211July. 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.
21220 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Eliot and Trumble lodged here with me.
21321 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...
21422 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...
21523 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.
21624 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Rose at 7. Wrote a little in Greek. Afternoon wrote Bolinbroke.
21725 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...
21826 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Rose at 7. Read carefully 30 lines in Virgil.
21927 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.
22028 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Read about 40 lines in Virgil, and wrote a little at noon. Nothing more.
22129 Thurdsday. (Adams Papers)
Rose half after 6. Read a little Greek.
22230 Fryday. (Adams Papers)
A very rainy Day. Dreamed away the Time.
22331 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...
224[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...
225August. 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...
2262 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Agreably to the Design laid last night, I arose this Morning before the sun. Dined at Pains. Lodgd at Putnams.
2273 Tuesday. (Adams Papers)
Dind at the Colonels. Lodged at Put nam’s .
2284 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Breakfasted at Put nam’ s.
2297 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
All this past Week my designs have been interrupted, by the Troubles and Confusion of the House. I shall be able to resume the Thread of my Studies I hope now. Wrote pretty industriously in Bolinbroke.— I have never looked attentively into my own Breast. I have never considered, (as I ought) the surprizing Faculties and Opperations of the Mind. Our minds are capable of receiving an infinite...
23012 [–13] Thurdsday. Fryday. (Adams Papers)
I know not what became of these days.
23114 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
I seem to have lost sight of the Object that I resolved to pursue. Dreams and slumbers, sloth and negligence, will be the ruin of my schemes. However I seem to be awake now. Why cant I keep awake? I have wrote Scripture pretty industriously this morning.—Why am I so unreasonable, as to expect Happiness, and a solid undisturbed Contentment amidst all the Disorders, and the continual Rotations...
23215 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
If one Man or Being, out of pure Generosity, and without any Expectation of Returns, is about to confer any Favour or Emolument upon Another, he has a right and is at Liberty to choose in what manner, and by what means, to confer it. He may convey the Favour by his own Hand or by the Hand of his Servant, and the Obligation to Gratitude is equally strong upon the benefited Being. The mode of...
23322 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Yesterday I compleated a Contract with Mr. Putnam, to study Law under his Inspection for two years. I ought to begin with a Resolution to oblige and please him and his Lady in a particular Manner. I ought to endeavour to oblige and please every Body, but them in particular. Necessity drove me to this Determination, but my Inclination I think was to preach. However that would not do. But I set...
23423 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Came to Mr. Putnams and began Law. And studied not very closely this Week.
23529 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
29 Sunday.
236From John Adams to Richard Cranch, 29 August 1756 (Adams Papers)
I am set down with a Design of writing to you.—But the narrow Sphere I move in, and the lonely unsociable Life I lead, can furnish a Letter with little more than Complaints of my hard fortune. I am condemnd to keep School two Years longer. This I sometimes consider as a very grievous Calamity and almost sink under the Weight of Woe.—But shall I dare to complain and to murmur against Providence...
237From John Adams to John Wentworth, September 1756 (Adams Papers)
I brought a few Ideas with me when I first came to this Town, that grew in the luxurious soil of Cambridge. These I have dispersd among my Friends, and you have had your share. Be contented, therefore, now with such as grow at Worcester. It is a political Climate and the soil produces state Reflections as rank as hogweeds in a Garden. After the melancholly Accounts from the Mediterranean and...
238To John Adams from Richard Cranch, October 1756 (Adams Papers)
Tho’ I acknowledge that one ought never to be asham’d to speak the truth; yet I find my self much inclin’d to it, when I’m about to tell you that I have two of your very kind and ingenious Letters by me unanswer’d. I assure you sir, that my neglect arises not from any want of esteem for my Friend, but (to tell another ungratefull truth) from downright dullness; I must wait with patience for...
239From John Adams to Richard Cranch, 18 October 1756 (Adams Papers)
In my last you remember I desired your sincere Opinion of the new Resolution I had taken, but as you have not yet been so kind as to send it, I must beg your patience while I tell you my sincere opinion of it. The Law, I take to be a very difficult and a very extensive Science and to acquire any considerable degree of knowledge in the Theory and of skill in the Practice, a serene head, a large...
240From John Adams to Charles Cushing, 19 October 1756 (Adams Papers)
I look upon myself obliged to give you the reasons that induced me to resolve upon the study and profession of the law, because you were so kind as to advise me to a different profession. When yours came to hand I had thoughts of preaching, but the longer I lived, and the more experience I had of that order of men, and of the real design of their institution, the more objections I found in my...
241[1757] (Adams Papers)
At the time when Fort William Henry was besieged, there came down almost every day dispatches from the General to the New England Collonies urging for Troops and Assistance. Col. Chandler the Younger had sent so many Expresses that he found it difficult to get Persons to undertake the Journeys. Complaining of this Embarrassment one Evening, in company, I told him, I had so long led a sedendary...
242[1758] (Adams Papers)
In 1758 my Period with Mr. Putnam expired. Doolittle and Baldwin visited me in the office, and invited me to settle in Worcester. They said as there were two Sides to a question and two Lawyers were always wanted where there was one, I might depend upon Business in my profession, they were pleased to add that my Character was fair and well esteemed by all Sorts of People in the Town and...
243Adams’ Student Notes: Ca. 1758 (Adams Papers)
Nunquam prospere succedunt Res humanae, ubi negliguntur divinae. Sex horas somno, totidem des Legibus aequis; Quatuor orabis, des Epulisque duas. Quod superest ultro sacris largire Camenis. Co. Lit. sec. 85. The student must know how to work into, with Delight these rough Mines of hidden Treasure. En la Ley. There be diverse Laws within the Realm of England. 1. Lex Coronae. 2. Lex et...
244Adams’ Address and Minutes of the Argument: Supreme Court of Probate, February 1768 (Adams Papers)
Samuel Clap Testator, left a Grandson Michael Clap, Son of the Eldest Son of the Testator, whose Name was Michael Clap, deceased. William Clap, the oldest Son Living dis Sarah Randall Widow of Samuel Randal deceased who left by her, four Children, 2 Sons and 2 Daughters, the Names Samuel, Mary, Sarah and Elijah. William Clap the Eldest son living. Disinherited. Samuel Clap, the Executor, and...
245From John Adams to John Wentworth, 12 April 1758 (Adams Papers)
Te Deum &c., I have resigned my school, I have almost recovered my Health, I have received a letter from my Friend, and am scarce able to say it is the kindest Smile of Heaven. But dear Jack I will tell you the Truth for once which our Tribe you know is not very apt to do—when I first read your Letter I resolved very nearly to drop the correspondence. My Vanity could not bear to be feasted...
246[On the Law of Nature and the Moral Sense among Animals and among Men, October–December 1758.] (Adams Papers)
Q uery . Has any Species of Animals, besides Mankind, ever given Proofs that they have any idea of Justice, of R igh t or Wrong. That they have any Discernment of the Difference between Actions and Characters? Have they any moral Sense? Q. Have they any sense of the Advantages of Temperance and of the Disadvantages of the Contrary. Will not horses, when they are hot, drink large Quantities of...
What are the Rules, Criteria, to determine the Merit or Excellence of a Language?—Suppose you was to examine, which was the best, and which the worst of the Languages, Greek, Latin, french and English? How would you decide. One Excellence of a Language, is Conciseness. That Language is to be preferred in which Ideas and Thoughts may be clearly conveyed to the Hearer or Reader in the fewest...
Vulnus alit Venis, et caeco carpitur igni. Alo, alere, alui, alitum, to nourish. Vulnus, a Wound or Hurt. Carpo, carpere, carpsi, carptum, to waste away. Carpor to be troubled . Carpitur, is consumed, wasted. He nourishes a Wound in his Veins, and is consumed with a blind hidden fire.—Warner, Fessenden, Clark, Cranch, Quincy. All of them cherished by their incessant Thinking, the Wound in...
249[A Letter to Richard Cranch about Orlinda, a Letter on Employing One’s Mind, and Reflections on Procrastination, Genius … (Adams Papers)
What is Wisdom? Is it, to write dramatic Poetry, like Milton or Shakespear? Is it to write on Astronomy and Physicks like Newton, or is it to know the human mind like Lock? Does it consist in Genius and Learning? No Genius and Learning have been oftener mad than wise. It is not to Act or think beyond man kind. Say was there most of Cruelty or of Cunning in sealing up this cruel scroll this...
250[A List of Pleadings, October–December 1758.] (Adams Papers)
Bond to give Deed. † Trespass on the Case vs. Sherriff for the Default of his Deputy. † Case by Baron and feme vs. Executor, on a Promise made to the feme while sole later . † Ind ebitatus Ass umpsit for service done at a customary Price. Plea, in abatement, that the service was insufficient. Ind. Ass. for keeping a Horse to Hay. 3. Sci re fa cias vs. Bail. 4. If it was a Writ, I’d lay a Quant
251[Notes on Probate Law, October–December 1758.] (Adams Papers)
Tis absurd, to for a Testator to say, after he has devised his Lands to one in fee, that they shall go over to another. There is no Remainder to an Estate in fee. A fee simple, upon fee but a Testator may very legally and sensibly devise Lands to one in fee, and then say, in Case Death or any other Accident should happen to incapacitate the Devisee to take, then the Lands shall go to another....
Shakespeare, in the Character of Lady Mackbeth, and of Gertrude, the Wife of old Hamlet, and afterwards of King Claudius, and in the Character of Lady Anne in King Richard, has shewn a sense of the Weakness of Woman’s Reason, and strength of their Passions. The Horror of both divine and Human Vengeance, that attends guilty minds is strongly represented in the Characters of Mackbeth and his...
Braintree October–December? 1758. Printed: JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 70–72 Printed : ( JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 70–72 ).
254[Letters to Three Friends on Studying Law, October–November 1758.] (Adams Papers)
My letters, for the future will come to you, not from a School House but from the Cell of an Hermit. I am removed from Worcester to Braintree where I live secluded from all the Cares and Fatigues of busy Life in a Chamber which no mortal Visits but myself except once in a day to make my Bed. A Chamber which is furnished in a very curious manner, with all sorts of Hermetical Utensils. Here, no...
255[A Letter to William Crawford, Describing a Visit to Boston, October–November 1758.] (Adams Papers)
Am returned from Boston, and according to my Promise sett down begining to write you a Discription or a History of what I saw, and heard, &c. I distrust my Capacity, without an Invocation, but am afraid to make one, for I know the Muses are not fond of such Work. Take it then in the plain Language of common sense. My Eyes were entertained with Objects, in every figure and Colour of Deformity,...
256From John Adams to William Crawford, October – November 1758 (Adams Papers)
Braintree, October–November? 1758. Printed: JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 99 . Printed ( JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 99 ).
257From John Adams to Samuel Quincy, October – November 1758 (Adams Papers)
Braintree, October–November? 1758. Printed: JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 66–67 Printed : ( JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 66–67 ).
258[A Letter to William Crawford Telling “How I Live,” October 1758.] (Adams Papers)
How it is with you I know not, but if I am rightly informed, I am yet alive and not dead. And to prove it to you, I will tell you how I live. I sleep, 12 or 13 Hours, Smoke 10 or 12 Pipes, read 5 or 6 Pages, think of 19 or 20 Ideas, and eat 3 or 4 Meals, every 24 Hours. I have either mounted above or sunk below, I have not Penetration enough to say which, all Thoughts of Fame, Fortune, or even...
259From John Adams to William Crawford, October 1758 (Adams Papers)
Braintree, October? 1758. Printed: JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 91 , with identifying note on the recipient at p. 92 . Printed : ( JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 91 ).
260From John Adams to Tristram Dalton, October 1758 (Adams Papers)
Braintree, October? 1758. Printed: JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 65–66 . Printed : ( JA, Earliest Diary The Earliest Diary of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966. , p. 65–66 .)