571Wednesday 19th. (Adams Papers)
To day all the Gentlemen went down the river except Mr. Dana and myself. At about 6 o clock they came back. Mr. Gardoqui’s stay’d here about a half an hour, and then went away and about a half an hour after Sent us the french newspapers but there was no news.
572From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 21 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
The seventy-ninth day since our departure from Boston, and not yet in Petersburg—But we are on land, within twenty miles of it, and at the end of our voyage in the ship Horace.—We have indeed had a very long passage, and it has not been without its interesting incidents, had I but the time of narrating them—But to you as well as to us, the most interesting of them is, that we are all, thanks...
57327th. (Adams Papers)
Heard Parson Carey, the whole day. In the forenoon he was intolerably lengthy, as the weather was very cold. I intended to have visited somewhere this evening, but got engaged in writing to Packard, which employ’d me till ten o’clock. Letter not found.
57420th. (Adams Papers)
My two brothers were gone all the morning on a gunning party. My cousin and I went, in the afternoon, but we were unsuccessful. All kinds of game are scarce here, as there are several persons in the town that persecute the animals so much, that they have driven them all away.
57514th. (Adams Papers)
Yesterday at about 8 o’clock in the morning, we spied a sail, at our windward; her course was nearly the same with ours. We sailed swifter than she, and gained ground so fast that at 6 in the evening she was not more than a league distant from us, to the leward. The night coming on, made us lose sight of her. In the evening we had about the ship at least a dozen of small birds of the size of a...
576From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 18 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letters of 29th. Novbr.—4 and 5 Decemr. 6th. and 7th. December—numbered 5. 6. 8. 9. with the correspondence between you and the Society for the suppression of Intemperance at Hanover enclosed in number 6 and the copy of your Letter to Mr Rush, enclosed in number 9 which copy conformably to your request I herewith return.— Before receiving these last two Letters I had...
57717th. (Adams Papers)
Parson Carey is very sick; and consequently we had no meeting: so I staid at home; wrote a long Letter to my friend Fiske, and a page or two some ways back in this book. In the evening I went to Mrs. Hooper’s to see Townsend, whom I found very hoarse, and with a bad cough. I pass’d the evening there, as likewise did Mr. S. Cutler. Within these two years Townsend has lost two brothers and a...
578Tuesday October 14th. (Adams Papers)
My occupations have been very regular, and similar for a week past. Last Thursday night I again experienced a total want of sleep. By the help however of medecine and of constant exercice I think I am in a way to recover. This evening, my This entry, incomplete at the bottom of the page, is the last in D/JQA/12 until 6 Sept. 1789. In JQA ’s line-a-day entry, he adds: “Charles and Tom. Mr. and...
579Saturday 29th. (Adams Papers)
Nothing remarkable Since we left Bayonne. At about 5 arrived at Bordeaux. Mr. Vernon and Mr. Bonfeild came to see us. William Vernon Jr. , also known as William H. Vernon, was the son of a wealthy Newport, R.I., merchant and member of the Continental Navy Board. To gain experience in trade young Vernon had been sent to France under JA ’s care at the time Adams made his first voyage to Europe...
58031st. (Adams Papers)
The weather somewhat cold. My brothers dined with me and between 3 and 4 o’clock, we all set off for Haverhill. We got there just after five, a little fatigued. The riding was not bad but in some places the cold had not been strong enough to harden the snow; and the road was sloppy.
58118th. (Adams Papers)
At about 9 in the morning, I went on shore with my trunks, which were search’d, so that I almost thought myself in Europe again. I went to Cape’s, and after I had put all in order, went immediately to Mr. Jay, N: 8. Broadway. I then went to his office, which is at the corner of Dock Street, and found him there. I deliver’d to him all the Letters I had for him, and remain’d with him half an...
5827th. (Adams Papers)
The weather begins to abate of its severity; yet people cross’d the river on the ice all this day. Townsend and Pickman this afternoon went to Salem. I was at home all the evening and Thompson spent part of it with me. He intends to quit his school, in three or four weeks; and I hope I shall then enjoy more of his company.
5834. (Adams Papers)
Went to Boston with Mrs. Cranch. Returned.
584From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 31 January 1813 (Adams Papers)
My last letter to you was of 14. November since which I have not had a line from you, nor indeed from any of my friends in America— The second year has passed away since I received last best account of my affairs in your hands. The intervals between my own letters to you, insensibly lengthen—It shall not be so if any thing should ever occur, the information of which can give you pleasure. The...
585From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 13 July 1806 (Adams Papers)
I wrote you from Cambridge last Tuesday, and then promised that my next should be from this place—Yesterday morning I walked from Cambridge into Boston, intending to come here in the Stage—My Passage was engaged, and I waited from four O’Clock in the afternoon, at Whitcomb’s untill Six expecting the Stage to call for me; but he came away and left me—having previously engaged as many passengers...
58621st. (Adams Papers)
Mrs. Emery and her daughter were going to Exeter this morning in a single sleigh. Dr. Kilham and I after greatly debating the question had likewise determined to go: so we agreed to divide; the Doctor went with Mrs. Emery, and I with the young lady. It was just eleven o’clock when we started; and the roads were so difficult, that we did not get to Exeter till three. Nor the other sleigh till...
587John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 19 August 1803 (Adams Papers)
I have received two or three letters from you, which I have not answered for want of a conveyance— My objection to the Post Office, you know— I have two or three pieces by me, in a state of preparation for you; which I purpose sending by the first convenient private opportunity.— M r: Hichborn brought me last week a letter from you; but I have not been able to see him since, having been all...
588From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 September 1814 (Adams Papers)
When I wrote you my last Letter, a press copy of which, is enclosed, I had little or no expectation that I should at this day still be here. The John Adams sailed from the Texel, with Mr Dallas on board, the 28th: of August, and has, I hope, by this time half-performed her passage—It is one of those singular incidents, which occur occasionally in real life, and which would be thought too...
589Thursday 27th. (Adams Papers)
Stevens went to the lewtenants of the Police for a passport to go out of the kingdom. He could not get it till 10 o clock. At twelve o clock we dined. Mr. Austin, Mr. Appleton, Mr. Dana, Mr. Thaxter Mr. Fox Captn. Robinson and Dr. Foulk took leave of us and at about 1 o clock we sot out. We passed over the boulevards and out of the porte St. Martin and left Paris. We had very good roads passed...
590To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 15 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
If your Letter of 20. May were the only one from you upon my files yet unanswered, every look at its date would give me a pang of self-reproach—How then shall I acknowledge at the same time the receipt of those of 31. Decbr. and of 2. 8. 13. 29. January, and apologize for not having replied to them sooner—During the Session of Congress, your indulgence would readily account for my...
59111th. (Adams Papers)
Townsend and Pickman, returned, this afternoon from Salem. Townsend, has been on to Boston and to Medfield; he brought me two or three Letters. I passed the evening with Thompson at Captain Coombs’s. Mr. Cutler came in, soon after us. There are several young Ladies there. The Miss Coombs’s are neither of them handsome, and I have not sufficient acquaintance with them to form an accurate...
59228. (Adams Papers)
Walk’d with Stacey. Curious conversation. Greenough’s.
593Monday Novr. 10th. (Adams Papers)
Went to the Covent Garden Theatre. King Henry VIII. and the Lord Mayor’s day, or a flight to Lapland; with the Grand Procession. Lord Mayor’s day. The day of the lord mayor of London’s inauguration, held usually every 9 Nov., is marked with a pageant known as the Lord Mayor’s Show. JQA saw Lord Mayor’s Day; or, A Flight from Lapland, a speaking pantomime, originally produced in 1782,...
594Tuesday April 1st. 1788. (Adams Papers)
The Court sits this day at Ipswich. Mr. Parsons went in the afternoon, I dined with him. Pickman gone to Salem: so that for two or three days I have been wholly alone at the office: Putnam took a long walk with me; he has been amusing himself with Stacey this day by the prescriptive privilege of deceiving. The manner was imprudent, and the thing itself beneath his years: but there is a...
595To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 4 September 1801 (Madison Papers)
I have the honour to enclose a letter which I was desired to forward to you from Mr: Bourne at Amsterdam. A few days before I sailed from Hamburg, I sent you by duplicates, copies of a letter which I received there from the Swedish Minister at the Court of Berlin and of my answer to it. As it contained a proposition from the king of Sweden which may be deemed of some importance to the...
59619. (Adams Papers)
Spent my time in visiting &c.
5977th. (Adams Papers)
Mr. Hilliard preach’d all day; pretty much in the common stile. Dined at Judge Dana’s; and conversed with Miss Ellery upon the subject, of two young Ladies. I find, that her opinion, as well as that of Mr. and Mrs. Dana, coincides with mine in that respect. Benevolence, candor, and innocence, are more amiable, and more estimable ingredients for a character, than wit without judgment. Weather...
598Friday Novr. 14th. (Adams Papers)
Dined with Mr. Grierson. In the evening; we went to see Hughes’s Royal Circus, or exercises of equitation, which are not equal to those performed by Astley at Paris which I saw some time agone. Both Charles Hughes and Philip Astley were English equestrian performers who set up rival shows (Raymond Toole-Scott, Circus and Allied Arts: A World Bibliography, 1500–1970, 4 vols., Derby, England,...
59923. (Adams Papers)
Lincoln went home. Dr. Price’s Sermons.
6001779 November Friday 12th. (Adams Papers)
This Morning at about 11 o clock I took leave of my Mamma, my Sister, and Brother Tommy, and went to Boston with Mr. Thaxter, in order to go on board the Frigate the Sensible of 28 twelve Pounders. We arrived at Boston at about 1 o clock; dined at my uncle Smiths’, we expected to go on board in the afternoon but We could not conveniently—till to morrow. It was not until 30 July 1784 that JQA...