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rules outlined within “ The Coffee-house ” column . The following issue notes that one coffee-house imposed all of the rules suggested , the ‘ candles at night keep their proper station , and the evening papers are distributed by rotation .’ 53 So effective were these rules and regulations that a number of patrons – presumably ones who often broke these rules – no longer visited that particular establishment . 54 Whether the vast majority of readers shared such venom for candle thieves and whistlers , is hard to discern . General overviews of the coffee-houses of London in 1786 stated that they were ‘ once the receptacles of malcontents or the shops of sedition ’ and are now ‘ only frequented by men of pleasure , who prefer the joys of the table and convivial hilarity .’ 55 Whether or not this convivial hilarity was too disruptive for the many contributors of “ The Coffee-house ” is unclear , but it certainly demonstrates a richness of social interaction .
With the end of “ The Coffee-house ” column and the growing anxiety over British radicalism during the 1790s , coffee-house print culture seemingly shifted back to the highly politicised space that had been characteristic of the Restoration Era . However , the domestic tumult and treason trials of the 1790s did not disallow for the discussion of politeness and sociability within the coffee-house . Other periodicals continued to discuss and codify polite behaviour both within the specific confines of the coffee-house and in the metropolis in general . A decade after the letter of the ‘ Ambulator ’ was published , the Town and Country magazine published an essay entitled ‘ Improvements much wanted in the metropolis ’. 56 The essay takes on a rather different , and far more sarcastic tone , suggesting that a gentleman should be as rude and impolite as possible . 57 Although this essay was published long after “ the Coffee-house ” column had ceased appearing , its tone reflects an awareness of its existence within the same magazine . Regardless , the print culture of the 1780s , when contrasted against the following decade , presents a rather calm period within coffee-house sociability and print culture .
53
54
Ibid , 693 .
55
56
57
Ibid ., 368-369 .