"During the twenty-nine years of his brief life, Thomas Pitt--the notorious Lord Camelford--managed to entangle himself in an amazing succession of exploits. He was rich, titled, and handsome, a superb athlete, and exceedingly restless. His wild travels and career alternately horrified and amused his respectable family and contemporaries. The 'half-mad lord' died in 1804, as violently as he lived, and even after his death continued to cause scandal and controversy"--Jacket, p. [4].