“In the evening, a flood of gas light streams through the windows, casting a warm color on the pale faces of passing women, making the copper shine like gold, and transforming crystals into diamonds. It makes the rich array of manifold and multicolored trinkets, knick-knacks, and toys appear like luxuries radiating a magical and dazzling glow. . . .”

—Auguste Luchet, from “Les Passages,” in Nouveau tableau de Paris, 1835. As quoted in Theatre, Performance, and the Historical Avant-Garde by G’nter Berghaus, 2005.