Author

Extract

Defoe’s impressions of Queenborough, recorded in his 'A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain' (1722-5), seem to have been coloured by his scandalized discovery that such a lowly place was entitled to two members of parliament, the same as more populous and economically important districts of London...

The incidental discomforts of the journey – gnat bites and wet linen – did not affect the high spirits of the party, nor Forrest’s eye for comic detail, as in his description of Queenborough...

For the moment, though, he, like all the others, gave himself to the holiday mood of the expedition : singing, eating and drinking in equal measure, the party roistered its way from Gravesend to the Isle of Sheppey, its progress frequently interrupted by mock fights, like so many schoolboys...

In this case, the main character of the subplot is one Simon, a simple minded tanner who finds himself elected mayor of Queenborough in the midst of political machinations around the British throne...

One of these was John Taylor whose thirst for self-improvement resulted in the production of quantities of spirited verse...