Travels Through Stuart Britain: The Adventures of John Taylor, the Water Poet

John Taylor (1578-1653), usually referred to as 'the water poet', was a Gloucester-born, self-educated Thames wherryman turned pamphleteer and versifier, who published some 200 works in his lifetime. His output ranges from popular reference books and directories to 'penny-dreadful'-style reportage, political and religious tracts and poems, accounts in verse and prose of madcap journeys, and even a joke book. Between 1618 and 1653 Taylor undertook twelve journeys from London to most parts of England, Scotland and Wales. He travelled by river, sea and road, first seeking sponsorship from subscribers to the account that he would write on the way. The resulting pamphlets - among them Pennyles Pilgrimage (1618), an account of a journey from London to Edinburgh on foot, and The Praise of Hemp-Seed (1620), the story of a journey down the Thames from London to Queenborough in a brown paper boat - are full of vivid descriptions of people and places, and yet are little known or used by historians. This book presents the full text of the twelve British journeys, in chronological order, with a general introduction on Taylor and his antecedents, and brief introductions to each journey. There are also explanatory notes on obscure passages, allusions and references to people and places, and an index.