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 90
... quantity of herrings that are catched in this season are diversely accounted for ; some have said , that the towns of Yarmouth and Leostof only , have taken forty thousand last in a season . I will not venture to confirm that report ...
... quantity of herrings that are catched in this season are diversely accounted for ; some have said , that the towns of Yarmouth and Leostof only , have taken forty thousand last in a season . I will not venture to confirm that report ...
Page 104
... quantity that appears in the fair is indeed prodigious , and they , as it were , possess a large part of the field on which the fair is kept , to themselves . Enquiring why this fair should be thus , of all other places in England , the ...
... quantity that appears in the fair is indeed prodigious , and they , as it were , possess a large part of the field on which the fair is kept , to themselves . Enquiring why this fair should be thus , of all other places in England , the ...
Page 264
... quantity of bacon up to London , which is esteemed as the best bacon in England , Hampshire only excepted . This bacon is raised in such quan- tities here , by reason of the great dairies , as above , the hogs being fed with the vast ...
... quantity of bacon up to London , which is esteemed as the best bacon in England , Hampshire only excepted . This bacon is raised in such quan- tities here , by reason of the great dairies , as above , the hogs being fed with the vast ...
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