Candles

I don't know why, but I found the section in Jane Austen's England about candles strangely fascinating.  Around the turn of the 19th century, there was no electricity, and gas lighting was still a fancy new technology. Aside from the home's hearth, the primary source of light at night came from candles. Depending on your status in life, there were plenty of candle options, too.

The most expensive and highest-quality candles were made of beeswax. The flax or cotton wicks were either wrapped with sheets of beeswax or melted into a solid candle. Because they worked well in chandeliers and produced very little smoke, these candles were favoured in public buildings like theatres and churches.

Whale oil candles filled a similar niche as beeswax candles. They could be made in moulds and also burned cleanly.

Unfortunately, these pleasant candles were expensive, so the everyday folks had to turn to tallow candles. The wick of these candles would be repeatedly dipped in hot animal fat, then cooled to solidify. These candles would give off a flickering light and a bad smell. They also needed thicker wicks that would produce smoke. This wick would need to be regularly trimmed with scissors called "snuffers" while burning to avoid the charred wick getting too long. Mutton tallow was the choice animal fat, but beef and pork fat were also used.

All of those candles were taxed, however. The poor would need to make their own rushlights. Rushes would be picked, peeled, dried, and drawn through used cooking grease. Rushlights didn't last very long, but were cheap and gave a reasonably clean source of light.

Oil lamps were popular in coastal areas with access to cheap whale oil. Essentially, lamps were shallow containers filled with oil and held a suspended wick. Cheaper lamps produced more smoke and stink than candles, but some of the later lamps with glass chimneys did a better job of preventing that.

Sources:
"Jane Austen's England" - Roy and Lesley Adkins