Chapter 10 - Road-testing the First Turnpikes

Summary

Chapter 10 provides the first extensive commentary on a famous appendix to the Tour devoted to the new turnpike system, and documents the extent of Defoe’s knowledge of English highways, built up over many decades and covering large segments of the nation. As well as displaying his intimate knowledge of the commercial and economic activity of the nation, both internal and external, the book feeds on a lifetime of journeys across his homeland. This chapter seeks to describe major features of the account, to indicate its timeliness, and to explain the factors which enabled Defoe to provide an unrivalled picture of the communications network of his time. His appendix furnishes a comprehensive survey of road conditions, as part of the author’s overall design to show the interdependence of separate regions of the country, bound together in a circulation system centred on London. It connects with numerous observations throughout the the Tour regarding the road system and the state of the highways that served to link various stages of the narrative.