… to The Diverting Muse, or, Universal Medly (1707), for example, which cheerfully claimed to have been ‘written by a society of merry gentlemen, for the entertainment of the town’. The contents also suggest that its anticipated audience … us double, He’s only blest That drinks the best, And gives himself least Trouble. Similarly, ‘A new litany for a merry society over a glass of good liquor’ included the collective refrain ‘Libera nos domine’, as participants prayed to be … The Life and Errors of John Dunton (London, 1705), I, p. 450-3. 16 . Philip Carter, Men and the Emergence of Polite Society, Britain 1660-1800 (Harlow, 2001). 17 . Kate Davison, ‘Occasional Politeness and Gentlemen’s Laughter in 18th …