Empires are broken
down when the profits of administration are so great, that ambition is
satisfied with obtaining them, and he that aspires to greatness needs do
nothing more than talk himself into importance. He has then all the
power which danger and conquest used formerly to give; he can raise a
family and reward his followers.

'Mr. Burke has just sent me his Speech upon the affairs of India, a
volume of above a hundred pages closely printed. I will look into it;
but my thoughts seldom now travel to great distances.

'I would gladly know when you think to come hither, and whether this
year you will come or no. If my life be continued, I know not well how I
shall bestow myself.

'I am, Sir,

'Your affectionate &c.,

'SAM. JOHNSON.'

'London, Jan. 24, 1784.'

[811] See _post_, v. 48.

[812] See _post_, p. 271.

[813] I sent it to Mr. Pitt, with a letter, in which I thus expressed
myself:--'My principles may appear to you too monarchical: but I know
and am persuaded, they are not inconsistent with the true principles of
liberty. Be this as it may, you, Sir, are now the Prime Minister, called
by the Sovereign to maintain the rights of the Crown, as well as those
of the people, against a violent faction. As such, you are entitled to
the warmest support of every good subject in every department.' He
answered:--'I am extremely obliged to you for the sentiments you do me
the honour to express, and have observed with great pleasure the
_zealous and able support_ given to the CAUSE OF THE PUBLICK in the work
you were so good to transmit to me.' BOSWELL. Five years later, and two
years before _The Life of Johnson_ was published, Boswell wrote to
Temple:--'As to Pitt, he is an insolent fellow, but so able, that upon
the whole I must support him against the _Coalition_; but I will _work_
him, for he has behaved very ill to me. Can he wonder at my wishing for
preferment, when men of the first family and fortune in England struggle
for it?' _Letters of Boswell_, p. 295. Warburton said of Helvetius, whom
he disliked, that, if he had met him, 'he would have _worked_ him.'
Walpole's _Letters_, iv. 217.

[814] Out of this offer, and one of a like nature made in 1779 (_ante_,
iii. 418), Mr. Croker weaves a vast web of ridiculous suspicions.

[815] From his garden at Prestonfield, where he cultivated that plant
with such success, that he was presented with a gold medal by the
Society of London for the Encouragement of Ar