Adams Papers

1779. Feb. 2. Tuesday.
[from the Diary of John Adams]

1779. Feb. 2. Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, I dined in Company with the Abbe Raynal, and Mr. Gebelin, and asked them to dine with me, on the then next Sunday. Accordingly the day before Yesterday, they both came.

M. Raynal is the most eloquent Man, I ever heard speak in French. His Voice is sharp and clear but pleasant. He talks a great deal, and is very entertaining.1 M. Gebelin is much less addicted to talking. He is silent, soft, and still. His Mind always upon the Stretch.

1. Guillaume Thomas François, Abbé Raynal (1713–1796), French philosophe and historian, is best remembered for his immensely popular Histoire philosophique et politique des établissentens et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes, first published at Amsterdam, 1770. The Catalogue of JA’s Library description begins Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston, Boston, 1917. description ends records several works by Raynal owned by JA that have come to rest in the Boston Public Library, including the Histoire des deux Indes in both French and English editions.

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    Adams Papers
    Title
    1779. Feb. 2. Tuesday.
    Author
    Adams, John
    Date
    2 February 1779

    Reference

    Cite as
    “1779. Feb. 2. Tuesday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0009-0001-0001. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2, 1771–1781, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, p. 344.]