Taking A Gamble . . .

Cara/Andrea here,

We take a lot of gambles in life. Falling in love . . . getting married . . . writing a book. There’s an element of risk in making yourself vulnerable. So many decisions requires a leap of faith, a clench of courage. Some of us are cautious by nature, while other thrive on dancing along the razored edge of risk. For them, danger can be like a drug, bubbling through the blood, tantalizing and tempting a be-damned-to-the-devil recklessness.

Risk and reward. How badly do you want something?

The Regency was gambling-mad. The bucks of the ton would bet on anything, from the races at Newmarket to drunken dashes to Bath in their curricles, from marriage matches to which raindrop would be the first to wiggle its way down a pane of glass. The betting book at White’s is an iconic element of the era. I imagine the pages range from the sublime to the ridiculous.

And then there was cards, of course. The flutter of a few pieces of painted pasteboard and poof! Lady Luck could be a friend or a fiend.

Wheeling and Dealing

Now, the first written record of a card game comes from China during Tang Dynasty where it is said that Princess Tongchang played the "leaf game" in 868 AD with members of her husband’s family. (Leave it to the women to know where the action is!) The Chinese printed playing cards—as well as books—around this time, but it took a number of centuries for them to spread to the West.

It’s speculated that the first sets came into Europe from Mamluk, Egypt in the late 14th century. The Mameluke deck was made up of 52 cards, and four "suits"—polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups. Each suit contained ten cards with “pips,” or numbers, and three "face" cards named King, Viceroy and Under-Deputy, though as is traditional in Islamic art, no depiction of a person was shown.

The earliest European cards were painted by hand—there is a record from 1392 of Charles VI of France paying for “the painting of three sets of cards.” Like devotional cards, and other early ephemera, playing card decks were soon printed from woodcut blocks, with the colors often added by stencils, which allowed a “mass” distribution. Engraving, a much more expensive technique, was also occasionally used. Hearts, Bells, Leaves and Acorns became popular for the four suits (there were sometimes five suits in early play) The four suits now used most commonly throughout the world—spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs— originated in France in the late 15th century. (The tarot deck is thought to have originated in Italy sometime during the 1400s, but that is a whole other story.)

Most of England’s early playing cards came from France, but in 1628, Charles I granted a charter to the “Company of the Mistery of Makers of Playing Cards of the City of London” and all future importation of playing cards was forbidden . . . which brings us back to the Regency and its games of hazard, faro and vint-et-un.

Going for Broke

Playing at cards was an immensely popular pastime, not just in the many gaming hells that abounded in London, but also in the mansions of Mayfair. Many of the evening entertainments offered a card room, and as it was respectable for a lady to play in such an environment, it offered one of the few places where she could “take a risk.” Most play was for small stakes, but there were many females who found the heady rush of gambling as addictive as the men did.

  Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is perhaps the most famous example, (though a few years before the Regency.) She played for very high stakes and was constantly in debt (a fact she tried to hide from her husband and the Spencers.) With few funds of her own, she borrowed heavily from friends and acquaintances—and brokered her influence for money. It’s said she got funds from Thomas Coutts of Coutts bank for the promise of introducing his daughter into Society. On her death, she  left debts totally nearly 20 thousand pounds. When told, the Duke supposed said, “Is that all?”

Taking A Gamble

My new book, TOO WICKED TO WED, which released this week, is all about taking a gamble. The hero, a penniless earl who decides to recoup the family fortunes by working for a living,  owns a gaming hell . . . the heroine, a practical country miss who has a head for numbers, wins a half of it in a high stakes card game while masquerading as a man . . . now how, you may ask, is this going to play out? Well, you can read an excerpt here!

Okay, since we’re talking about risk, what about you? Are you a risk taker? Or do you err on the side of caution? And I’m also curious—do you enjoy cards? Bridge? Poker? “21”? (I confess, I’ve been to a few casinos in my travels and found “21” fun . . . but as I’m very conservative, I set aside a certain sum as “play” money, figuring it is like paying for an evening of entertainment. And that is it! When it's gone, I get up and leave. I’d make a very boring duchess.)

Comments

[Isobel Carr]

I LOVE playing cards with my friends. We mostly practice historical games so we know them well when we want to entertain ourselves at re-enactments.

I was really surprised to find that gentlemen’s clubs had markers that were used when gambling, rather like poker chips. There are pictures of them Ian Kelly’s bio of Brummell and in history of White’s that I have.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

You have more patience than I do, Isobel! For some reason, I have never been able to get excited about cards. Sports are more my game—I like having to engage both mind and body. (And hey, more sweat means I can eat more chocolate!)

I've seen the pics of the markers too. Very cool.

[Quilt Lady]

I don't take any risk anymore, you do that when you get older, now when I was younger I did take some risk and when I think of some of the things I did I wonder how I made it though it all.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

LOL, Quilt Lady. The folly of youth! I look back on some things too, and shake my head. One can be really fearless . . . and foolish.

[Gail]

I am pretty much a non-risk taker. There is one thing I would like to do if I could have 1 risk taking wish.Skydiving-Since I am in a wheel chair(I have cerebral Palsy from the waist down)and skydiving lessons are a little pricey don't see it happening anytime soon. But to see the wrld the way majestic birds do would realy be something. Ms.Elliott I am the lady who won a packet of your books as a prize on the romance baditas website and since I am new to your books I am really excited to get them.I love to try new authors and their books.

[LouisaCornell]

Gail, you are going to LOVE, Cara's books!! Both the Cara Elliot and the Andrea Penrose books are fabulous reads!!

I was definitely a risk taker when I was younger - hang gliding, bungee jumping (on a bet to get my students to read two Shakespeare plays rather than one.) mountain climbing in the Alps and spelunking in bat caves in Mississippi. I even went water skiing once and I can't swim.

These days the only thing I risk is my ego as I send manuscripts out to editors and agents!

I enjoy card games. Rook and poker are the games I've played the most. I don't gamble at casinos, but my Mom does. She is very much like you. She has a set amount of money with which she plays and when it is gone she is done and walks away.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Gail, I really hope you have a chance to take that risk and fly! (Your spirit already is soaring majestically up there with the birds!)

Best wishes and hope you enjoy the books!

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Louisa, I'm impressed! Bungee Jumping? Accck! I like physical challenges, but I'm waaaay too chicken to do that. the very thought has my stomach twisting in knots!

LOL on the risk of sending in manuscripts! Rejection is one of the hardest risks to take, in many aspects of life. It takes a lot of courage.

[Isobel Carr]

A lot of wine helps …

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Or port, LOL! That might make me more apt to play!

[Isobel Carr]

I'm a member of a port club ... Just got a new shipment. *grin*

[LouisaCornell]

Looking back I think wine or port might have helped with the bungee jumping if I'd thought about it! Definitely NOT for the faint of heart or even the sound of mind. And I only did it once!

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Hmm, sounds like we might have to organize a Port And Piquet party for RWA!

And Louisa, once still earns you my undying awe!

[Dee]

Not much of a risk taker but I do some things that really bother others: jump horses, ski & climb mountains, head off into the wild blue yonder without a plan just to see what's there, tackle professional challenges that some of my colleagues prefer not to, and so forth. You won't catch me bungee jumping, leaping out of perfectly sound planes, or taking a hot air balloon ride (common denominator? vertigo). I don't play chicken with trains, bears, or charging bulls: they're faster than I am and would always win. Don't we all have different tolerances for risk whether physical, financial, emotional, professional, etc? As for cards, I am far too easily distracted to do well with the serious games and me in a casino is a sorry case of sensory overload meltdown. I can barely handle a game of casino blackjack. Friendly silly card games, sure deal me in.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Dee, I had to laugh at your assertion that you don't take risks . . .and then your list of all the daring things you do. It's so true that risk is in the eye of the beholder. Our comfort levels in all fields (physical, emotional, financial, etc.) are so personal. It's endlessly fascinating what makes us "tick", isn't it?

[donna ann]

I grew up playing cards. We learned at a young age starting w/ children games like fish, crazy 8 & steal the pile & before long learn 500 rum, spades & of course poker. I remember many evenings (even on vacation) sitting around the kitchen or dining room table with my parents & siblings playing cards. My mom often played solitaire (my sister & I often play it on the computer) while sitting in her kitchen watching tv, nor was it unusual for the deck to get dealt for a game of 500 without comment when I'd be sitting with her there. In some ways cards kept the hands busy while we visited or the mind was doing other things. While I generally do well at cards, as soon as money (even play money) is involved, my luck goes straight to pot so gambling has never been an issue for me -- I hate loosing much less wasting money :)

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

I'm not much of a gambler with money either! I'd much rather spend it on something meaningful, rather than fritter it away on the turn of a card.

[peggy Q]

I'm not a gambler or a risk taker.I do play cards but only with family.

[Anne Gracie]

I've taken quite a few risks in my time, but gambling isn't one of the areas that appeals and casinos are places I avoid. If I ever do end up in a situation where I have play/bet, I'm like you, Andrea/Cara, setting aside a sum of play money and expecting to lose it.

I do enjoy cards, though and regularly play Canasta and other games, but we're not playing for money and sometimes we're not even too serious about winning/losing. I don't enjoy being partnered with someone who is desperate to win/hates to lose. For me it's purely a social activity.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Anne, I've taken risks too, but they are mostly physical—climbing mountains, mountain biking over rough trails, motorcycling through Europe, etc. But gambling for money just doesn't appeal to me. (Must be my frugal Swiss blood!)

[Stories of Romance]

Thank you Word Wenches, for continuing to take literary "risks". You make our dreams come alive by allowing us to live vicariously through your contributions. No bungee jumping required here.

[Kathryn Smith]

Georgiana, you naughty Duchess, so the over sized fashionable & expensive hat holds & hides all your IOU's?
Imagine the fright, it blows off & a blizzard of white covers the countryside.
Taking risks takes more than fashion sense darling.