Editing Whist (section)

== History ==
[[File:Drawing_by_Marguerite_Martyn_of_Women's_Whist_Club_Congress,_1906,_St._Louis.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Drawing by [[Marguerite Martyn]] for the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' of a session of the Women's Whist Club Congress, April 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri]]

In 1674, ''[[The Compleat Gamester|The Complete Gamester]]'' described the game [[Ruff and Honours]] as the most popular descendant of [[Triomphe|Triumph]] played in England during the 17th century. Whist is described as a simpler, more staid, version of Ruff and Honours with the twos removed instead of having a stock. In the 18th century, Whist, played with a 52 card pack, superseded Ruff and Honours.<ref>Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, p. 340, David Parlett {{ISBN|0-19-869173-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
  |last = Pole
  |first = William
  |author-link = William Pole
  |year = 1895
  |title = The Evolution of Whist
  |url = https://archive.org/details/cu31924031248556
  |publisher = Longmans, Green, and Co. 
  |location = New York, London
  }}
</ref> The game takes its name from the 17th-century word ''whist'' (or ''wist'') meaning ''quiet'', ''silent'', ''attentive'', which is the root of the modern ''wistful''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/wistful|title=Wistful – Define Wistful at Dictionary.com|work=Dictionary.com|access-date=20 January 2015}}</ref>

Whist was first played on scientific principles by gentlemen in the Crown Coffee House in Bedford Row, London, around 1728, according to [[Daines Barrington]].<ref name=EB1911>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Whist |volume=28 |short=x}}</ref> [[Edmond Hoyle]], suspected to be a member of this group, began to tutor wealthy young gentlemen in the game and published ''A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist'' in 1742.  It became the standard text and rules for the game for the next hundred years.

In 1862, [[Henry Jones (writer)|Henry Jones]], writing under the pseudonym "Cavendish", published ''The Principles of Whist Stated and Explained, and Its Practice Illustrated on an Original System, by Means of Hands Played Completely Through'', which became the standard text.<ref name=EB1911/> In his book, Jones outlined a comprehensive history of Whist, and suggested that its ancestors could include a game called Trionf, mentioned by a sixteenth century Italian poet named Berni, and a game called Trump (or Triumph), mentioned in Shakespeare's ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''.<ref>"History of Whist" in {{cite book|last=Roya|first=Will|date=2021|title=Card Night: Classic Games, Classic Decks, and the History Behind Them|publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers|page=167|isbn=9780762473519}}</ref>

Many subsequent editions and enlargements of Jones's book were published using the simpler title ''Cavendish on Whist''. Whist by now was governed by elaborate and rigid rules covering the laws of the game, etiquette and play which took time to study and master.

In the early 1890s, Whist was quickly replaced by the new game of [[Contract bridge|Bridge]] in clubs. Whist was still played as a social game, in club individual duplicate cardplay competitions, and later at charitable social events called [[#whist drive|''whist drives'']].<ref name="drive">[http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/whist-drive Cambridge Dictionaries Online] Whist drive</ref> There are many modern variants of whist still played for fun, though whist can still be played online following the same rules as 300 years ago.