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Richard Steele [ Art and Literature / Politics ]

… (including theatre criticism, poetry and ‘gallantry’, mixed with moral guidance) in a periodical essay format, with some politics and news, lightened with humour. He was nevertheless also a highly partisan polemicist and had a relatively circumscribed view of who constituted the ‘people’. People > Art and Literature People > Politics Keywords Periodical Print culture Politeness Army Morality Politics Slavery Women Theatre Wit This article will not repeat data easily accessible elsewhere about Steele’s career as …

Debating societies [ Clubs & Societies / Associational culture ]

… the taste for public debate among the lower and middling sorts. Topics could be frivolous, but when societies debated politics, religion, and the economy they were felt to voice threateningly radical opinions. When the reaction against the … part of the population, including women. Places > Clubs & Societies Practices > Associational culture Keywords Debate Politics Middle class Plebeian Public sphere Oratory Eloquence Debating societies were commercial ventures that provided … Eighteenth-Century Ireland (Dublin: Four Courts, 2010), p. 368. 5 John Money, ‘Taverns, Coffee Houses and Clubs: Local Politics and Popular Articulacy in the Birmingham Area, in the Age of the American Revolution’, Historical Journal (14, …

William Wordsworth, the Worldly Recluse [ Art and Literature ]

… domesticity, community, and nation-building. People > Art and Literature Keywords Solitude French Revolution Domesticity Politics Napoleon Poet Laureate In a letter of 27 October 1818 to Richard Woodhouse, John Keats famously distanced … formed a cornerstone of his works. Wordsworth gradually became more conservative, but despite the changing nature of his politics, his social concerns persisted for the rest of his life.  The Excursion  illustrates this with its interest in … independence of Spain and Portugal, invaded by Napoleon’s armies the previous year. His deep interest in international politics and his defence of the sovereignty of other countries suggest continuities with the political idealism of his …

Bookshops in London [ Cities / Trade ]

… and sold. Whether it be in the City or in the polite West End, they fulfilled a wide range of functions (mail, banking, politics). Their crucial significance in various social circles could be best explained by the connections to other … that they themselves were engaged in many activities, from journalism (Abel Roper), novel writing (Samuel Richardson), politics (William Strahan) or antiquarianism (Richard Nutt).  2 James Raven, Bookscape: Geographies of printing and … and sold. Whether it be in the City or in the polite West End, they fulfilled a wide range of functions (mail, banking, politics). Their crucial significance in various social circles could be best explained by the connections to other …

Joseph Addison [ Art and Literature / Politics ]

… after the consolidation of Whig political hegemony after the Hanoverian accession. People > Art and Literature People > Politics Keywords Addison Whig Periodical essay Tatler Spectator Coffeehouse Literature Wit Politeness Manners Joseph … Henry Sacheverell, who would later become a highly controversial Tory preacher in Queen Anne’s reign. 1 Addison’s own politics, however, remained resolutely Whig and his political career owed much to his connections to members of the Whig … as the natural party of government after the Glorious Revolution. Addison’s writings articulated a new vision of Whig politics. He focused less on opposition to the crown and a fear of the encroachment of Popish tyranny on English …

Electoral sociability [ Politics & Society ]

… and even violence that many commentators saw as impolite and damaging to the political and social culture. Practices > Politics & Society Keywords elections Politeness impoliteness drunkenness Violence Print culture feasting partisanship … prints as though they were a club of connoisseurs, and probably depicts the earl of Orford’s house near Newmarket, where politics could be combined with horseracing. Even without such grand meetings, elections occasioned social visits and … (1768), ‘Introduction’. Chairing was often followed by a dinner or dance. The Election Magazine or Repository of Wit and Politics (1784), relating to a Norwich election, noted (with relief) that the chairing of Hobart and Windham in the …