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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 …

Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury [ Philosophy / Art and Literature / Aristocracy ]

… across Europe, any account of the decidedly British contribution to Enlightenment ‘sociability’ must remain incomplete without an understanding of his extended treatment of the term. People > Philosophy People > Art and Literature People > Aristocracy Keywords Politeness toleration virtue Wit Whig Manners dialogue Cosmopolitanism Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), fundamentally … theories of sociability, it is vital to illuminate the causes for his interest in the idea a s well as its significance within the wider scope of his philosophy, particularly his ethical and political thought. The first traces of the concept …

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 …

Scientific experiments [ Politics & Society / Science ]

… Whiston and others showed demonstrations of mechanics in coffeehouses. Later, Benjamin Martin commercialized experiments with static electricity, and Joseph Priestley and his associates introduced new gases in public lectures. Experiments were both commodities supplying a kind of cultural consumption and shared experiences within the new associational forms of the public sphere. Practices > Politics & Society People > Science Keywords … after the upheavals of the civil wars and interregnum. At its meetings, experiments were performed for an assembly of witnesses who could freely assent to the truth of what they saw. An audience of male aristocrats and gentlemen certified …