This book had its origin in a Cambridge University Ph.D. dissertation. ‘The Tory Party 1727-60’, completed in 1976. Since then, the work's scope and format have been changed more frequently and more radically even than has the domicile of its author. Girton College, Newnham College, King's College, and Christ's College have each in turn given me the shelter and finance necessary to complete this project. I am most grateful to them all. The Henry E. Huntington Library of San Marino, the British Academy, and the Twenty-Seven Foundation of the University of London have also contributed very generously to my work.

Reconstructing the history of a forgotten party in a neglected period of British history made manuscript-hunting more than usually essential, and the assistance I received from English and Welsh Record Offices more than usually welcome. I have to acknowledge the gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen to consult the Georgian, Stuart and Bootle papers at Windsor Castle. I am also indebted to the Anson Trustees, the duke of Bedford, the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, the marquess of Cholmondeley, the marquess of Northampton, Viscount De L'Isle, Sir J. G. Carew Pole, Sir Richard and Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, Miss A. Bagot, Mr Thomas Cottrell-Dormer, and Mrs Gwen Beachcroft for allowing me access to the manuscript collections in their care. As my endnotes demonstrate, the work of the History of Parliament Trust has proved invaluable, as have its transcripts of eighteenth-century documents, which Mr E. L. C. Mullins so often and so patiently made available to me.