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
Results 1-3 of 84
Page 99
... gentlemen at the weighing and starting posts , and at their coming in ; or at their meetings at the coffee - houses ... gentlemen's families who come in their coaches on any particular day to see a race and so go home again directly ...
... gentlemen at the weighing and starting posts , and at their coming in ; or at their meetings at the coffee - houses ... gentlemen's families who come in their coaches on any particular day to see a race and so go home again directly ...
Page 114
... gentlemen , rather than citizens , and of persons of quality and fashion , different from most , if not all , the villages in this part of Eng- land . Here several of the most active and useful gentlemen of the late armies , after ...
... gentlemen , rather than citizens , and of persons of quality and fashion , different from most , if not all , the villages in this part of Eng- land . Here several of the most active and useful gentlemen of the late armies , after ...
Page 456
... gentlemen rode , or rather drove themselves ; whereas in our races the horses , not the riders , make the show ; and they are generally ridden by grooms and boys , chiefly for lightness ; sometimes indeed the gentlemen ride themselves ...
... gentlemen rode , or rather drove themselves ; whereas in our races the horses , not the riders , make the show ; and they are generally ridden by grooms and boys , chiefly for lightness ; sometimes indeed the gentlemen ride themselves ...
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