Quadrille is a card game that was popular in the 18th century. A variant of the Spanish card game Ombre, it is played by four players in pairs, with a deck of 40 cards (the 8s, 9s and 10s being removed). By the end to the 19th Century the card game fell out of fashion.
The novel Pride and Prejudice includes four references to the quadrille card game being played by an upper class character, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and her guests. In the "Diary of Thomas Vernon," which was written by a loyalist from Newport, Rhode Island, during the American Revolution in 1776, the author mentions playing quadrille frequently while exiled in Glocester, Rhode Island, during the war. It is also frequently mentioned in "The Diary of a Country Parson 1758-1802" kept by James Woodforde, edited by John Beresford. (OUP)