Miss Williams came to live with Johnson after his wife's death in 1752
(_ante_, i. 232). The fact that Strahan is asked to supply her with
money after speaking to Mr. Millar seems to show that this letter was
written some time before the publication of the _Dictionary_ in April
1755. Millar 'took the principal charge of conducting its publication,'
and Johnson 'had received all the copy-money, by different drafts, a
considerable time before he had finished his task' (_ante_, i. 287).
His 'journey' may have been his visit to Oxford in the summer of 1754.
He went there, because, 'I cannot,' he said, 'finish my book [the
Dictionary] to my mind without visiting the libraries' (_ante_, i. 270).
According to Thomas Warton 'he collected nothing in the libraries for
his _Dictionary_' (_ib_ n. 5). It is perhaps to this failure that the
latter part of the letter refers, Johnson's visit, however, was one of
five weeks, while the first line of the letter shews that he intended
to be away from London but a short time.