120 
LAMP. 
latrous feffivals, in a more elegant manner than they. 
This they confidered as a fpecies of idolatry. That the 
houfes of the ancients were illuminated on birth-days, by 
fufpending lamps from chains, is too well known to re¬ 
quire any proof. 
Of modern cities, Paris feems to have been the firft that 
followed the example of the ancients by lighting its fcreets. 
As this city, in the beginning of the fixteenth century, 
vras much infefted with ftreet-robbers and incendiaries, 
the inhabitants were, from time to time, ordered to keep 
lights burning, after nine in the evening, before the win¬ 
dows of all the houfes which fronted the ftreet. This or¬ 
der was iffued in the year 1524, and renewed in 1526 and 
1553; but, in the month of October 1558, jalots were 
ere&ed at the corners of the ftreets, or, when the ftreet 
was fo longthat it could not be lighted by one, three were 
erefled in three different parts of it. The Grand Voca- 
bulaire Francois, 1770, explains, falot as a large vafe filled 
with pitch, rofin,and other combuftibles, employed in the 
king’s palace and houfes of princes to light the courts. 
At that period there were in Paris 912 ftreets; fo that the 
numberof lights then ufed mull have been lefs than 2736. 
In the month of November, the fame year, thefe lights 
were changed for lamps enclofed in lanterns. The 
lighting of the ftreets of Paris continued, however, for a 
long time to be very imperfedl, fince the abbe Laudati, an 
Italian of the Cararfa family, conceived the idea of let¬ 
ting out torches and lanterns for hire. In the month of 
March 1662, he obtained an exclufive privilege to this 
elfablifhmerit for twenty years; and he undertook to ereff, 
at certain places, not only in Paris, but alfo in other ci¬ 
ties of the kingdom, booths or polls where any perfon 
might hire a link or lantern, or, on paying a certain futn, 
might be attended through the ftreets by a man bearing 
a light. He was authoriled to receive from every one 
w’ho hired a lantern to a coach, five fous for a quarter of 
an hour ; and from every foot-pafl’enger three fous. To 
prevent all dilputes in regard to time, it was ordered that 
a regulated hour-glafs Ihould be carried along with each 
Lantern. In 1667, however, the lighting of the city of 
Paris was put on the footing on which it is at prefent. 
On 23d of May, 1671, an order was made that the lanterns 
every year Ihould be lighted from the 20th of Oftober till 
the end of March in the year following. Before this period 
the ftreets were lighted only during the four win ter-months; 
and,onaccountof thenumberof atrocities committed in the 
night-time when there were no lights, the Parifians offered 
to contribute as much money as Ihould be fufficient to 
defray the expenfe of keeping the lamps lighted through¬ 
out the whole winter. The lamps employed at this time 
were, on account of their likenefs to a bucket, called lan- 
ternes a Jean, and fucceeded thofe invented by one He- 
rault, called lanternes a cul-de-lampe. When Sartine held 
the office of lieutenant de police, a premium was offered 
to whoever fhould difeover the moil advantageous means 
of improving the lighting of the ftreets ; and the Aca¬ 
demy of Sciences were to decide on the different plans 
that might be propofed. In confequence of this offer, a 
journeyman glazier, named Goujon, received a premium 
of 200 livres; and Mefl'rs. Bailly, le Roy, and Bourgeois 
de Chateaublanc, 2000 livres. To the laft-mentioned 
gentleman is aferibed the invention of the prefent rever¬ 
berating lamps, which were introduced in 1766. The fu- 
periority of thefe lamps cannot be denied ; but, befides 
their expenfe, they are attended with this difadvantage, 
when they hang in the middle of the ftreet, that they 
throw a lhade over it, fo that one cannot be known by 
thofe who pafs. In cities alfo, where people walk princi¬ 
pally in the middle of the ftreets, or where the ftreets are 
bVoad, they are not very convenient, and they occafion 
a ftoppage when it is neceftary to clean them. In the 
year 1721, the lamps in Paris are faid to have amounted 
to 5772; but in the Tableau de Paris, printed in 1760, the 
number is reckoned to be only 5694.3 and in the Curiofi- 
tes de Paris, 1771, they are ftafed 'to be 6132. In 1777 
the road between Paris and Verfailles-, which is about nine 
miles in length, was lighted at the yearly expenfe of 15,000 
livres by the fame contractors who lighted Paris. The 
city of Nantes was lighted the fame year; and in 1780 
had 500 lamps. Strafburgh began to be lighted in 1779. 
It appears that the ftreets of Amfterdam were lighted 
by lanterns fo early as 1669 ; for, in the month of February 
that year, the magiftrates, who in 1665 had forbidden the 
ufe of torches, iilued an order againft deflroying the lamp- 
pofts, to which it was cuftomary to fallen horfes. The 
lanterns were not of glafs, but of horn ; for the lamp¬ 
lighters were ordered, in their inftruftions, to wipe off 
every day the fmoke of the train-oil which adhered to the 
horn of the lanterns. At the Hague an order was iftued, 
in the month of October 1553, that the inhabitants fhould 
place lights before their doors during dark nights ; and 
afterwards fmall flone houfes were erefted at the corners 
of the principal ftreets, in which lights were kept burn¬ 
ing ; but in the year 1678 lamps were fixed up in all the 
ftreets. The ftreets of Copenhagen were firft lighted by 
lamps in 1681. The ftreets of Rome are not yet lighted. 
Sixtus V. was defirous to introduce this improvement in 
the police, but he met with infurmountable obftacles. In 
order however that the benefit of lighting might be en¬ 
joyed in fome meafure, he ordered the number of the 
lights placed before the images of flints to be augmented. 
Madrid, which till lately was the dirtied of all the capital 
cities of Europe, is at prefent as well lighted as London. 
Valencia, in Spain was fome years ago indebted for this 
improvement to Joachim Manuel Fos, then infpefilor of 
the manufactories. Barcelona is lighted alfo. Lifbon 
however has no lights. 
In the year 1672, the council of Hamburgh made a 
propofal to the citizens for lighting the ftreets. The year 
following this propofal was accepted, but the lamps were 
not fixed up till two years after, that is to fay in 1675, 
In the year 1679, Berlin had advanced fo far towards this 
improvement, that the inhabitants were obliged in turns 
to hang out a lantern with a light at every third houfe. 
In 1682, the elector Frederic William caufed lamp-pods 
with lamps to be erected, notwithftanding the oppofition 
made by the inhabitants on account of the expenfe. I11 
a petition which they prefented in 1680, they ftated, that 
the lamps coft five thoufand dollars, and that three thou- 
fand were required yearly to keep them lighted. At pre¬ 
fent Berlin has 2354. lamps, which are kept lighted from 
September till May, and at the king’s expenfe. Potfdam 
has 590. Vienna began to be lighted in the year 1687. 
The lights were hung out in the evening on a fignal given 
by the fire-bell. In 1704, lamps were introduced ; hut 
at firft the light which they afforded was very imperfeff, 
as the lamps burned badly, and becaufe, to lave the ex¬ 
penfe of lamp-lighters, every houfekeeper was obliged 
daily to remove the empty lamps, to carry them to the 
lamp-office to be filled, and to light them again on a fig¬ 
nal given with a bell. In 1776, the lamps, which before 
amounted to two thoufand, were increafed to three thou¬ 
fand, and a contract was entered into for lighting them 
at the rate of 30,000 florins. Thefe lamps in the year 1779 
amounted to 3445. They are made of white glafs, in a 
globular form, and have a covering of tin plate, painted 
red on the outfide and polilhed within. They are fup- 
ported by lamp-irons, fixed in the houfes at the height of 
fifteen feet from the ground. Each lantern is only fixteen 
paces diftant from the other, fo that the ftreets are com¬ 
pletely illuminated. They are kept lighted both fummer 
and winter; and this is more neceftary at Vienna than any 
where elfe, on account of the height of the houfes and 
the narrownefs and crookednefs of the ftreets. The lamp¬ 
lighters wear an uniform, and are under military difei- 
pline. In 1783, the yearly expenfe of the lamps was efti- 
mated at only 17,000 florins. Leipzig was lighted in 1702, 
and Trefden in 1705. In 1766, the number of lamps at 
