"In one of our conversations here [Bath, 1767], this time twelvemonth,
I desired him [Pitt the Elder aka Lord Chatham] to secure you a seat
in the new parliament; he assured me that he would, and, I am
convinced, very sincerely; he said even that he would make it his own
affair; and desired that I would give myself no more trouble about it.
"Since that, I have heard no more of it; which made me look out for
some venal borough and I spoke to a borough-jobber, and offered
five-and-twenty hundred pounds for a secure seat in parliament; but he
laughed at my offer, and said that there was no such thing as a
borough to be had now, for that the rich East and West Indians had
secured them all, at the rate of three thousand pounds at least; but
many at four thousand, and two or three that he knew, at five
thousand."