Candles of rendered mutton or beef fat, soft and smoky, made by dipping a twisted flax wick repeatedly into melted tallow until a thick stack builds up. They burn dimly and produce acrid smoke that blackens the ceiling and smells of old meat, but they are cheap and abundant—the light of cottagers, soldiers, and anyone who cannot afford the price of wax. A tallow candle gutters and drips; its flame wavers without a trim, leaving long smoldering wisps of wick.
Candles, Tallow
Rendered mutton-beef fat candles; smoky, acrid, cheap; light of soldiers and poor.