Only one person was executed for treason.
8. LITERATURE, AND ITS INFLUENCE ON POLITICS
This has been called the Augustan age of English Literature. Pope,
Addison, Steele, Swift, Defoe, Sir Isaac Newton, Vanbrugh, Congreve,
Farquhar, Prior, Parnell, Colley Cibber, Gilbert Burnet, and others
flourished. The first daily newspaper, the _Daily Courant_, was
published in 1709. Pamphleteers, chief among them Swift, Addison, and
Defoe, by their writings played a great part in politics, there being
no newspaper press to mould people's opinions. No other period in
English history, except, perhaps, the times of Shakespeare, has
produced so many notable writers.
9. THE PEOPLE
The population of England in this reign is supposed to have been about
five millions. London itself contained half a million, but even the
best of the provincial towns were small, as we reckon populations
nowadays. Bristol, the second town in size, possessed not more than
some thirty thousand souls, while York, Norwich, and Exeter, which
came next, had considerably fewer people than that. The bulk of the
people lived in the country, either in the villages, or in the petty
market-towns which were not much superior. The country squire class
was the most important in the community.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173