How? Why? Where? When?
1. A player thinks of the name of an object.
Tip: Choose a word with multiple meanings, like bows (ribbons for hair) and beaux (male suitors).
2. The other players try to discover the object by asking the following questions (only once):
How do you like it?
Why do you like it?
When do you like it?
Where do you like it?
3. The player who picked the object must answer honestly, but can alternate answering between the different meanings of the word.
4. If you guess the object correctly, it is your turn to choose an object.
The Courtiers
Pick a king or a queen to sit in a chair in the front of the room. The courtiers (all the other players) sit in a circle around the monarch. Whatever movements the king or queen makes, the courtiers must imitate, no matter how silly. If any of the courtiers smiles or laughs while copying the monarch, they must pay a forfeit (see Forfeits).
Forfeits from Cassells Household Guide, 1869:
Forfeits for Gentlemen
To kiss every lady in the room Spanish fashion. The person to whom this forfeit is assigned usually imagines that an agreeable task is before him; but he is thus enlightened. A lady rises from her seat to conduct him round the room, and she proceeds to each lady in turn, kisses her, and then wipes the gentleman’s mouth with her pocket handkerchief.
To make a Grecian statue. To do this the gentleman must stand upon a chair, and take his pose according to the pleasure of the company. One person may stick his arm out, or bend it into an awkward position; another may do the same by a leg; a third may incline his head backward, with the chin elevated in the air; and so they may proceed, until his figure is sufficiently removed from the “Grecian” to satisfy the party. He is bound to be as plastic as possible while the statue is moulded.
Say half-a-dozen flattering things to a Lady, without using the letter l. This may be done by such phrases as “You are pretty,” “You are entertaining, &c,” but such words as graceful, beautiful, and charitable are, of course, inadmissible. *You can choose different letters of the alphabet.
To play the Learned Pig. To do this, the gentleman must first put himself as nearly as possible in the attitude of one. He must go on all fours, and he is then to answer questions that may be put to him either by the company or by somebody who may volunteer as his master, to show his attainments. The questions asked are something like the following: “Show us the most agreeable person in the company,” or, “the most charming,” “the greatest flirt,” &c. After each question, the victim is to proceed to any one whom he may select and signify his choice by a grunt. The learning as well as the docility of a pig has its limits, and the game must, therefore, not be prolonged too far.
To choose one of three signs. To do this, he is to stand with his face to the wall, while any lady present makes three signs behind him—of a kiss, of a pinch, and of a box on the ear. He is then asked whether he chooses the first, the second, or the third, not knowing the order in which they have been made, and receives the corresponding action.
Forfeits for Ladies
To say “yes” or “no” to three questions by the company. The lady must go out of the room, while the company agree as to each of the questions to be asked. To each of these the lady must give one or other of the plain monosyllables. Ladies of Experience say the safe answer is always “no”; but this hint must be reserved to readers of these papers.
Opportunity. To stand in the middle of the room, and spell opportunity. If, after the lady has spelt the word, a gentleman can reach her before she regains her seat, he may avail himself of the “opportunity” offered, under the mistletoe.
To kiss the gentleman you love best in the company, without anyone knowing it. There is only one way of paying this penalty, and that is, to kiss every gentleman in the room, leaving them to settle the question as to “loving best” among them.
To kiss each corner of the room. When this forfeit is declared, a gentleman stations himself in each corner, and the lady has to pay an unexpected penalty.
To sing a song, or play a piece of music. This is given either to elicit the musical capabilities of a lady who may be shy, or to make an agreeable interlude in the round of other forfeits. If the lady called upon can really do neither, another forfeit is allotted to her.
Victorian Glossary
Balmy—eccentric; mad; crazy
Bauble—showy trinket or jewelry
Bough—a main branch from a tree
Bricky—brave or fearless
Crack lay—housebreaking
Crinoline—a metal cage-like skirt used instead of petticoats
Cronies—friends
Entail—a legal restriction that requires the heir to an estate to be male, and gives them the right to only the income of the estate (they cannot sell or mortgage the land). Then the land is passed to the next male heir in the hierarchical line. The third generation can sell the land.
Folly—foolishness; or a costly ornamental building in a garden or park with no practical purpose
Forfeits—ridiculous acts a person must do if they lose in a parlor game
Foxed—drunk
Morganatic—a marriage between two people of different social ranks; when one of those people is royal, it prevents the passage of royal titles and property to their spouse or their children
Polymath—a person of wide-ranging knowledge
Primogeniture—the eldest son inherits all the property
Pulchritudinous—a person of breathtaking beauty
Punctilious—showing great attention to detail or correct behavior
Sauce box—mouth
Toffs—wealthy person
Twaddle—foolish or trivial speech or writing; nonsense
Selected Bibliography
Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse: Princess of Great Britain and Ireland. London: John Murray, 1884.
Cassell’s Household Guide: Being a Complete Encyclopedia of Domestic and Social Economy, and Forming a Guide to Every Department of Practical Life, Volume I. London: Cassell, Peter, and Galpin, 1869.
Dennison, Matthew. Queen Victoria: A Life of Contradictions. 2nd ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 2014.
Gill, Gillian. We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals. 2nd print ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009.
Hubbard, Kate. Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household. Reprint ed. New York: Harper Collins, 2013.
Nightingale, Florence. Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not. London: Harrison, 59, Pall Mall, 1859.
Packard, Jerrold M. Victoria’s Daughters. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew. New York: Touchstone, 1993.
Rappaport, Helen. A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
Strachey, Lytton. Queen Victoria: An Eminent Illustrated Biography. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 1998.
Also by Samantha Hastings
The Last Word
The Invention of Sophie Carter
A Royal Christmas Quandary
About the Author
Samantha Hastings has degrees from Brigham Young University, the University of Reading (Berkshire, England), and the University of North Texas. She met her husband in a turkey-sandwich line. They live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she spends most of her time reading, eating popcorn, and chasing her kids. The Last Word is her debut novel. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Victorian Parlor Games
Victorian Glossary
Selected Bibliography
Also by Samantha Hastings
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Samantha Hastings.
A Swoon Reads Book
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eBook edition 2020
eISBN 9781250759726
First eBook edition: 2020