'Readers with a taste for detailed narrative, or in search of choice nuggets of information on the careers of specific individuals, will find this volume especially useful. Recommended.' CHOICE 'Roper's illumination of the manipulation, cultivation, and ultimate continuity of elite networks of political patronage on both sides of the Atlantic is crucial to our understanding of the early modern English world whether our focus is Atlantic colonial America or the British Isles.' Journal of British Studies

• Introduction; Chapter 1 Deep Background; Chapter 2 Genesis; Chapter 3 Birth Pangs; Chapter 4 Fatal and Near-Fatal Attractions; Chapter 5 An Empire of ‘Smoak’; Chapter 6 Some Measure of Success;

'Readers with a taste for detailed narrative, or in search of choice nuggets of information on the careers of specific individuals, will find this volume especially useful. Recommended.' CHOICE 'Roper's illumination of the manipulation, cultivation, and ultimate continuity of elite networks of political patronage on both sides of the Atlantic is crucial to our understanding of the early modern English world whether our focus is Atlantic colonial America or the British Isles.' Journal of British Studies

• Introduction; Chapter 1 Deep Background; Chapter 2 Genesis; Chapter 3 Birth Pangs; Chapter 4 Fatal and Near-Fatal Attractions; Chapter 5 An Empire of ‘Smoak’; Chapter 6 Some Measure of Success;

'Readers with a taste for detailed narrative, or in search of choice nuggets of information on the careers of specific individuals, will find this volume especially useful. Recommended.' CHOICE 'Roper's illumination of the manipulation, cultivation, and ultimate continuity of elite networks of political patronage on both sides of the Atlantic is crucial to our understanding of the early modern English world whether our focus is Atlantic colonial America or the British Isles.' Journal of British Studies

• Introduction; Chapter 1 Deep Background; Chapter 2 Genesis; Chapter 3 Birth Pangs; Chapter 4 Fatal and Near-Fatal Attractions; Chapter 5 An Empire of ‘Smoak’; Chapter 6 Some Measure of Success;