13115 [i.e. 16]. Sunday. (Adams Papers)
A pleasant morning. The Week past was Court week. I was interrupted by Company, and the noisy Bustle of the publick Occasion, so that I have neither read or wrote any Thing worth mentioning.— Heard Mr. Thayer, and spent the Evening at Mr. Putnams, very sociably.
13216 [i.e. 17] Monday. (Adams Papers)
The Elephant and the Lion, when their Strength is directed and applyd by Man, can exert a prodigious Force. But their Strength, great and surprizing as it is, can produce no great Effects, when applyed by no higher Ingenuity than their own. But Man, allthough the Powers of his Body are but small and contemptible, by the Exercise of his Reason can invent Engines and Instruments, to take...
13317 [i.e. 18] Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
17 i.e. 18 Tuesday.
13418 [i.e. 19] Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
18 i.e. 19 Wednesday.
13519 [i.e. 20] Thurdsday. (Adams Papers)
Spent the Evening at Gardiners.
13620 [i.e. 21] Fryday. (Adams Papers)
After School, rode to Shrewsbury, went to Capt. Hows, to see Dr. Flynt, spent an Hour, and then rode to Mr. Howards, talked a little with him, and returned home.
13721 [i.e. 22] Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Dined at Judge Chandlers.
13822 [i.e. 23] Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Heard Mr. Maccarty. He is particularly fond of the following Expressions. Carnal, ungodly Persons. Sensuality and voluptuousness. Walking with God. Unregeneracy. Rebellion against God. Believers. All Things come alike to all. There is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked. Shut out of the Presence of God. Solid, substantial and permanent Joys. Joys springing up in the Soul. The Shines...
13923 [i.e. 24] Monday. (Adams Papers)
A pleasant morning. Drank Tea at the Colonells.—Had the projectile Force in the Planets been greater than it is, they would not describe Circles but very excentrical Elipses round the Sun. And then the Inhabitants would be tormented yea destroyed and the Planets left barren and uninhabitable Wastes by Extreme Vicissitudes of Heat and cold. It was many million Times as likely that some other...
14024 [i.e. 25] Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
A cool, but pleasant Day.
14125 [i.e. 26] Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Election Day. I have spent all this Day at Home reading a little and eating a little Election Cake.
14226 [i.e. 27] Thurdsday. (Adams Papers)
Drank Tea at the Colonels with a Number of Ladies. Spent the Evening partly at Putnams and partly at Gardiners.
14327 [i.e. 28] Fryday. (Adams Papers)
Dined at the Majors. A pleasant Day.—If we examine critically the little Prospect that lies around us at one view we behold an almost infinite Variety of substances. Over our heads the sun blazes in divine Effulgence, the Clouds tinged with various Colors by the refracted Sunbeams exhibit most beautiful appearances in the Atmosphere, the cultivated Planes and meadows are attired in a...
14428 [i.e. 29] Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Drank Tea at Mr. Putnams.—What is the proper Business of Mankind in this Life? We come into the World naked and destitute of all the Conveniences and necessaries of Life. And if we were not provided for, and nourished by our Parents or others should inevitably perish as soon as born. We increase in strength of Body and mind by slow and insensible Degrees. 1/3 of our Time is consumed in sleep,...
14529 [i.e. 30] Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Heard Mr. Maccarty. “You who are sinners, are in continual Danger of being swallowed up quick and born away by the mighty Torrent of Gods wrath and Justice. It is now as it were restrained and banked up by his Goodness. But he will by and by, unless Repentance prevent, let it out in full Fury upon you.” This week I have wrote the 8th Sermon of Bentleys Boilean Lectures. Read part of the 1st...
14630 [i.e. 31] Monday. (Adams Papers)
When we see or feel any Body, we discern nothing but Bulk and Extention. We can change this Extention into a great Variety of Shapes and Figures, and by applying our senses to it can get Ideas of those different Figures, But can do nothing more than change the Figure. If we pulverize Glass or Salt, the original constituent matter remains the same, only we have altered the Contexture of its...
147[June 1756] (Adams Papers)
Drank Tea at the Majors. The Reasoning of Mathematicians is founded on certain and infallible Principles. Every Word they Use, conveys a determinate Idea, and by accurate Definitions they excite the same Ideas in the mind of the Reader that were in the mind of the Writer. When they have defined the Terms they intend to make use of, they premise a few Axioms, or Self evident Principles, that...
148June 1756. 1 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Drank Tea at the Majors. The Reasoning of Mathematicians is founded on certain and infallible Principles. Every Word they Use, conveys a determinate Idea, and by accurate Definitions they excite the same Ideas in the mind of the Reader that were in the mind of the Writer. When they have defined the Terms they intend to make use of, they premise a few Axioms, or Self evident Principles, that...
1492 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Went to Spencer in the afternoon.—When we come into the World, our minds are destitute of all Sorts of Ideas. Our senses inform us of various Qualities in the substances around us. As we grow up our Acquaintance with Things enlarges and spreads. Colours are painted in our minds through our Eyes. All the various Modulations of Sounds, enter by our Ears. Fragrance and Fœtor, are perceived by the...
1503 Thurdsday. (Adams Papers)
Heard Mr. Maccarty preach the Lecture, drank Tea with him, and spent the Evening at the Majors.
1514 Friday. (Adams Papers)
4 Friday.
1525 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Dreamed away the afternoon.
1536 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Heard Mr. Maccarty all Day. Drank Tea at home with Crawford. Spent the Evening at home with Mr. Maccarty and Capt. Doolittle. A great deal of Thunder and Lightning. Ephraim Doolittle, on whom JA has much more to say in his Autobiography.
1547[–13] Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurdsday, Fryday, Saturday, Sunday. (Adams Papers)
7 –13 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thurdsday, Fryday, Saturday, Sunday.
15514 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Drank Tea at Mr. Putnams. Spent the Evening at the Majors, with Esqrs. Chandler of Woodstock and Brewer of Worcester.—He is not a wise man and is unfit to fill any important Station in Society, that has left one Passion in his Soul unsubdued. The Love of Glory will make a General sacrifice the Interest of his Nation, to his own Fame. Avarice exposes some to Corruption and all to a Thousand...
15615 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Consider, for one minute, the Changes produced in this Country, within the Space of 200 years. Then, the whole Continent was one continued dismall Wilderness, the haunt of Wolves and Bears and more savage men. Now, the Forests are removed, the Land coverd with fields of Corn, orchards bending with fruit, and the magnificent Habitations of rational and civilized People. Then our Rivers flowed...
15720 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Supped and spent the Evening at the Majors.
15821 Monday. (Adams Papers)
A cool Day.
15922 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
A rainy Day. Drank Tea and spent Evening at Put nam’s .
16023 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Went with Mr. Thayer and Mrs. Willard, to Mr. Richardsons of Sutton.
16124 [–27] Thurdsday. Fryday. Saturday. Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Spent the Evening at the Colonels. Presumably the text of this entry pertains to the last day in the heading (Sunday, 27 June).
16228 Monday. (Adams Papers)
28 Monday.
163[July 1756] (Adams Papers)
Sat out for Boston. Borrowed the Idea of a Patriot King of Ned. Quincy. Rode to Cambridge. Lodgd. Rode the next morning to Worcester. Edmund Quincy (1733–1768) , son of the first Josiah Quincy; Harvard 1752. Bolingbroke’s Idea of a Patriot King was first published in 1749. Eliot and Trumble lodged here with me. Kept School.—I am now entering on another Year, and I am resolved not to neglect my...
164July. 1756. 19. Monday. (Adams Papers)
Sat out for Boston. Borrowed the Idea of a Patriot King of Ned. Quincy. Rode to Cambridge. Lodgd. Rode the next morning to Worcester. Edmund Quincy (1733–1768) , son of the first Josiah Quincy; Harvard 1752. Bolingbroke’s Idea of a Patriot King was first published in 1749.
16520 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Eliot and Trumble lodged here with me.
16621 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Kept School.—I am now entering on another Year, and I am resolved not to neglect my Time as I did last Year. I am resolved to rise with the Sun and to study the Scriptures, on Thurdsday, Fryday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings, and to study some Latin author the other 3 mornings. Noons and Nights I intend to read English Authors. This is my fixt Determination, and I will set down every neglect...
16722 Thurdsday. (Adams Papers)
Fast day. Rose not till 7 o clock. This is the usual Fate of my Resolutions! Wrote the 3 first Chapters of St. James. Wrote in Bolinbroke pretty industriously. Spent the Evening at Mr. Paines.—The Years of my Youth are marked by divine Providence with various and with great Events. The last Year is rendered conspicuous in the memorials of past Ages, by a Series of very remarkable Events, of...
16823 Friday. (Adams Papers)
Rose at 7. Wrote the 2 last Chapters of St. James. Spent the Evening at the Majors and drank Tea at Putnams.
16924 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Rose at 7. Wrote a little in Greek. Afternoon wrote Bolinbroke.
17025 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Rose 1/2 after 6.—Good Sense, some say, is enough to regulate our Conduct, to dictate Thoughts and Actions which are proper upon certain Occasions. This they say will soften and refine the Motions of our Limbs into an easy and agreable Air altho the Dancing Master never was applied to, and this will suggest good Answers, good Observations and good Expressions to us better than refined...
17126 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Rose at 7. Read carefully 30 lines in Virgil.
17227 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Rose at 7. Read carefully 30 lines, in Virgil. Wrote a little in Bolingbroke at noon and a little at night. Spent the Evening at Mr. Putnams.
17328 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Read about 40 lines in Virgil, and wrote a little at noon. Nothing more.
17429 Thurdsday. (Adams Papers)
Rose half after 6. Read a little Greek.
17530 Fryday. (Adams Papers)
A very rainy Day. Dreamed away the Time.
17631 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
A rainy forenoon. Dined at Mr. Paines. A fair after noon . The Nature and Essence of the material World is not less conceal’d from our knowledge than the Nature and Essence of God. We see our selves surrounded on all sides with a vast expanse of Heavens, and we feel our selves astonished at the Grandeur, the blazing Pomp of those Starrs with which it is adorned. The Birds fly over our Heads...
177[August 1756] (Adams Papers)
Heard Mr. Maccarty all Day. Spent the Evening at the Collonels.— The Event Shews that my Resolutions are of a very thin and vapory Consistence. Almost a fortnight has passed since I came to Worcester the last Time. Some part of the Time, I have spent as frugally and industriously as I possibly could. But the greatest Part I have dreamed away as Usual. I am now entering upon a new month, and a...
178August. 1756. 1 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Heard Mr. Maccarty all Day. Spent the Evening at the Collonels.— The Event Shews that my Resolutions are of a very thin and vapory Consistence. Almost a fortnight has passed since I came to Worcester the last Time. Some part of the Time, I have spent as frugally and industriously as I possibly could. But the greatest Part I have dreamed away as Usual. I am now entering upon a new month, and a...
1792 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Agreably to the Design laid last night, I arose this Morning before the sun. Dined at Pains. Lodgd at Putnams.
1803 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Dind at the Colonels. Lodged at Put nam’s .