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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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estates of the realm
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A phrase surviving from the Middle Ages, when the clergy, the nobility and the common people were the three estates. The concept has no real meaning in modern life, though it is roughly reflected in the composition of *parliament (formed of the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal and the Commons). Since the early 19C the press has been described as the fourth estate. The first clear use of the phrase in this context was by *Macaulay, who applied it in 1828 to the gallery of the House of Commons in which the reporters sat.
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