Add MS 36638

DIARY of David Hume, the philosopher and historian, as judge advocate to Gen. James St. Clair's expedition to Port L'Orient; 18 Sept.-2 Oct. 1746. Holograph. The expedition left Plymouth on 14 Sept., and the narrative begins near the French coast on I8 Sept. lt describes briefly the landing, the abortive attack, and the re-embarkation, and ceases on 2 Oct. with the arrival of the fleet off the island of Hedia, omitting the occupation of the peninsula of Quiberon on 4 0ct. It agrees with Hume's two published accounts of the same expedition, one in a letter to his brother John Hume, dated Quiberon Bay, 4 and 17 Oct. 1746: the other in a document drawn up in reply to Voltaire. See J. H. Burton's Life and Correspondence of David Hume, Edinburgh, 1846, i. pp. 213, 441. Hume joined as secretary to the general, and was appointed by him judge advocate in addition on 3 Aug. On f. 1 b are the words: " The writing contained in the following pages is in the bandwriting of my Grand Uncle, the late David Hume. Agnes M. Hume [daughter of David Hunie, the son of John Hume, and wife of Matthew Norman Macdonald]. Sept. 9th, 1860." On ff. 9 b, 12 b are pencilled notes of projected movements of the troops and fleet; and on ff. 21 b, 22 similar notes of expenses at Portsmouth and Cork and of items of baggage. Paper; ff. 22. 6 in. X 4 in.