Adams Papers
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[September 1784]

Wednesday September 1st.

Dined at Dr. Franklin’s.

[2d.]

Thursday morning went into Paris.

Friday [3d].

Mr. and Mrs. Mather,1 and Mrs. Hay2 dined with us. Went to the French Comedy and saw le mariage de Figaro.

1Samuel Mather and his wife, Margarette (Gerrish) Mather; he was the son of the Rev. Samuel Mather. Young Samuel had been chief clerk of the Boston customs office until he fled to England with the loyalists, but he returned to Massachusetts after his father’s death (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates description begins John Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- . description ends , 7:233).

2Mrs. Katharine Hay, wife of Capt. John Hay and daughter of Daniel Farnham, a tory lawyer in Newburyport. She was a traveling companion of the Mathers while in France (Thomas Aston Coffin to Mary Aston Coffin [Mrs. William Coffin], 21 March 1786, MHi:Thomas Aston Coffin Coll.; Samuel Jr. to Rev. Samuel Mather, 7 May 1785, MHi:Samuel Mather Coll.; Currier, Newburyport description begins John J. Currier, History of Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1764-1905, Newburyport, 1906-1909; 2 vols. description ends , 2:258–260).

Saturday[4th].

Dined with Mr. Jefferson. Went to the Italian Comedy in the Evening; had la fausse magie, and Zemire et Azor.1

1La fausse magie, Paris, 1775, by Jean François Marmontel, with music by André Ernest Modest Grétry. The pair also collaborated on Zémire et Azor, Paris, 1771 (Brenner, Bibliographical List description begins Clarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947. description ends ; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale description begins J. C. F. Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852-1866; 46 vols. description ends ).

[5th.]

Sunday dined at Mr. Grand’s1 at Passy. Went after dinner to the Chateau de la Muette2 and saw the Dauphin.

1Ferdinand Grand, the Paris banker of the American ministers, lived at La Chaise, Passy (MHS, Procs. description begins Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections and Proceedings. description ends , 54 [1920]: 107–108).

2The Château de la Muette, originally a hunting lodge in the Bois de Boulogne, was rebuilt by Louis XV, and Louis XVI often resided there (Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel description begins Pierre Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel du XlXe siècle ..., Paris, [1865]; 15 vols, and supplements. description ends ).

[6th.]

Monday Mr. Tracy1 dined with us.

1Nathaniel Tracy had come to France via Cowes with Jefferson and his daughter Martha aboard his vessel Ceres, which had sailed from Boston in early July. His purpose was to settle claims against his firm; his lack of success eventually contributed to his worsening financial plight (Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd and others, Princeton, 1950- . description ends , 7:363–364; Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates description begins John Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- . description ends , 17:250).

Tuesday[7th].

Dined at Mr. Tracy’s and went in the evening to see la métromanie, and Crispin Rival de son Maitre,1 at the french Comedy.

1Alexis Piron, La métromanie, ou, le poète, Paris, 1738 (Brenner, Bibliographical List description begins Clarence Dietz Brenner, A Bibliographical List of plays in the French Language, 1700-1789, Berkeley, 1947. description ends ). JQA had seen Le Sage’s Crispin while living in St. Petersburg.

[10th.]

Friday went into Paris in the afternoon.

Saturday[11th].

[Had] Company to dine with us.1

1Following this last entry in D/JQA/9 are the following notations:

Wednesday Octr. 13th. first made a fire in my Chamber.

Filled my J. S. Decr. 4th. took 3. p:

March 20. 1785. no fire.

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