Candles of the Canon (and off to bed)

Ever think about the items of Victorian life that we don't really get too excited about in the Canon? Gasogenes? So cool! Basket chairs? Nice! Foolscap? Well, if you have to hand-write something, of course!  And then there are candles.

Candles.

The red wax candle of A Study in Scarlet, used by Jefferson Hope to illuminate his pill-based judgment of his prey, lighting the murder scene for the contable who discovered it, and left for Sherlock Holmes to consider at the scene.

There's the candle that Sherman the bird-stuffer lights when Watson knocks on his door after two in the morning after driving through "silent gas-lit streets." That same candle is used to introduce Watson to Toby.

Henry Baker seemed to have used many a candle to make his way upstairs after coming home at night, but he is far from the only one in the Canon making their way through the house at night with a candle to light their way. Even if a house was set up for gaslights, it's not like people were flipping switches as they walked into a room as we do now. Candles served an important purpose.

Effie Munro's daughter had "cozy, well-furnished apartment, with two candles burning upon the table and two upon the mantelpiece" at night. Four candles lighting the room was enough light for her to play and for Watson to consider it "a lighted room."

Candles on mantelpieces, candles as clues, Lestrade carrying a couple candles with him when needed -- Sherlock Holmes bending over with candle in hand is the first thing Watson sees the morning "Abbey Grange" begins. But the times are changing. Henry Baskerville's first thought about Baskerville Hall is. to put "a thousand candle-power Swan and Edison right here in front of the hall door" and get rid of the creepiness of the place. But once Watson gets inside his bedroom at the Hall, the Barrymores have filled it with enough candles that, with the brightly colored wallpaper, cheers things up without bringing Thomas Edison into the picture.

There are a lot of candles in a gothic tale like The Hound of the Baskervilles, probably more than the rest of the Canon put together. Candles were an everyday part of life in the Victorian era, yet they change the atmosphere of a room completely for the modern soul.  Even recreating a Canonical scene with candles just seems a little ominous? Four candles lit up little Lucy Hebron's playroom, which is cool enough, but the Tregennis family played their last game of cards by the light of four candles. Creepy, creepy, creepy.

Not sure where a Sherlockian goes with candles, as I'm rather fond of electricity myself and the electric light does make the reading go a bit better. Should we have more candle-lit banquets or other meeting gatherings? Maybe? Just maybe not card parties.