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Loungers Coffee-House .’ 41 Loungers are : portrayed as superficial rakes looking at their ‘ sweet person ’ in the reflection of a window ; dressed ‘ genteelly ’ with snuff or coffee in their hand ; and ‘ ogling any woman that passed . 42 Even amongst figures so commonplace as loungers , discussion varied wildly and often in rather stark contrast to one another .
Another character that rarely received anything but satire was that of the ‘ coffee-house politician ’. A staple of criticism since the early 18 th century , the coffee-house politician is perhaps best described as an individual so ‘ immethodical in the arrangement of their words , as they are bold in the delivery of their sentiments ’ and ‘ who pretend to talk decisively about the English nation , though they are very little acquainted with the English language .’ 43 Similar to the lounger , they are obsessed with novelty ; however , for the politician it is the novelty of salacious political gossip and drama . For instance , the execution of the French spy François Henri de la Motte in 1781 sparked ‘ the curiosity of Coffee house politicians in all parts of the town ’. 44 Such dramatic news was often assumed to lead to frivolous conversation , in fact , the article that details this news spends the majority of the article imagining a conversation between a coffee-house politician and a group of unfortunate strangers . 45 This conversation would often disturb the decorum of the coffee-house threatening the ideal of the quiet , industrious English coffee-house that had been the talk of many foreign observers . 46 Late 18 th -century periodicals were seemingly less focused upon the political nature of conversations . Instead they were concerned with the inherent selfishness of the coffee-house politician .
To combat these disruptive characters , many attempts were made to codify polite coffee-house conduct . These efforts were not just mimicking the seminal texts of Joseph Addison ( 1672-1719 ) and Richard Steele ( 1672-1729 ) – whose work was reprinted numerous times throughout the 18 th century – who had sought to formalise politeness and bring its
41
42
Ibid ., 524 . John Brewer describes the rake as using exterior forms of politeness for their own ends , either sex or money see , John Brewer , The Pleasures of the Imagination : English Culture in the Eighteenth Century ( Chicago : The University of Chicago Press , 1997 ): 122 . The use of politeness and flattery for sex is also mentioned in “ To the Printer of the Town and Country Magazine ”, 525 .
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45
Ibid ., 341 .
46