Rising of the lights

Rising of the lights was an illness or obstructive condition of the larynx, trachea or lungs, possibly croup. It was a common entry on bills of mortality in the 17th century.A generall Bill for this present year, ending the 19 of December 1665 according to the Report made to the KINGS most Excellent Majesty. By the Company of Parish Clerks of London, &c. Lights in this case referred to the lungs.Thomas R. Forbes, The changing face of death in London, in Charles Webster (editor), Health, Medicine and Mortality in the Sixteenth Century (1979), page 128

In culture In his A New Booke of Mistakes (1637), Robert Chamberlain gives a humorous epitaph:

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