patriciate

The rank of a patrician

The aristocracy or nobility

The idea of his frivolity had, no doubt, to do with his personal designation, which represented—as yet, for our young woman, a little confusedly—a connection with an historic patriciate, a class that, in turn, also confusedly, represented an affinity with a social element that she had never heard otherwise described than as "fashion."

the non-noble upper class, or the upper bourgeoisie