A full and comprehensive assessment of the place of the18th-century peerage and House of Lords. Uses statistical and anecdotal evidence to create a variegatedportrait of the nobility, its political outlook, and the ways inwhich the nobility?s multifarious roles combined to shape itsmembers? conduct as peers of parliament Challenges the assumption that the Lords remained a creatureof the crown and demonstrates that peers and bishops were useful,informed, and broadly connected legislators Incorporates the results of recent research on the role ofideology in 18th-century British politics and the legislativebusiness of parliaments Draws on contemporary newspapers and journals and over 120manuscript collections, some not previously consulted by studentsof the House Offers new insights into the Lords? changing relationswith the crown and the Commons, traces the metamorphosis of the?party of the crown? into an ultra-tory connection, anddemonstrates that even as it resisted some political and socialreform, the Lords was a useful legislative chamber that adaptedeffectively to the rising volume of business