A Sixpence at Whist: Gaming and the English Middle Classes, 1680–1830, by Janet E. Mullin

Abstract

Janet Mullin is a gifted writer, who uses gaming as ‘a lens through which to glimpse middling mentalities, preoccupations, and priorities’ (p. 5). As she leads readers into the best parlour for a game of whist, one can almost peer into her subjects’ hands of cards. Mullin’s engaging style offers a leisurely read about leisure in a language that evokes comfort, gentility and fun. A wide variety of sources from forty-one archives fill this national survey of rural and urban dwellers. Account books, letters and diaries are juxtaposed effectively, while women and usually-hidden children are happily visible at play. We observe ‘a seldom-seen portrait of genteel sociability’ (p. 7) that became central to players’ lives in the home and the wider world. Mullin’s clear argument paints a picture of enlightened middling-sort individuals, who used moderation, restraint and discretion in cards as well as in life. First, she introduces her players, mainly families in trade or the professions with annual incomes of £80–£150, (pp. 14–17). Then she questions the motives that shaped their attitudes to games: were they able to avoid the reckless gambling that was so prominent among the nobility? Rituals of card-playing are analysed both at home and in public settings. In addition, contemporary views of gaming are examined in essays, sermons, periodicals and novels, whose target was the middling sort. The perils of risk and the pitfalls that faced family members are also considered.