England in the early eighteenth century was undergoing great changes. London was Europe's biggest city. And the country was rapidly emerging as a major business centre, displacing the Netherlands from that position. It had a thriving stock exchange and huge overseas trade, led by the venerable East India company.

It was also becoming a far livelier place in politics and in thought, with more tolerance for unorthodox ideas and political opposition than most countries. Though, as the experience of Daniel Defoe showed, there were still strict limits to just how far tolerance went.

Limited or not, political dynamism, and above all the strong economy, would be the springboard for British imperial dominance in the future.

Illustration: The Royal Exchange in London in the late eighteenth century

Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License