragement, as was George Steiner. Timothy H. Breen, Richard S. Dunn, and Joanna Innes lent their aid early on. Bernard Bailyn, from the book’s inception, helped mightily. I greatly appreciate the references he shared but, even more, his expressions of support and enthusiasm, which were instrumental to the completion of my research. Numerous friends in the profession devoted their time to reading the manuscript, either the full text or selected chapters. For their advice and criticism, I owe much to Thomas Brennan, Robert J. Brugger, Peter Clark, Thomas V. Cohen, Rudolph Dekker, Paul Griffiths, Gilbert Kelly, A. Lynn Martin, Philip D. Morgan, Sara Tilghman Nalle, Paul F. Paskoff, Bruce R. Smith, and Daniel J. Wilson. They helped me tremendously. Joyce and Richard Wolkomir provided intellectual stimulus with their probing questions. In addition, I am grateful for the comments I received when presenting portions of my research at Johns Hopkins University, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, the State University of New York at Albany, and the University of Sydney. I also gave a talk at the (now) Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture during the year that I served as visiting editor of publications. I am indebted to the staff of the Institute and, most particularly, to Thad W. Tate for the many kindnesses I received during my stay. A small portion of my research previously appeared as an article, “Sleep We Lost: Pre-industrial Slumber in the British Isles,” in the April 2001 issue of the American Historical Review. I am grateful to members of the AHR staff, especially Allyn Roberts and Michael Grossberg.
At Day's Close Page 1