This paper focuses on the connection between Shaftesbury's ideas of "character" and "politeness", and the changes that, during eighteenth century England, took place both in economy and polity. New public spaces, such as coffee-houses and theatres, allowed for a form of self-representation which was played according to rules different, now, from those of court and market. Shaftesbury saw the end of old "communitarian" relations as a new chance, and an opening for a novel kind of communication among peers, that essentially included a form of "conversation" encouraging the rising of "autonomous" subjects, thanks also to the arts of wit and humour.