Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

father wished, he could allows equal portions to all his
children. Such an action would divide an estate until,
within a few generations, through constant division, the
original estate would disappear completely. 1
All this was cause of concern at the beginning of
the century, but inheritance practice in general only
became of prime concern when land began to mean power in
earnest. Until the eighteenth century, most land in
England rested in the hands of the very few aristocratic
families. Because of their continuing money problems,
nobility during the eighteenth century were generally
land poor. Their cash flow problems stemmed, in part,
from the Civil War, and some noble families found their
land confiscated after the war. Before the rise of the
merchant classes, money, for any class, had little
material potency other than enabling them the acquisition
of land, where real power lay. As English business grew
and expanded during the eighteenth century, extensive
merchant holdings provided money to the British
government and to private industrial development,
bringing value to actual money, giving it a new
importance.
1 Eileen Spring's Law, Land and Family provides an excellent chapter
on the historical ramifications of primogeniture before the
eighteenth century.