On the contrary: ever since the decline of the music halls, theatre had been the purview of the middling sort—even when the subject matter was ostensibly proletarian.

The upper ranks thought the middling sort were greedy, obsessed with making money, virtuous enough, but lacking taste, elegance and culture.

The rise of a middling sort of people is regarded as one of the most significant historical developments in early modern Britain, and an extensive historiography has been devoted to defining this social group.

Middling sort

Meaning

Noun