1. See P. Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England 1727–1783, (Oxford 1989)59–122; P. Borsay, The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society in the Provincial Town, 1660–1770, (Oxford 1989), passim; R. Sweet, The English Town 1680–1840: Government, Society and Culture, (Harlow 1999), 163–256; P. Clark and R. A. Houston, Culture and leisure 1700–1840, in P. Clark (Ed.), The Cambridge Urban History of Britain (Volume II) 1540–1840, (Cambridge 2000) 575–613.
2. R. Porter, The Enlightenment, (Basingstoke 1990) 1–11; P. Borsay, Bath: an enlightenment city?, in P. Borsay, G. Hirschfelder and R. Mohrmann (Eds), New Directions in Urban History, Aspects of European Art, Health, Tourism and Leisure since the Enlightenment, (Munster 2000) 3–17.
3. An History of Birmingham to The End of the Year 1780;Hutton,1781
4. Langford, A Polite and Commercial People, 113–116; Borsay, English Urban Renaissance, especially 150–72.
5. For a full discussion, see P. Clark, British Clubs and Societies, 1580–1800, (Oxford 2000).