A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great BritainBritain in the early eighteenth century: an introduction that is both informative and imaginative, reliable and entertaining. To the tradition of travel writing Daniel Defoe brings a lifetime's experience as a businessman, soldier, economic journalist and spy, and his Tour (1724-6) is an invaluable source of social and economic history. But this book is far more than a beautifully written guide to Britain just before the industrial revolution, for Defoe possessed a wild, inventive streak that endows his work with astonishing energy and tension, and the Tour is his deeply imaginative response to a brave new economic world. By employing his skills as a chronicler, a polemicist and a creative writer keenly sensitive to the depredations of time, Defoe more than achieves his aim of rendering 'the present state' of Britain. |
From inside the book
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Page 63
... London market . At the farther end of the town , in the middle of a stately park , stood Guldy Hall , vulgarly Giddy Hall , an ancient seat of one Coke , sometime Lord - Mayor of London , but forfeited , on some occasion , to the Crown ...
... London market . At the farther end of the town , in the middle of a stately park , stood Guldy Hall , vulgarly Giddy Hall , an ancient seat of one Coke , sometime Lord - Mayor of London , but forfeited , on some occasion , to the Crown ...
Page 286
... London , as a city only , and as its walls and liberties line it out , might , indeed , be viewed in a small compass ; but when I speak of London , now in the modern acceptation , you ex- pect I shall take in all that vast mass of ...
... London , as a city only , and as its walls and liberties line it out , might , indeed , be viewed in a small compass ; but when I speak of London , now in the modern acceptation , you ex- pect I shall take in all that vast mass of ...
Page 337
... London , and the adjacent parts , that I must be the more cautious , at least , as to needless excursions in the country near it . The villages round London partake of the influence of London , so much , that it is observed as London is ...
... London , and the adjacent parts , that I must be the more cautious , at least , as to needless excursions in the country near it . The villages round London partake of the influence of London , so much , that it is observed as London is ...
Other editions - View all
A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain Daniel Defoe,Anthony J. Coulson Limited preview - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
Act of Parliament ancient antiquity beautiful Bishop bridge Britain building built called carried castle Celia Fiennes church city of London coast Colchester Court decayed Defoe Defoe's Deptford Duke Earl east England English famous farther Firth fish foot formerly gardens gentlemen gentry ground harbour Harwich hence hill horses inhabitants Ipswich island journey King kings of Scotland land late Lord manufacture market town merchants miles mountains navigable noble observed occasion palace Parliament particular pass piece pleasant poor populous port prodigious quantity Queen rich ride river River Thames River Trent road Roman royal royal navy ruins Scotland Scots seat seen ships shire shore side situation Southampton Southwark stands stone street Suffolk Thames thence thing told Tour trade Trent villages whole William Wiltshire wonder Yarmouth