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Laughter [ Communication ]

… while an uncontrolled guffaw – especially triggered by a ‘lowbrow’ joke – was anything but. Laughter was scrutinised with vigour by notable thinkers and theorists of sociability; broaching issues of wit, sincerity, taste and bodily control, nothing exposes the anxieties and aspirations inherent in sociability quite like laughter. Practices > Communication Keywords Laughter humour Wit Taste Politeness impoliteness Manners civil society In May 1787, author-turned cleric Thomas Monro devoted an issue …

Beau Nash [ Fashion ]

… and manners, he participated in the forging of a refined and polite nation. This entry attempts to assess his action without downplaying his moral ambiguity. People > Fashion Keywords Bath Fashion Gaming Social codes Manners Master of Ceremonies Politeness Refinement Spa Wit Richard Nash, who was born in Swansea in 1674, has gone down in history as Beau Nash – the inventor of spa … law at the Middle Temple, London. 1 From the start, he behaved as an ‘easy companion’ who struck innumerable friendships with people from different walks of life, evincing many of the qualities of a sociable young man. The gaming table …

Joseph Addison [ Art and Literature / Politics ]

… > Art and Literature People > Politics Keywords Addison Whig Periodical essay Tatler Spectator Coffeehouse Literature Wit Politeness Manners Joseph Addison (1672-1719) was an important theorist of English sociability in the early … of the most popular plays of the eighteenth century. He served as a Member of Parliament for the constituencies of Lostwithiel (1708-1709) and Malmsbury (1710-1719) and held the offices of Chief Secretary for Ireland (1708-1710; 1714-1715) … Joseph Addison: Tercentenary Essays (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, forthcoming). Addison’s political affiliation remained with the Whig party throughout his life. His loyalty to the Whig cause served him well both in his lifetime as well as …

Richard Steele [ Art and Literature / Politics ]

… The successful formula was to offer cultural comment (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 …

Touch and sociability [ Communication ]

… may have gradually changed, these were often ignored by men.  Violations of these standards of polite conduct, largely without physical contact, were both frequent and were seen by women as putting them at risk of further and fuller … belongs to him, for the time; and if he persists in taking it a little after the time, it would be very ill-natured to withdraw it – unless one did not like him.  For my part I found something so admirably persuasive in the touch of a man I … 3  These changing assumptions would have had an impact on male emotions and experiences of sensuality in their contact with women. Indeed, we might see the conventions of conduct and courtship becoming increasingly complex, thereby allowing …

Bethlem Hospital [ Health ]

… was to be found there, not among the inmates but rather among those members of the public who paid for admission to witness the antics of the lunatics. But the most telling form of Bethlem sociability was in its popular image as … vain, pippin-faced little old lady, in a fantastic cap – proud of her foot and ankle; there was the old-young woman, with the dishevelled long light hair, spare figure, and weird gentility; there was the vacantly-laughing girl, requiring … week; the wry-faced tailor, formerly suicidal, but much improved; [...] There was the man of happy silliness, pleased with everything. But the only chain that made any clatter was Ladies’ Chain [...] ‘ 1 The allusion to the chain is not …