Joseph Addison [ Art and Literature / Politics ]
… circle during the last years of Anne’s reign, Alexander Pope recalled that Addison regularly met ‘his party’ at Button’s Coffeehouse, and he ‘stayed five or six hours – and sometimes far into the night’. Before he married Lady Warwick, he … Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-tables, and in Coffee houses.‘ ( The Spectator, n° 10, 12 March 1711 ) He imagined a society in which learning and moral improvement … This may explain why Addison chose to write periodical essays, as they were distributed regularly (six days a week) to coffeehouses and wealthy households throughout Britain. They would be read regularly by men and women throughout the …
Literature | Manners | Periodicals | Politeness | Whigs | Wit
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