Introduction -- 1. Not of some meaner sort, but of some quality -- 2. Get it they must -- 3. Give me my father's inheritance -- 4. They could not transport all the spoils -- 5. To make my fame endure -- 6. We will not that persons of place should be so neglected -- 7. Stone-dead hath no fellow -- 8. There is respect due to a lord -- 9. What is a woman without gold or fee simple? -- 10. Negroes, and gold and silver on the same footing -- 11. The influence of property fairly exercised -- 12. This lord loves nothing but horses -- 13. Leave us still our old nobility -- 14. Tattered remains of old glory -- 15. Living in a kind of twilight -- We're all tax dodgers, aren't we? -- Glossary.

"Exploring the extraordinary and sometimes pernicious social and political dominance enjoyed by the British aristocracy over centuries. [this book] explains how a tiny number of noble families rose to such a position in the first place and reveals the often nefarious means they have employed to maintain their wealth, power and prestige. It examines the greed, ambition, jealousy and rivlary [that] drove local barons to compete with one another and aristocratic families to guard their inheritance with phenomenal determination. In telling their history, it introduces a cast of extraordinary characters; fierce warriors, rakish dandies, political dilettantes, charming eccentrics, outrageous snobs and criminals who got away with murder."--Book jacket.