Charles Bennet's record was not actually that bad. Born in Devonshire, he was the fourth baronet. He also had a half-brother, born to his father and his first wife, though it was said the boy had not lived to adulthood. Later, he was educated at Eton College and Leipzig University. In 1761, while serving as an MP for the family's borough, he inherited his title and an estate worth £80,000 from his father.
After marrying, he received £80,000 and another property from his wife, then became a member of the Privy Council.
As early as the thirteenth century, kings had raised money by selling offices. At first, these were merely short-term appointments, but later they discovered that people were willing to pay more for the permanent enjoyment of powers such as those held by royal officials. The sale of offices thus became a system; people were only willing to buy offices when they felt their ownership of them was secure.
Many people, including Montesquieu, had analysed Rome's decline, yet few had examined it through the "privatisation" of public office.
Cicero once listed the lowest-ranking officials, known as decurions, because the smallest military unit consisted of ten men. They did the dirtiest and most exhausting work under their superiors, and were usually drawn from both slaves and freedmen.
Yet once these petty officials intended to wash their hands of the work, or their successors put the positions up for sale, there were always people willing to scrimp and save to buy those titles. Though they were the smallest officials, they had their own meeting places and reserved seats in theatres. Romans even criticised non-citizens for wearing togas. Some who had risen from nothing, or whose origins were improper, wanted to be respected in the Roman world, and so set their sights