IT IS ONE of the great themes of English literature of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Novels from Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" to Charles Dickens's "Bleak House" and E.M. Forster's "Howards End" revolve around the question of inheritance. Rich relatives finance Bertie Woos-ter's jolly japes. Writers' preoccupation with inheritance reflected the fact that, back then, transfers of wealth from one generation to the next were enormously significant. Now evidence is emerging which suggests that Britain is entering another golden age of inheritance.
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