The Making of the English Working Class

by E.P. Thompson

But this was a conscious resistance to the passing of an old way of life, and it was frequently associated with political Radicalism.1 As important in this passing as the simple physical loss of commons and “playgrounds”,2 was the loss of leisure in which to play and the repression of playful impulses. The Puritan teachings of Bunyan or Baxter were transmitted in their entirety by Wesley: “Avoid all lightness, as you would avoid hell-fire; and trifling, as you would cursing and swearing. Touch no woman …”. Card-playing, coloured dresses, personal ornaments, the theatre—all came under Methodist prohibition. Tracts were written against “profane” songs and dancing;3 literature and arts which had no devotional bearing were profoundly suspect; the dreadful “Victorian” Sabbath began to extend its oppression even before Victoria’s birth.