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 .
1814 Wednesday. (Adams Papers)
Breakfasted at Put nam’ s.
1827 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...
18312 [–13] Thurdsday. Fryday. (Adams Papers)
I know not what became of these days.
18414 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...
18515 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...
18622 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...
18723 Monday. (Adams Papers)
Came to Mr. Putnams and began Law. And studied not very closely this Week.
18829 Sunday. (Adams Papers)
29 Sunday.
189[October 1758] (Adams Papers)
Yesterday arrived here from Worcester. I am this Day about beginning Justinians Institutions with Arnold Vinnius’s Notes. I took it out of the Library at Colledge. It is intituled, D. Justiniani Sacratissimi Principis Institutionum sive Elementorum Libri quatuor, Notis perpetuis multo, quam hucusque, dilligentius illustrati, Cura & Studio, Arnoldi Vinnii J.C. Editio novissima priori Progressu...
190Braintree Octr. 5th. 1758. (Adams Papers)
Yesterday arrived here from Worcester. I am this Day about beginning Justinians Institutions with Arnold Vinnius’s Notes. I took it out of the Library at Colledge. It is intituled, D. Justiniani Sacratissimi Principis Institutionum sive Elementorum Libri quatuor, Notis perpetuis multo, quam hucusque, dilligentius illustrati, Cura & Studio, Arnoldi Vinnii J.C. Editio novissima priori Progressu...
191Fryday. Oct. 6. (Adams Papers)
Rose about sun rise. Unpitched a Load of Hay. Translated 2 Leaves more of Justinian, and in the afternoon walked to Deacon Webbs, then round by the Mill Pond home. Smoaked a Pipe with Webb at the Drs. and am now about reading over again Gilberts section of feudal Tenures.
192Saturday [7 October]. (Adams Papers)
Read in Gilbert. Rode with Webb to Mr. Cranche’s. Dined and drank Tea with him, and then home. Saturday night.
193Sunday [8 October]. (Adams Papers)
Read a few Leaves in Baxters Enquiry into the Nature of the human Soul. He has explaind with great Exactness, the Resistance, which Matter makes to any Change of its State or Condition, whether of motion or of Rest. The Vis Inertiae, the positive Inactivity of matter not barely its Inactivity, but its AntiActivity. For it not only is destitute of a Power of changing its state from Rest to...
194Monday Octr. 9. (Adams Papers)
Read in Gilberts Tenures. I must and will make that Book familiar to me.
195Tuesday [10 October]. (Adams Papers)
Read in Gilbert. I read him slowly, but I gain Ideas and Knowledge as I go along, which I dont always, when I read.
196Wednesday [11 October]. (Adams Papers)
Rode to Boston. Conversed with Ned Quincy and Saml., Peter Chardon &c. By the Way Peter Chardon is a promising Youth. He aspires, and will reach to a considerable Height. He has a sense of the Dignity and Importance of his Profession, that of the Law. He has a just Contempt of the idle, incurious, Pleasure hunting young fellows of the Town, who pretend to study Law. He scorns the Character,...
197Thurdsday [12 October]. (Adams Papers)
Examined the Laws of this Province concerning Pads, Cattle, fences &c. and read in Gilbert. This small volume will take me a fortnight, but I will be master of it. Pad: “A path, track; the road, the way. Orig. slang , now also dial.” ( OED The Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford, 1933; 12 vols. and supplement. ).
198Fryday [13 October]. (Adams Papers)
Read Gilbert. Went in the Evening to Coll. Quincys. Heard a Tryal before him, as a Justice between Jos. Field and Luke Lambert. The Case was this. Lamberts Horse broke into Fields Inclosure, and lay there some time, damage feasant. When Lambert found that his Horse was there he enters the Inclosure and altho Feild called to him and forbid it, waved his Hat, and Screamed at the Horse, and drove...
199Monday [16 October]. (Adams Papers)
Read a few Pages in Gilbert. I proceed very slowly.
200Tuesday [17 October]. (Adams Papers)
Read in Gilbert. Went to Monatiquot to see the Raising of the new Meeting House. No Observations worth noting. I have not Spirits, and Presence of mind, to seek out scenes of Observation, and to watch critically the Air, Countenances, Actions and Speeches of old men, and young men, of old Women and young Girls, of Physicians and Priests, of old Maids and Batchelors. I should chatter with a...