This argument had special resonance in Towne’s time. After a relatively prosperous first half of the century, the 1760s had brought economic crisis and civil unrest. Social divides were intensifying. Some felt that the new king, George III, who ruled from 1760 until 1801, was riding roughshod over the civil liberties that had been re-established by William III in 1688.

For critics, the nexus of all of this was London: home of the monarchy and Parliament, aristocratic excess and commercial greed. And with overcrowding issues – the city’s population nearly doubled throughout the 1700s – those who wanted to would, indeed, have seen plenty of signs of social and civil breakdown.

Crime was so rampant that one gang even tried to rob the Prince of Wales in St James Palace itself. Travellers to London remarked that there were more prostitutes than in any other European city. Sewage ran in the Thames.

Frustrations sometimes spilled over into violence: in the infamous Gordon Riots of 1780, rioters attacked members of the House of Lords, sacked their homes, freed prisoners and set buildings on fire – an event that destroyed 10 times more property than was lost in Paris during the entire French Revolution.

Crumbling Colosseum

Some left. The city of Exeter, in particular, became home to a vibrant political and artistic circle whose members believed they carried the torch of traditional English values, including personal liberty, frugality and hard work.