The History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 1, Chapter 03)

Author(s): Thomas Babington Macaulay

Genre(s): *non-fiction, History

Narrators: David Barnes, Jim Mowatt, Alys AtteWater, Gesine, Aaron Hochwimmer, Dilini Jayasinghe, Nikolle Doolin

Number of Chapters: 16

Length: 5 hours and 17 minutes

Language: English

This is the third chapter in Macaulay’s great History of England from the Accession of James II. In this chapter Macaulay looks at the state of the nation in 1685. He discusses the population, the revenue, the military system, the roads, the inns, the coaches, the great cities and, of course London, its coffee houses and first experiments in street lighting. An interesting diversion from Macaulays’s usual obsession with politics but worry not, he still manages to crowbar some political intriguing into this chapter.

(Summary by Jim Mowatt)