At some point, in Part I of More’s Utopia, the main informant on Utopia, Raphael Hythloday rejects the suggestion by Thomas More (the character) that he enter into public service of kings in order to serve the private interests of his friends, and the interests of the many, but also for his own advancement “to a much wealthier state and condition than you be now in.” The implication is that at the start of the sixteenth century counciling power is a lucrative enterprise to the select few invited to do so in a society, where connections, patronage, and public access matter most.