' Mr. Samuel Timmins, the author of _Dr. Johnson in
Birmingham_, informs me that he and two friends of his lately found
in Lichfield a Lending Book of the Cathedral Library. Among the entries
for 1784 was: '_Sir John Floyer on the Asthma_, lent to Dr. Johnson.'
Johnson, no doubt, had taken the book with him to Ashbourne.
Mr. Timmins says that the entries in this Lending Book unfortunately
do not begin till about 1760 (or later). 'If,' he adds, 'the earlier
Lending Book could be found, it would form a valuable clue to books
which Johnson may have borrowed in his youth and early manhood.'
_Boswell's expectations from Burke_.
(Vol. iv, p. 223, n. 2; and p. 258, n. 2.)
Boswell, in May 1783, mentioned to Johnson his 'expectations from the
interest of an eminent person then in power.' The two following extracts
from letters written by him show what some of these expectations had been.
'JAMES BOSWELL, ESQ. TO JAMES ABERCROMBIE, ESQ., of Philadelphia.
'July 28,1793.
'I have a great wish to see America; and I once flattered myself that
I should be sent thither in a station of some importance.'
Nichols's _Literary History_, vii. 317.
Boswell had written to Burke on March 3, 1778: 'Most heartily do I
rejoice that our present ministers have at last yielded to conciliation
(_ante_, iii. 221). For amidst all the sanguinary zeal of my countrymen,
I have professed myself a friend to our fellow-subjects in America, so
far as they claim an exemption from being taxed by the representatives
of the King's British subjects.
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