SCOTCHMEN IN POLAND.
Can any of your readers throw any light on this passage in Dr. Johnson's Life of Sir John Denham?
"He [Sir John Denham] now resided in France, as one of the followers of the exiled king; and, to divert the melancholy of their condition, was sometimes enjoined by his master to write occasional verses; one of which amusements was probably his ode or song upon the Embassy to Poland, by which he and Lord Crofts procured a contribution of ten thousand pounds from the Scotch, that wandered over that kingdom. Poland was at that time very much frequented by itinerant traders, who, in a country of very little commerce and of great extent, where every man resided on his own estate, contributed very much to the accommodation of life, by bringing to every man's house those little necessaries which it was very inconvenient to want, and very troublesome to fetch. I have formerly read, without much reflection, of the multitude of Scotchmen that travelled with their wares in Poland; and that their numbers were not small, the success of this negociation gives sufficient evidence."
The title of Denham's poem is "On my Lord Crofts' and my journey into Poland, from whence we brought 10,000l. for his Majesty by the decimation of his Scottish subjects there."
Peter Cunningham.
BISHOP JUXON AND WALTON'S POLYGLOTT BIBLE.
In the library at this island, which formerly belonged to the Knights of Malta, there is an edition of Walton's Polyglott Bible, which was published in London in 1657. This work is in a most perfect state of preservation.
On the title-page of the first of the eleven volumes, there is written, in a bold and perfectly legible manner, the following words:
"Liber Coll. Di Joannis Bapta Oxon Ex dono Reverendiss. in Xto Patris Gvili Jvxon Archiep. Cantvariensis. Ao Dni 1663."