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 {476} 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."