1754 The third Earl of Marchmont 53 



his large museum and library were purchased by the State 

 and formed part of the nucleus of the British Museum. 



Another guest of the Club, Hugh Hume, Earl of March- 

 mont, to whom reference has already been made (p. 48), 

 had, like many other Scotsmen of good family, received part 

 of his education at the universities of Holland. In his youth, 

 when he was Lord Polwarth, he entered Parliament as 

 member for Berwick and gained a high reputation in the 

 House of Commons. When he made his first appearance 

 there he was described by Smollett as a " nobleman of 

 elegant parts, keen penetration, and uncommon sagacity, 

 who spoke with all the fluency and fervour of elocution." In 

 1740 he succeeded to the peerage as third Earl of Marchmont. 

 This change removed him for a time from Parliament and 

 active politics, but he devoted his energies to agriculture, 

 forestry, gardening and horsemanship. He was a friend of 

 Bolingbroke and Pope, and one of the poet's executors. He 

 was also acquainted with Johnson. Eventually in 1750 he 

 re-entered Parliament as one of the representative Peers of 

 Scotland and retained that position until he retired from 

 public life in 1784. He was a man of generous char- 

 acter and attractive manners, which were evidently fully 

 appreciated by the Royal Philosophers, who, as already 

 stated, this year made him an honorary member of their 

 Club, while he on his side enjoyed their company and 

 continued for many years to dine with them and to send 

 his presents to their table. 1 



An Englishman whose name appears frequently in the 

 Register about this time as a guest of the Club was Charles 

 Lyttelton (1714-1768), who began as a barrister of the 

 Middle Temple, but soon exchanged that profession for the 

 Church, in which his family influence procured him rapid 



1 Boswell records, as an instance of the Earl's good humour, that he used 

 to tell that " the master of a shop in London, where he was not known, 

 said to him, ' I suppose Sir, you are an American ? ' Why so, Sir ? ' (said 

 his Lordship). ' Because, Sir, (replied the shopkeeper,) you speak neither 

 English nor Scotch, but something different from both, which I conclude 

 is the language of America/ " Life of Johnson, ii. p. 160. Pope tells 

 that " the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul." 



