… network to which both Addison and Dashwood belonged. The 'exercice of the snuffbox': performing a social ritual Gestures to open one’s snuffbox, take a pinch or present it at social occasions were codified and interpreted as … of familiarity or distance, with an explanation of the careless, the scornful, the politic, and the surly pinch, and the gestures proper to each of them.’ 5 The ‘ceremony of the snuffbox’ encapsulates the highly ritualistic nature of modes of …