25
discourse could occur and polite conduct could be developed . 24 Helen Berry ’ s work on the print culture surrounding King ’ s Coffee-house in the early 18 th century highlights a very different image of the coffee-house . Berry focused not just on the polite , but the vulgar aspects of the coffee-house . This ranged from the use of profane slang to the association of certain establishments with prostitution . 25 Simply because seditious behaviour was no longer associated with the coffee-house , did not mean that it was a space of polite , egalitarian sociability .
Subsequent historiography sought to further convey the complexities and less egalitarian aspects of coffee-house culture . Brian Cowan has dedicated numerous publications to discussing the rise of the coffee-house in the metropolis . 26 Cowan suggests that by the mid eighteenth century , coffee-house sociability had become more private . For instance , booths and hireable rooms had become commonplace . 27 Markman Ellis reaches similar conclusions , with much of his research focusing on the increase in private reading rather over group discussion and sociability within the coffee-house 28 . However , the 1790s saw another shift within coffee-house culture . The growing enthusiasm for the French Revolution had fostered the creation of several radical political societies , many of which used the coffee-house to congregate and converse . 29 The same anxieties of sedition within the coffee-house that were present in the 17 th century had seemingly resurfaced . This article will , therefore , explore the print culture surrounding the coffee-house in the 1780s . This decade has received little attention from scholars , yet there is a wealth of source material to address . Printed periodicals provide interesting insights into coffee-house culture as they frequently published letters from readers and correspondents , as well as traditional articles or essays . The medium allows for a written dialogue between editors and readers where certain aspects of coffee-house culture can be developed and debated . As this article will show this dialogue could be both lively , but also productive in fostering polite sociability .
24
Jügren Habermas , The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere : An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society translated by Thomas Burger with the assistance of Frederick Lawrence ( Cambridge , Mass : The MIT Press , 1991 ).
25
Helen Berry , “ Rethinking Politeness in Eighteenth-Century England : Moll King ’ s Coffee-House and the Significance of ‘ Flash Talk ’” Transaction of the Royal Historical Society Vol . 11 ( 2001 ): 65-81 .
26
Cowan , The Social Life of Coffee . Markman Ellis , The Coffee House : A Cultural House , ( London : Weidenfield and Nicolson , 2004 ).
27
Cowan , “ Publicity and Privacy ,” 1194 .
28
Ellis , “ Coffee-house Libraries in Mid-Eighteenth-Century London ,” The Library 7 th series , vol . 10 , no . 1 ( 2009 ): 31-36 .
29
Jon Mee . Print , Publicity and Radicalism in the 1790s : The Laurel of Liberty ( Cambridge University Press , 2016 ): 45 , 48-9 .