England in 1714 was a land of villages and towns. Its town such as it had, were on the coast. In Lancashire, the west midlands towns of same Size .. were beginning to grow, but the majority of it population was still in the south and still rural. The population was probably, in 1714, about five and a half millions, and from 1714 to 1742, after an initial spurt, there was only a very small increase, but there were important changes in its distribution, East Anglia had a declining population, the west country and south and East midlands were fairly static, so was the East Riding and all of the north but west Riding, and south Lancashire, where the increase was masked, so, too, was the increase in the west midlands. Surrey and Middlesex grew with London, whose rapid expansion of the late 17th C. was maintained. These changes were due to the growth of towns and industrial villages: Manchester, Liverpool and shelliefd all ceased to be the sprawling villages they had been half a century earlier, although, as towns, they were small by modern standards, none of them reaching 50.000. small as they were they ate up men, women, and chil

Trade was a national preoccupation and constant concern be of parliament and the government, for all his contemporaries were agreed with Defoe that trade was the cause of England’s increasing wealth. Daniel Defoe wrote in 1728 “trade is the wealth of the world, Trade makes the Difference as to Rich and poor, between one Nation and another, Trade nourishes Industry, industry begets Trade”.

The big provincial towns were like London but with less wealth and more poverty, more despair, less social order, more disease, but, like London, full of opportunity for men tough temperament, endless vigoure to acquire the modest affluence necessary to enter the demi-paradise of comfort and ease which the eighteenth century afforded. With property some standing in society and a future for one’s children, for in the early part of the century it was relatively easy to pass from one social class to another.

The trade of England, both overseas and domestic, was extremely rich and varied, based partly on things made or grown at home and partly on an extensive re-export trade of row materials from the colonies in America and luxury goods from the East.

The lener gentry were dilemma. It was difficult for them to suppress either then envy or their desire to emulate their betters. Their envy was further quickened because the possession of vast estates carried greater significance than the ownership of land. As the social and political power of the rich people grew, that of the lener gentry diminished.

Some topics in this essay:
Bank England, Manchester Liverpool, Europe Asia, Nation Trade, Leverpool London, Age Walpole, Urban Society, Duke Neweasthe, Surrey Middlesex, East Riding, 1714 �, rural society, urban society, merchant princes, lener gentry, aristocratic families, west midlands, � 42, eighteenth century, 1714 � 42,