Title: [May 1760]
From: Adams, John
To:

      Monday May 26th 1760.

       Spent the Evening at Mr. Edd. Quincy’s, with Mr. Wibird, and my Cozen Zab. Mr. Quincy told a remarkable Instance of Mr. Ben. Franklin’s Activity, and Resolution, to improve the Productions of his own Country, for from that source it must have sprang, or else from an unheard of Stretch of Benevolence to a stranger. Mr. Franklin, happening upon a Visit to his Germantown Friends, to be at Mr. Wibirts Meeting, was asked, after Meeting in the afternoon, to drink Tea, at Mr. Quincys. The Conversation turned upon the Qualities of American soils, and the Different Commodities raised in these Provinces. Among the rest, Mr. Franklin mentioned, that the Rhenish Grape Vines had been introduced, into Pensylvania, and that some had been lately planted in Phyladelphia, and succeeded very well. Mr. Quincy said, upon it, I wish I could get some into my Garden. I doubt not they would do very well in this Province. Mr. Franklin replied, Sir if I can supply you with some of the Cuttings, I shall be glad to. Quincy thanked him and said, I dont know but some time or other I shall presume to trouble you. And so the Conversation passed off. Within a few Weeks Mr. Quincy was surprised with a Letter from some of Franklins friends in Boston, that a Bundle of these Rhenish slips were ready for him. These came by Water. Well, soon afterwards he had another Message that another Parcell of slips were left for him by the Post. The next Time Mr. Franklin was in Boston Mr. Quincy waited on him to thank him for his slips, but I am sorry Sir to give you so much Trouble. Oh Sir, says Franklin the Trouble is nothing Sir, to me, if the Vines do but succeed in your Province. However I was obliged to take more Pains than I expected when I saw you. I had been told, that the Vines were in the City but I found none and was obliged to send up to a Village 70 miles from the City for them. Thus he took the Trouble to hunt over the City, and not finding Vines there, he sends 70 miles into the Country, and then sends one Bundle by Water, and least they should miscarry another by Land, to a Gentleman whom he owed nothing, and was but little acquainted with, purely for the sake of Doing Good in the World by Propagating the Rhenish Wines thro these Provinces. And Mr. Quincy has some of them now growing in his Garden. This is an Instance too of his amazing Capacity for Business. His Memory and Resolution. Amidst so much Business as Counsellor, Post Master, Printer, so many private studies, and so many Publick Avocations too, to remember such a transient Hint and exert himself, so in answer to it, is surprising.
       This Rhenish Wine is made of a Grape that grows in Germany upon the River Rhine and from which it receives its Name, and is very famous, all over Europe. Let me remember to look in Chambers, under Rhenish and in Salmons Geography, under the Produce of the Countries upon the Rhine, for more Particulars of this Vine and Grape, and Wine. The soil it delights in, the Method of Cultivation, what digging, what Manure, what Pruning &c. Let me ask Mr. Quincy, whether the soil of his Garden suits them? and what sorts and how many sorts of Grapes he has? Dont they require more Heat than we have for them? Where he got his other slips. Where he got his Lime Trees? &c.

   First entry in “Paper book No. 5” (D/JA/5). This booklet, an assemblage of stitched gatherings from which the threads have now largely worn away, contains somewhat irregular entries from 26 May to 25 Nov. 1760.

   In an interesting letter to Edmund Quincy from London, 10 Dec. 1761, Franklin touched on the subject of American viniculture. This letter, lacking part of its text, was found among the Adams Papers and was printed by CFA in a footnote to the present Diary entry (JA, WorksThe Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850–1856; 10 vols., 2:82). It is now in MHi:Misc. Bound MSS.

   Possibly “scients”(i.e. scions).

      Tuesday 27 May.

       At home. Read, in Naval Trade and Commerce.

      Wednesday 28 May.

       Loitered the forenoon away upon this Question in Arithmetic. 3 men give 20 shillings for a Bushell of Corn. A pays in the Proportion of one half, B in the Proportion of 1/3 and C in the Proportion of 1/4. Now how many shillings and Pence does each one pay? I put x, an Algebraicall Expression, for that unknown Quantity, whose 1/2 1/3 and 1/4 added together would make 20 shillings.

       In the afternoon, Zab and I wandered down to Germantown on foot—running a Parrallell between the Pleasures, Profits, freedoms, Ease and Uses of the several Professions, especially Physick and Divinity.

      1760. May 29. Thurdsday.

       Rose and breakfasted. Have done nothing yet to day, and God only knows what I shall do. The Question of the Pipe. A Pipe of Wine has 3 Cocks, one of which would discharge it in 1/4 of an hour, another in 1/2 an hour and the 3rd in 3/4 of an hour all open and running at once. Quere in what Time, all three together will empty the Cask? Let me Note these Proportions for the Present.

       Perhaps this may turn out right.
       I must run over Fractions again, vulgar and Decimal, as well as algebraical, and now and then, a few Questions in Fenning and Hammond, and Ward, or else I shall totally forget my Numbers. I find that the Art of numbering depends upon Practice, and in a short disuse, they will slip from the Memory. A Journal, scrawled with Algebraical signs, and interspersed with Questions of Law, Husbandry, natural History &c., will be a useful Thing. The Principal Uses however will be to correct my style, and assist my Memory, give me a true Compunction for the Waste of Time, and urge me of Course to a better Improvement of it. Besides Writing is one of the greatest Pleasures, and it sooner rouses my ambition, warms my Imagination, and fixes me in a train of thinking, than any other Thing that I can do—than sitting still with my Eyes shut, or than holding a Book to read.
       Mem. Last Sunday after Meeting Mr. Cranch explained to us at Dr. Tufts’s, the Machines that are used in the Mines of Coal in New Castle, and of Tin, in Cornwal, to convey up Water from the Bottom of the Mine. They go upon the Principles of elastic Air and rarefyed Vapour. They have hollow Globes of plated Iron, or of Copper, which will hold some Barrells, which they heat with great fires and have Tubes, and Cocks, and can cast up great Quantities of Water, many Hogshea ds in a minute. But I have forgot the Construction of the Machines, as well as the Method of Working them. Here is my failing or one of my failings. My Attention has not been keen enough, to understand and fix in my Memory the Explications of many of these Machines. Etter explained to me, his stocking Looms, but I could not when I left him, have run from the first Motion to the compleat formation of a stocking. I did not see thro it. Cranch once explained to me, the Machine that draws Water from the Thames, into the Canals under the City of London, and that sends Water up into their Garretts, Chambers, Rooms and Cellars, so that by Opening a Cock you may draw a Pail of Water from the Thames, in any House in the City almost, but I do not remember the Construction of it. Let me remember to enquire of him about the Construction of these 2, that for Water from the Thames, and that for Water from the Thames thus in MS and that for Water from the Mines, and to go once more to see the stocking Loom.

       Few things I believe have deviated so far from the first Design of their Institution, are so fruitful of destructive Evils or so needful of a speedy Regulation, as Licensed Houses. The Accomodation of Strangers, and perhaps of Town Inhabitants on public occasions, are the only warrantable Intentions of a Tavern and the supply of the Neighbourhood with necessary Liquors, in small Quantities to be consumed at home and at the cheapest Rates, are the only excusable Designs of a Retailer; and that these Purposes may be effected, it is necessary, that both should be selected from the most virtuous, and wealthy People who will accept the Trust, and so few of each should be erected, that the Profits may enable them to make the best Provision, at a moderate Price. But at the present Day, such Houses are become the eternal Haunt, of loose disorderly People of the same Town, which renders them offensive and unfit for the Entertainment of a Traveller of the least delicacy; and, it seems that Poverty, and distressed Circumstances are become the strongest Argument, to procure an Approbation, and for this these assigned Reasons, such Multitudes have been lately licensed, that none can afford to make Provision, for any but the trifling, nasty vicious Crew, that most frequent them. The Consequences of these Abuses are obvious. Young People are tempted to waste their Time and Money, and to acquire habits of Intemperance and Idleness that we often see reduce many of them to Beggary, and Vice, and lead some of them at last to Prisons and the Gallows. The Reputation of our County is ruined among Strangers who are apt to infer the Character of a Place from that of the Taverns and the People they see there. But the worst Effect of all, and which ought to make every Man who has the least sense of his Priviledges tremble, these Houses are become in many Places the Nurseries of our Legislators;— An Artful Man, who has neither sense nor sentiment may by gaining a little sway among the Rabble of a Town, multiply Taverns and Dram Shops and thereby secure the Votes of Taverner and Retailer and of all, and the Multiplication of Taverns will make many who may be induced by Phlip and Rum to Vote for any Man whatever.
       I dare not presume to point out any Method, to suppress or Restrain these increasing Evils; but I think for these Reasons it would be well worth the Attention of our Legislature, to confine the Number of, and retrieve the Character of Licensed Houses; least, that Impiety, and Prophaneness, that abandoned Intemperance, and Prodigality; that Impudence and brawling Temper, which these abominable Nurseries daily propagate, should arise at length to a degree of strength, that even the Legislature will not be able to controul.

         [John Adams]

       Pownals Remark, every other House a Tavern. Twelve in this Town. Call upon the select men, not to grant Approbation, upon the grand Jurors to present all bad Houses, &c.

   The name has been inserted in an early but unidentified hand.

   The foregoing draft of an essay on the evils of licensed houses is the first of a series on this topic found in JA’s Diary during 1760–1761. They were doubtless intended for publication, but none has been found in the papers of the day. During this same period JA also drew the rough sketch map showing the locations of a dozen or more taverns in Braintree and Weymouth that is reproduced as an illustration in the present volume.

   On 18 May 1761, as a direct result of JA’s intensive but short-lived temperance campaign, the town of Braintree passed the following votes:

           “Voted, That although Licensed Houses so far as they are conveniently scituated well accommodated and under due Regulation for the Releif and Entertainment of Travellers and Strangers may be a usefull Institution, Yet there is Reason to apprehend that the present prevailing Depravity of Manners through the Land in General and in this Town in particular and the shamefull neglect of Religious and Civil Duties, so highly offensive in the sight of God, and injurious to the peace and Welfare of Society are in a great measure owing to the unnecessary increase of Licensed Houses.
           “Voted, That for the future there be no Persons in this Town, Licensd for retailing spiritous Liquors and that there be three persons only approbated by the Selectmen as Inn-holders, suitably situated, one in each Precinct.
           “Voted, That the Persons that are approbated as Inn-holders for the ensuing year oblidge themselves by written Instruments under their Hands and Seals to retail spiritous Liquors to the Town Inhabitants as they shall have occasion therefor, at the same price by the Gallon or smaller Quantity as the same are usually sold by Retail in the Town of Boston and upon the performance of the above conditions, there be no Person or Persons approbated by the Selectmen as Retailers.
           “Voted, That the Town now proceed by written votes to the choice of the Persons and places they think most conveniently scituated and best Qualifyd, for the purposes aforesaid. . . . Mr. Samll. Bass Junr. was chosen for the North Precinct, Mr. Benjamin Hayden for the Middle and Mr. Jonathan Wales for the South.
           “Voted, That there be a Com[mi]ttee appointed to draw up and present a Humble Memo[randum] to the Justices of the Q[uarter] sessions to be holden at Boston on the first Tuesday of July next, praying that the present proceedings of the Town Respecting Licensd. Houses meet with their approbation, and that an authenticated copy of the votes of the Town be annexed thereto and Presented therewith.” (Joseph Crosby, Josiah Quincy, and Samuel Niles were named the members of this committee. Braintree Town RecordsSamuel A. Bates, ed., Records of the Town of Braintree, 1640 to 1793, Randolph, Mass., 1886. p. 378–379.)

   In his old age JA confessed that his youthful crusade had been a complete failure: “I only acquired the Reputation of a Hypocrite and an ambitious Demagogue by it; the Number of licensed Houses was soon reinstated. Drams Grog and Sotting were not diminished, and remain to this day as deplorable as ever. You may as well preach to the Indians Against Rum as to our People” (letter to Benjamin Rush, 28 Aug. 1811, CtY). JA’s difficulties in keeping his farm hands sober confirm this gloomy conclusion; see entries of 13, 18, 21 July 1796, below.

   On the general subject of intemperance in early New England see CFA2, Three EpisodesCharles Francis Adams, Three Episodes of Massachusetts History: The Settlement of Boston Bay; The Antinomian Controversy; A Study of Church and Town Government, Boston and New York, 1892; 2 vols., 2:783 ff., where it is pointed out that JA elsewhere admitted that gatherings and discussions in the rural taverns were important stimuli to the Revolutionary movement.

      May 30 1760. Friday.

       Rose early. Several Country Towns, within my observation, have at least a Dozen Taverns and Retailers. Here The Time, the Money, the Health and the Modesty, of most that are young and of many old, are wasted; here Diseases, vicious Habits, Bastards and Legislators, are frequently begotten.
       Nightingale, Hayden, Saunders, J. Spear, N. Spear, Benoni Spear, would vote for any Man for a little Phlip, or a Dram. N. Belcher, John Spear, O. Gay, James Brackett, John Mills, Wm. Veasey &c. voted for T. for other Reasons.

   On 19 May 1760 Capt. Ebenezer Thayer Jr. was elected representative to the General Court, replacing Samuel Niles (Braintree Town RecordsSamuel A. Bates, ed., Records of the Town of Braintree, 1640 to 1793, Randolph, Mass., 1886., p. 372).

      1760 May 31th. Saturday

       Read in naval Trade and Commerce, concerning Factors, Consuls, Embassadors, &c., and the South Sea Company, &c. Went into Water. Talked with Wm. Veasey about Church &c. He will not allow that Dr. Mayhew has any uncommon Parts. He had haughty Spirits, and Vanity &c.—How the Judgment is darkened and perverted by Party Passions!
       Drank Tea with Zab. Ran over the past Passages of my Life. Little Boats, water mills, wind mills, whirly Giggs, Birds Eggs, Bows and Arrows, Guns, singing, pricking Tunes, Girls &c. Ignorance of Parents, Masters Cleverly, Marsh, Tutors Mayhew &c. By a constant Dissipation among Amuzements, in my Childhood, and by the Ignorance of my Instructors, in the more advanced years of my Youth, my Mind has laid uncultivated so that at 25, I am obliged to study Horace and Homer.—Proh Dolor!


Title: June 1st. Sunday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Read 2 Odes in Horace. Spent the Evening at the Coll’s. While we were at supper, the Coll. received Letters from Mr. Turner of London, with a Bill of Lading and Invoice of about £150 sterlings worth of Glass and Hinges and Nails, and Locks &c. for a House. These were the Value of a sum of the Coll’s. Money, which Mr. Turner had retained, in his own Hands, about seven Years since, to satisfy a Debt from Mr. Branden, whom the Coll. had so strongly recommended, as in Mr. Turners opinion to make himself Brandens sponsor. So that it was as sudden and unexpected at least as a Prize in the Lottery would have been, or one taken at sea; and it had such a joyful Effect.
       Coll. Grape vines delight in a rockey, and mountainous soil, like our Commons, which would make excellent Vineyards.—I suppose that most of the Wines of the World, are the Growth of Climates at least as northern as ours. Champaign, and Tockay are more southward, but Burgundy &c. &c. &c. are northward of us.


Title: June 2d. Monday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Wasted the Day, with a Magazine in my Hand. As it was Artillery Election, it seemed absurd to study, and I had no Conveniencies, or Companions for Pleasure either in Walking, riding, drinking, husling, or any thing else.


Title: June 3rd. Tuesday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       This Day has been lost in much the same, Spiritless manner.


Title: June 4th. Wednesday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Read nothing but Magazines as indeed an indisposition rendered me unfit for any Application. Discharged my Venom to Billy Veasey, against the Multitude, Poverty, ill Government, and ill Effects of licensed Houses, and the timorous Temper, as well as criminal Designs of the Select Men, who grant them Approbations. Then Spent the Evening, with Zab, at Mr. Wibirts.


Title: June 5th. Thurdsday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Arose late. Feel disordered. 8 o’Clock, 3 1/2 Hours after Sun rise, is a sluggard’s rising Time. Tis a stupid Waste of so much Time. Tis getting an Habit hard to conquer, and Tis very hurtful to ones Health. 3 1/2, 1/7 of the 24, is thus spiritlessly dozed away. God grant me an Attention to remark, and a Resolution to pursue every Opportunity, for the Improvement of my Mind, and to save, with the Parsimony of a Miser, every moment of my Time.


Title: Monday. 9th.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Attended Major Crosbeys Court. Where Capts. Thayer and Hollis made their Appearance. Thayer had taken 2 Accounts of Nathan Spear, in his own Hand Writing, and got the Writts drawn by Niles. But upon my making a Defence for Hunt, Spear was afraid to enter and so agreed to pay Costs and drop. But poor Thayer had to say, several Times I told him so, but he would have his own Way. This little dirty, petty fogging Trade, Thayer carries on yet.


Title: Tuesday [10 June].
From: Adams, John
To:

       Altho my Spirits were wasted Yesterday, by sitting so late the Night before, (till one o’Clock I believe) and rising so early Yesterday morning, (by sun rise) and walking in the dewy Grass and damp Air, home to my fathers and then down to Major Crosbeys, yet the Thought of being employed, and of opposing Captn. Thayer and punishing Nathan Spear, and Spreading a Reputation, roused my Faculties, and rolled out Thoughts and Expressions, with a strenth and Rapidity, that I never expected. I remember something of the same sort, when I first waited on Mr. Gridley. The Awe of his Presence, a Desire of his Esteem, and of an Introduction to Practice, quickened my Attention and Memory, and sharpened my Penetration. In short, I never shall shine, till some animating Occasion calls forth all my Powers. I find that the Mind must be agitated with some Passion, either Love, fear, Hope, &c. before she will do her best.
       I rambled this Afternoon with the Dr. over the Commons, and amused my self by clearing the Spring and climbing the Ledges of Rocks, thro the Apertures of which, large Trees had grown. But I spend too much Time, in these Walks, these amusing Rambles. I should be more confined to my Chamber. Should read and muse more. Running to Dr., to the Barn, down to meals and for Pipes and Coals and Tobacco &c. take up much of my Time. I have grown habitually indolent and thoughtless. I have scarcely felt a glow, a Pang, a Transport of Ambition, since I left Worcester, since I left my school indeed, for there the Mischievous Tricks, the perpetual invincible Prate, and the stupid Dulness of my scholars, roused my Passions, and with them my Views and Impatience of Ambition. Let me Remember to keep my Chamber, not run Abroad. My Books, naval Trade, Coke, Andrews, Locke, Homer, not Fields and Groves and Springs and Rocks should be the Objects of my Attention. Law and not Poetry, is to be the Business of my Life.


Title: Saturday [14 June].
From: Adams, John
To:

       This Week has been spent in Business, i.e. filling Writts, and Journeys to Boston, Scadding, Weighmouth, Abington. The other Night Cranch explained, to Zab and me, the Fire Engine, with which they throw up Water from the Bottoms of their Tin Mines in Cornwall, and Coal Mines in New: Castle. They have a large Cauldron of Plated Iron, filled with Water, and closely covered, and placed over a large Fire. Out of one side of this Cauldron, proceeds a large Tube of Iron horizontally, which Ends in a capacious iron receiver, shaped like an Egg, which will hold a Tun. Half Way between the Cauldron and the Receiver, in the Tube is a Cock. From the Lower Side of the Receiver perpendicularly goes another Tube, down into the Well or Bottom of the Mine, i.e. into the Water. At the mouth of this Tube, where it communicates with the Receiver is a Valve. From the Top of the same Receiver, perpendicularly upwards goes another Tube, which extends quite up above the surface of the Ground, and at the bottom of this Tube i.e. where it communicates with the Receiver, is another Valve. This is the Description of the Machine. Now when the Water in the Cauldron is made to boil, it sends a hot steem along, thro the Cock which is first opened for that Purpose in the Receiver, which proceeds from the Receiver thro one Valve down to the Water and thro another Valve, up into open Air. By this steem the Air, within, is very soon rarified, so as to be no Ballance for the Pressure of the Air, upon the Water in the Mine without the Tube. Of Course the Water rises and fills the Receiver. Then turn the Cock and stop the Passage of the Steem, and the Water beginning to descend will close down the lower Valve. The Vapour thus confined in the Cauldron by the Cock, and the Water confined in the Receiver by the Lower Cock, as soon as you open the Cock, the furious Vapour flies out and drives before it, all the Water in the Receiver, thro the upper Valve, quite up into open Day, where they have channells &c. to convey it away. And when this Proscess is once compleated, they begin anew. This Engine was an Invention of Capt. Savery. They used Copper originally, but lately, they use plated Iron.
       They have a different manner now. They use 2 Concentric Tubes, with a Box, like a Pump Box playing in the central one.
       In my Journey to Abbington, my Mind seemed to be confused with the Dust and Heat, and fatigue. I had not Spirit and Attention to make any Observations upon the Lands, Corn, Grass, Grain, Fences, orchards, Houses &c. I dined at Nortons where the two military Companies of the Town, were assembled to raise Voluntiers, Recruits, but I had not Spirits to make Observations, on the Landlord, or Lady, or Officers or soldiers or House, or any Thing. I eat Milk for Breakfast.


Title: 1760. June 15th. Sunday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Rose early, 5 o clock. A pleasant Morning. The more I write the better. Writing is a most useful improving Exercise. Yesterday morning before Break fast I wrought my Mind into a Course of Thinking, by my Pen, which I should not have fallen into the whole day without it; and indeed not resuming my Pen after Breakfast, I insensibly lost my attention.
       Let me Aim at Perspicuity, and Correctness more than ornament, in these Papers.


Title: Monday. June 16th.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Arose before the sun. Now I am ignorant of my Future Fortune, what Business, what Reputation, I may get, which is now far from my Expectations. How many Actions shall I secure this Day? What new Client shall I have? I found at Evening, I had secured 6 Actions, but not one new Client, that I know of.


Title: 1760 June 18th.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Read but little, thought but little, for the N.E. storm unstrung me.


Title: Thurdsday June 19.
From: Adams, John
To:

       I have been the longer in the Argument of this Cause not for the Importance of the Cause itself, for in itself it is infinitely little and contemptible, but for the Importance of its Consequences. These dirty and ridiculous Litigations have been multiplied in this Town, till the very Earth groans and the stones cry out. The Town is become infamous for them throughout the County. I have absolutely heard it used as a Proverb in several Parts of the Province, “as litigious as Braintree.” And this Multiplicity is owing to the Multiplicity of Petty foggers among whom Captn. Hollis is one, who has given out that he is a sworn Attorney till 9/10 of this Town really believe it. But I take this Opportunity, publickly to confront him, and undeceive the Town. He knows in his Conscience that he never took the Oath of an Attorney, and that he dare not assume the Impudence to ask to be admitted. He knows that the Notion of his being a sworn Attorney is an Imposture, is an Imposition upon this Town. And I take this opportunity publickly to declare that I will take all legal Advantages, against every Action brought by him or by Captn. Thayer or by any other Petty fogger in this Town. For I am determined if I live in this Town to break up this scene of strife, Vexation and Immorality. (Such suits as this and most others that ever I have seen before a Justice in this Town, have a Tendency to vex and imbitter the Minds of the People, to propagate an idle, brawling, wrangling Temper, in short such suits are an Inlet to all manner of Evils.)
       And some i.e. one of these suit managers, when I first came to this Town, hearing that I had been thro a regular Course of study with a regular Practitioner, and that I was recommended to the Court in Boston, by one of the greatest Lawyers in America, concluded, that I should be enabled by these Advantages, and prompted by my own Interest if by no higher Motive, to put an End to the illegal Course of dirty, quacking Practice in this Town, which he had been in, and thereby enslaved the Minds and Bodyes and Estates of his Neighbours. And to prevent this he set himself to work to destroy my Reputation and prevent my getting Business, by such stratagems as no honest Mind can think of without Horror, such stratagems as I always will resent, and never will forgive till he has made Attonement by his future Repentance and Reformation. I thank God his Malice has been defeated, he has not been able to enslave me, nor to drive me out of Town, but Peoples Eyes begin to open, and I hope they will open wider and wider till they can see like other Towns. Happy shall I be if I can rescue the Souls and Bodies, and Estates of this Town from that Thraldom and slavery, to which these Petty foggers have contributed to depress them; and if I can revive in them a generous Love of Liberty and sense of Honour.—After this long Digression your Honour will let me return to this Cause, and I rely upon it, it is a vexatious one. I rely upon it that many of these Articles were borrowed and not bought, and that therefore this Action cant be maintained for them. I rely upon it, that the Affair of the Hat is a litigious Thing, that it was a mere piece of Tavern Amuzement, and if there was any Thing like Bargain and sale in it, the Bargain was completed, the Hat delivered and the Money paid, and with regard to the other Articles, we have filed an Account that more than ballances them, and therefore I pray your Honours Judgment for Costs.


Title: Friday June 20th.
From: Adams, John
To:

       I must not say so much about my self, nor so much about Hollis and Thayer by Name. I may declaim against Strife, and a litigious Spirit, and about the dirty Dablers in the Law.
       I have a very good Regard for Lt. White, but he must allow me to have a much greater Veneration for the Law. To see the Forms and Processes of Law and Justice thus prostituted, (I must say prostituted) to revenge an imaginary Indignity, offered in a Tavern over a Chereful Bowl or enlivening Mug. To have a mere Piece of Jocular Amuzement, thus hitched into an Action at Law, a mere frolick converted into a Law suit, is a Degree of meanness that deserves no Mercy and shall have none from me. I don’t think Lt. White considered the Nature and the Consequences of this Action, before he brought it. If he had he never would have brot it. He has too much Honour to have brot it. But I suppose the Case was this. Lt. White was a little chagrined, that my Client had for once outwitted him, and in a Miff, or a Bravado, I say a Miff or a Bravado, sees Hollis and asks his Opinion. And Hollis glad of an opportunity to draw a Writ, instantly encourages the suit, and the suit was brot. And when once brot, it was too late to repent. But I dare say he has been severely sorry, that he ever brot it, and will have still further Occasion to be sorry before it Ends.
       As to the Hat, Either it was a Bargain and Sale or it was not. If it was a Bargain and sale, The Hat is my Clients and the Price agreed upon, which was the Copper, delivered at the very Time, is Lt. Whites. But if it was not a Contract, but only a frolick and no one in Earnest, as I suppose it was, then the Property of the Hat continues in Lt. White, and he is welcome to take it, returning us our Copper.
       Rode to Germantown in the morning. Cranch says that the Grindstone is found in the Coal Mines in Europe. The Coal lies in Apartments, strongly fortified with Partitions of this stone, and this stone forms the Covering over Head, &c. I took Notice of the Rock Weed, they were burning into Kelp and I find there are a great Variety of Species of it. Some of it grows out of the Rock, a small stalk, which soon spreads into several Brainches, and each of those Branches into several others, with those little Bubbles or Bladders, full of Air, scattered along at little Distances, on every Branch and Sprig, but at the End of Each twigg or Sprig, hangs a large Pod, full of seed incased in a spongy substance. We went down to some large stones, which had been thrown over between high Water and low water mark 2 or 3 Years ago. These stones are all grown over with the Rock Weed. The seed, We suppose is deposited by the Water upon the Rock, takes Root and grows. It grows very fast to the Rock and when you pull, you will sometimes break the stalk, sometimes pull off a flake of the Rock with it, and sometimes take the Weed, as it seems to me, fairly up by the roots, and the Roots are little fine Spiculae, finer than the Point of the finest Needle. These Roots insert themselves into the Pores of the Rock and thence draw Nourishment. And the connoiseurs say, that some Rocks will produce Weeds, large and rank and strong, while others, laid in the same Place at the same time, will produce only a meagre, short, lingering one. They seem to take a deeper and stronger Root, in Timber and Planks, as on the sides of Wharfes, than they do in Rocks. The salt Water seems to be impregnated with the seeds of it, for whenever a Rock is thrown below high Water mark, immediately a Crop of these Weeds Spring up. It is excellent Manure for the Soil. The salts and sulphurs in it are very good. When they thro it into the Kelp Kiln, it is of a dark brown, or a dirty Yellow, but after it has been heated in the Kiln, it turns of a bright clear green. The Fire occasions some Change in the Configuration of the surface, that reflects green Rays most plentifully, where it used to reflect yellow and brown. They burn it into an ashes, which is a fixed salt, which they call Kelp. 20 Tons of the Weeds will produce about one Ton of the ashes. It tastes a little like Gun powder, it smells like marsh Mud, like a muddy Creak, &c. It has a saltish, sulphurous Taste and Smell. —The Deacon shewed us a Sort of Stone, that the old Glass Company brought from Connecticut, to use instead of Grindstone, for the furnace. He called it stone of the asbestus Kind. Dr. Eliot used it in his  and never found the fire made any Impression on it. But the Glass men found it dissolved in about 4 months. They call it a Cotten stone. It seems to have no Gritt at all, it feels as soft as soap. It cost the Company about  or £900.—Thus, the first Essays, generally rude, and unsuccessful, prove burdensome instead of profitable.


Title: June 21st. 1760. Saturday.
From: Adams, John
To:


Title: June 23rd. 1760. Monday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       A long obstinate Tryal, before Majr. Crosby, of the most litigious, vexatious suit, I think that ever I heard. Such Disputes begin with ill humour and scurrilous language, and End in a Boxing Bout or a Law suit.


Title: Wednesday [25 June].
From: Adams, John
To:

       Went out with the Coll., in his Canoe, after Tom Codd. Rowed down, in a still calm, and smooth Water, to Rainsford Island, round which we fished in several Places, but had no Bites. Then we went up the Island, and round the Hill. Upon the North Easterly side of the Hill, or Island, is a prodigious Bank or Head, which is perpetually washing away, with Rains and Tides. Heartley says it has been washed away 10 feet since he lived on the Island. The Rocks all round the Island are covered with long, rank, rich Weeds, 3 Years old, which Heartley sells at 5s. a Load.
       At one of the Clock we took our Mutton and Cyder, under the shade of a fine Tree, and laid our Provisions on a large flat stone which answered for Table, Dish and Plate, and then we dined expecting with much Pleasure an easy sail Home before the Wind, which then bread fresh at East. After Diner we boarded and hoisted sail, and sailed very pleasantly a Mile, when the Wind died away into a Clock Calm and left us to row against the Tide, and presently against the Wind too for that sprung up at south, right a Head of us, and blew afresh. This was hard work. Doubtful what Course to steer, whether to Nut Island, or to Half Moon, or to Hangmans Island or to Sunken Island, Coll. Q. grew sick which determined us to go ashore at Hangmans for that was the nearest. As soon as he set foot on shore he vomited, very heartily, and then weak and faignt, and spiritless, he crawled up to the Gunning House, and wrapping his great Coat round him, lay down on the sea weed and slept, while I rambled round the Island after Weeds and flowers and stones and young Gulls and Gulls Eggs. 500 Gulls I suppose hovered cawing and screaming over the Island, for fear of their Eggs and Young ones, all the time we were there. When the Coll. awoke and found himself strengthened and inspirited, we rowed away, under Half Moon, and then hoisted sail and run home. So much for the Day of Pleasure, The fishing frolick, the Water frolick. We had none of the Pleasure of Angling, very little of the Pleasure of Sailing. We had much of the fatigue of Rowing, and some of the Vexation of Disappointment. However the Exercise and the Air and smell of salt Water is wholesome.


Title: 1760. June 26. Thurdsday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Feel indifferently well after my yesterdays walk and sail. I have begun to read the Spirit of Laws, and have resolved to read that Work, thro, in order and with Attention. I have hit upon a Project that will secure my Attention to it, which is to write in the Margin, a sort of Index to every Paragraph.


Title: June 27th. Friday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Read 100 Pages in the Spirit of Laws. Rambled away to a fine Spring in my Cozen Adam’s Land, which gushes thro a Crack in a large flat Rock and gurgles down in a pretty Rill. The Water is clear, sweet, and cool, and is supposed to have a very wholsome Quality, because it issues from a Mountain, and runs towards the North. What Physical Quality its northern Direction may give it, I know not. By its sweetness it flows thro clean Earth, and not minerals. Its Coolness may be owing to its Rise from the Bowells of the Hill.
       Zab’s Mind is taken up with Arithmetical and Geometrical Problems, Questions, Paradoxes and Riddles. He studies these Things that he may be able to gratify his Vanity by puzzling all the vain Pretenders, to Expertness in Numbers, and that he may be too expert, to be puzzled by any such Questions from others.
       There is a set of People, whose Glory, Pride &c. it is to puzzle every Man they meet, with some Question in the Rule of three or fractions, or some other Branch of Arithmetic. Jed. Bass. Moses French. Tom Peniman, &c. &c. Smith, Richard Thayer, &c.


Title: [June 1760]
From: Adams, John
To:

      June 1st. Sunday.

       Read 2 Odes in Horace. Spent the Evening at the Coll’s. While we were at supper, the Coll. received Letters from Mr. Turner of London, with a Bill of Lading and Invoice of about £150 sterlings worth of Glass and Hinges and Nails, and Locks &c. for a House. These were the Value of a sum of the Coll’s. Money, which Mr. Turner had retained, in his own Hands, about seven Years since, to satisfy a Debt from Mr. Branden, whom the Coll. had so strongly recommended, as in Mr. Turners opinion to make himself Brandens sponsor. So that it was as sudden and unexpected at least as a Prize in the Lottery would have been, or one taken at sea; and it had such a joyful Effect.
       Coll. Grape vines delight in a rockey, and mountainous soil, like our Commons, which would make excellent Vineyards.—I suppose that most of the Wines of the World, are the Growth of Climates at least as northern as ours. Champaign, and Tockay are more southward, but Burgundy &c. &c. &c. are northward of us.

      June 2d. Monday.

       Wasted the Day, with a Magazine in my Hand. As it was Artillery Election, it seemed absurd to study, and I had no Conveniencies, or Companions for Pleasure either in Walking, riding, drinking, husling, or any thing else.

      June 3rd. Tuesday.

       This Day has been lost in much the same, Spiritless manner.

      June 4th. Wednesday.

       Read nothing but Magazines as indeed an indisposition rendered me unfit for any Application. Discharged my Venom to Billy Veasey, against the Multitude, Poverty, ill Government, and ill Effects of licensed Houses, and the timorous Temper, as well as criminal Designs of the Select Men, who grant them Approbations. Then Spent the Evening, with Zab, at Mr. Wibirts.

      June 5th. Thurdsday.

       Arose late. Feel disordered. 8 o’Clock, 3 1/2 Hours after Sun rise, is a sluggard’s rising Time. Tis a stupid Waste of so much Time. Tis getting an Habit hard to conquer, and Tis very hurtful to ones Health. 3 1/2, 1/7 of the 24, is thus spiritlessly dozed away. God grant me an Attention to remark, and a Resolution to pursue every Opportunity, for the Improvement of my Mind, and to save, with the Parsimony of a Miser, every moment of my Time.

      June 1760. Friday 6th. June.

       Arose very late. A cold, rainy northeasterly storm, of several Days continuance. I have an ugly Cold, a phlegmatic stomach and a Cholicky Pain in my Bowells this morning. Read Timon of Athens, the Man hater, in the Evening at the Drs.

      Saturday. 7th.

       Arose late, again. When shall I shake off the shackells of morning slumbers, and arise with the sun? Between sun rise, and Breackfast, I might write, or read, or contemplate, a good deal. I might, before Breakfast, entirely shake off the Drowziness of the Morning, and get my Thoughts into a steady Train, my Imagination raised, my Ambition inflamed, in short every Thing within me and without, into a Preparation for Improvement.—I have some Points of Law to examine to day.

      Sunday, 8th.

       Spent the Evening and Night at the Coll’s. in ill natured, invidious, Remarks upon Eb. Thayer, and Morals and General Court &c.

      Monday. 9th.

       Attended Major Crosbeys Court. Where Capts. Thayer and Hollis made their Appearance. Thayer had taken 2 Accounts of Nathan Spear, in his own Hand Writing, and got the Writts drawn by Niles. But upon my making a Defence for Hunt, Spear was afraid to enter and so agreed to pay Costs and drop. But poor Thayer had to say, several Times I told him so, but he would have his own Way. This little dirty, petty fogging Trade, Thayer carries on yet.

      Tuesday 10 June.

       Altho my Spirits were wasted Yesterday, by sitting so late the Night before, (till one o’Clock I believe) and rising so early Yesterday morning, (by sun rise) and walking in the dewy Grass and damp Air, home to my fathers and then down to Major Crosbeys, yet the Thought of being employed, and of opposing Captn. Thayer and punishing Nathan Spear, and Spreading a Reputation, roused my Faculties, and rolled out Thoughts and Expressions, with a strenth and Rapidity, that I never expected. I remember something of the same sort, when I first waited on Mr. Gridley. The Awe of his Presence, a Desire of his Esteem, and of an Introduction to Practice, quickened my Attention and Memory, and sharpened my Penetration. In short, I never shall shine, till some animating Occasion calls forth all my Powers. I find that the Mind must be agitated with some Passion, either Love, fear, Hope, &c. before she will do her best.
       I rambled this Afternoon with the Dr. over the Commons, and amused my self by clearing the Spring and climbing the Ledges of Rocks, thro the Apertures of which, large Trees had grown. But I spend too much Time, in these Walks, these amusing Rambles. I should be more confined to my Chamber. Should read and muse more. Running to Dr., to the Barn, down to meals and for Pipes and Coals and Tobacco &c. take up much of my Time. I have grown habitually indolent and thoughtless. I have scarcely felt a glow, a Pang, a Transport of Ambition, since I left Worcester, since I left my school indeed, for there the Mischievous Tricks, the perpetual invincible Prate, and the stupid Dulness of my scholars, roused my Passions, and with them my Views and Impatience of Ambition. Let me Remember to keep my Chamber, not run Abroad. My Books, naval Trade, Coke, Andrews, Locke, Homer, not Fields and Groves and Springs and Rocks should be the Objects of my Attention. Law and not Poetry, is to be the Business of my Life.

      Saturday 14 June.

       This Week has been spent in Business, i.e. filling Writts, and Journeys to Boston, Scadding, Weighmouth, Abington. The other Night Cranch explained, to Zab and me, the Fire Engine, with which they throw up Water from the Bottoms of their Tin Mines in Cornwall, and Coal Mines in New: Castle. They have a large Cauldron of Plated Iron, filled with Water, and closely covered, and placed over a large Fire. Out of one side of this Cauldron, proceeds a large Tube of Iron horizontally, which Ends in a capacious iron receiver, shaped like an Egg, which will hold a Tun. Half Way between the Cauldron and the Receiver, in the Tube is a Cock. From the Lower Side of the Receiver perpendicularly goes another Tube, down into the Well or Bottom of the Mine, i.e. into the Water. At the mouth of this Tube, where it communicates with the Receiver is a Valve. From the Top of the same Receiver, perpendicularly upwards goes another Tube, which extends quite up above the surface of the Ground, and at the bottom of this Tube i.e. where it communicates with the Receiver, is another Valve. This is the Description of the Machine. Now when the Water in the Cauldron is made to boil, it sends a hot steem along, thro the Cock which is first opened for that Purpose in the Receiver, which proceeds from the Receiver thro one Valve down to the Water and thro another Valve, up into open Air. By this steem the Air, within, is very soon rarified, so as to be no Ballance for the Pressure of the Air, upon the Water in the Mine without the Tube. Of Course the Water rises and fills the Receiver. Then turn the Cock and stop the Passage of the Steem, and the Water beginning to descend will close down the lower Valve. The Vapour thus confined in the Cauldron by the Cock, and the Water confined in the Receiver by the Lower Cock, as soon as you open the Cock, the furious Vapour flies out and drives before it, all the Water in the Receiver, thro the upper Valve, quite up into open Day, where they have channells &c. to convey it away. And when this Proscess is once compleated, they begin anew. This Engine was an Invention of Capt. Savery. They used Copper originally, but lately, they use plated Iron.
       They have a different manner now. They use 2 Concentric Tubes, with a Box, like a Pump Box playing in the central one.
       In my Journey to Abbington, my Mind seemed to be confused with the Dust and Heat, and fatigue. I had not Spirit and Attention to make any Observations upon the Lands, Corn, Grass, Grain, Fences, orchards, Houses &c. I dined at Nortons where the two military Companies of the Town, were assembled to raise Voluntiers, Recruits, but I had not Spirits to make Observations, on the Landlord, or Lady, or Officers or soldiers or House, or any Thing. I eat Milk for Breakfast.

      1760. June 15th. Sunday.

       Rose early, 5 o clock. A pleasant Morning. The more I write the better. Writing is a most useful improving Exercise. Yesterday morning before Break fast I wrought my Mind into a Course of Thinking, by my Pen, which I should not have fallen into the whole day without it; and indeed not resuming my Pen after Breakfast, I insensibly lost my attention.
       Let me Aim at Perspicuity, and Correctness more than ornament, in these Papers.

      Monday. June 16th.

       Arose before the sun. Now I am ignorant of my Future Fortune, what Business, what Reputation, I may get, which is now far from my Expectations. How many Actions shall I secure this Day? What new Client shall I have? I found at Evening, I had secured 6 Actions, but not one new Client, that I know of.

      Tuesday. June 17th.

       Arose before the sun again. This is the last day. What, and who to day? Ebenezer Hayden was altogether new and unexpected. Hollis him self was altogether new and unexpected and John Hayward was altogether new and unexpected. 3 entirely new Clients, all from Captn. Thayers own Parish, and one of whom is himself a Pretender to the Practice, are a considerable Acquisition. I believe, by the Writ and Advice I gave Hayden and the Writt and Advice and the Lecture, concerning Idleness and Petty fogging, given Hollis before Hayward will spread me. Hollis is very near to Beggary and Imprisonment. His oxen are attached, and his Cows, and Pew, and a Number of Writts, and Executions are out against him and not yet extended. He owes more than his Estate can pay I believe. And I told him that by neglecting his own proper Business, and meddling with Law which he did not understand, he had ruined himself. And it is true, for if he had diligently followed his Trade of making shoes and lived prudently he might at this Day have been clear of Debt and worth an handsome Estate. But shomaking I suppose was too mean and diminutive an Occupation for Mr. Thomas Hollis, as Wig making was to Mr. Nat Green, or House Building to Mr. Daniel Willard, and he like them in order to rise in the World procured Deputations from the Sheriff, and after serving long enough in that office to gett a few Copies of common Writts and a most litigious Disposition, left the Sheriff and commenced the Writt Drawer. But poor Hollis is like to be stripped of all he has, if he should escape the Goal, which Daniel Willard was obliged to enter, and if he should not be forced to fly like Nat Green. These sudden Transitions from shomaking, Wigg making and House building, to the Deputy Sheriffwick; and from thence to the Practice of Law, commonly hurry Men rapidly to Destruction to Beggary and Goals. Yet Coll. White has rose the same Way, i.e. by a Deputation from the Sheriff. But White had the Advantage of a liberal Education, and had as Rival no Competitor to oppose him, so that he got quickly sworn. E. Taylor too, was naturally smart, and had been long a sheriff, and had the Patronage and Encouragement of Mr. Trowbridge, who was his Brother in Law. Applin and Ruggles are in a higher Class, men of Genius and great Resolution, to combat the World both by Violence and stratagem.
       Thayer by his own abject slavery to Coll. Pollard got his Affection and he did every Thing to encourage him. Dana has given him great Numbers of Writts to be served on People in this Town, he takes seven shillings for the Writt, and four shillings always, and some times 5 for the service; of this he gives Dana one shilling for his Blank, and reserves 10 or 11 to himself; great Numbers of Writts he has filled himself, and those which he durst not fill he got Niles to fill for 3 shillings so that he takes 3, and four is seven and often times Eight shillings to himself. Thus from Coll. Pollard, from Mr. Dana and Elisha Niles he has got his Estate, as his Legislative Authority, as basely got as Bestia’s from the Throne. A little longer Experience will enable me to trace out the whole system of his Policy and iniquity.
       The office of a sheriff, has Dangers and Temptations around it. Most of them decline, in Morals or Estate or both. Saml. Penniman is one.

   For entering actions for the July sitting of the Suffolk Inferior Court.

      1760 June 18th.

       Read but little, thought but little, for the N.E. storm unstrung me.

      Thurdsday June 19.

       I have been the longer in the Argument of this Cause not for the Importance of the Cause itself, for in itself it is infinitely little and contemptible, but for the Importance of its Consequences. These dirty and ridiculous Litigations have been multiplied in this Town, till the very Earth groans and the stones cry out. The Town is become infamous for them throughout the County. I have absolutely heard it used as a Proverb in several Parts of the Province, “as litigious as Braintree.” And this Multiplicity is owing to the Multiplicity of Petty foggers among whom Captn. Hollis is one, who has given out that he is a sworn Attorney till 9/10 of this Town really believe it. But I take this Opportunity, publickly to confront him, and undeceive the Town. He knows in his Conscience that he never took the Oath of an Attorney, and that he dare not assume the Impudence to ask to be admitted. He knows that the Notion of his being a sworn Attorney is an Imposture, is an Imposition upon this Town. And I take this opportunity publickly to declare that I will take all legal Advantages, against every Action brought by him or by Captn. Thayer or by any other Petty fogger in this Town. For I am determined if I live in this Town to break up this scene of strife, Vexation and Immorality. (Such suits as this and most others that ever I have seen before a Justice in this Town, have a Tendency to vex and imbitter the Minds of the People, to propagate an idle, brawling, wrangling Temper, in short such suits are an Inlet to all manner of Evils.)
       And some i.e. one of these suit managers, when I first came to this Town, hearing that I had been thro a regular Course of study with a regular Practitioner, and that I was recommended to the Court in Boston, by one of the greatest Lawyers in America, concluded, that I should be enabled by these Advantages, and prompted by my own Interest if by no higher Motive, to put an End to the illegal Course of dirty, quacking Practice in this Town, which he had been in, and thereby enslaved the Minds and Bodyes and Estates of his Neighbours. And to prevent this he set himself to work to destroy my Reputation and prevent my getting Business, by such stratagems as no honest Mind can think of without Horror, such stratagems as I always will resent, and never will forgive till he has made Attonement by his future Repentance and Reformation. I thank God his Malice has been defeated, he has not been able to enslave me, nor to drive me out of Town, but Peoples Eyes begin to open, and I hope they will open wider and wider till they can see like other Towns. Happy shall I be if I can rescue the Souls and Bodies, and Estates of this Town from that Thraldom and slavery, to which these Petty foggers have contributed to depress them; and if I can revive in them a generous Love of Liberty and sense of Honour.—After this long Digression your Honour will let me return to this Cause, and I rely upon it, it is a vexatious one. I rely upon it that many of these Articles were borrowed and not bought, and that therefore this Action cant be maintained for them. I rely upon it, that the Affair of the Hat is a litigious Thing, that it was a mere piece of Tavern Amuzement, and if there was any Thing like Bargain and sale in it, the Bargain was completed, the Hat delivered and the Money paid, and with regard to the other Articles, we have filed an Account that more than ballances them, and therefore I pray your Honours Judgment for Costs.

   This entry is obviously a draft of JA’s argument, or the closing portion thereof, in the case of Lt. White and the hat. In the very next entry JA redrafted his argument in order to avoid so egotistical a tone.

      Friday June 20th.

       I must not say so much about my self, nor so much about Hollis and Thayer by Name. I may declaim against Strife, and a litigious Spirit, and about the dirty Dablers in the Law.
       I have a very good Regard for Lt. White, but he must allow me to have a much greater Veneration for the Law. To see the Forms and Processes of Law and Justice thus prostituted, (I must say prostituted) to revenge an imaginary Indignity, offered in a Tavern over a Chereful Bowl or enlivening Mug. To have a mere Piece of Jocular Amuzement, thus hitched into an Action at Law, a mere frolick converted into a Law suit, is a Degree of meanness that deserves no Mercy and shall have none from me. I don’t think Lt. White considered the Nature and the Consequences of this Action, before he brought it. If he had he never would have brot it. He has too much Honour to have brot it. But I suppose the Case was this. Lt. White was a little chagrined, that my Client had for once outwitted him, and in a Miff, or a Bravado, I say a Miff or a Bravado, sees Hollis and asks his Opinion. And Hollis glad of an opportunity to draw a Writ, instantly encourages the suit, and the suit was brot. And when once brot, it was too late to repent. But I dare say he has been severely sorry, that he ever brot it, and will have still further Occasion to be sorry before it Ends.
       As to the Hat, Either it was a Bargain and Sale or it was not. If it was a Bargain and sale, The Hat is my Clients and the Price agreed upon, which was the Copper, delivered at the very Time, is Lt. Whites. But if it was not a Contract, but only a frolick and no one in Earnest, as I suppose it was, then the Property of the Hat continues in Lt. White, and he is welcome to take it, returning us our Copper.
       Rode to Germantown in the morning. Cranch says that the Grindstone is found in the Coal Mines in Europe. The Coal lies in Apartments, strongly fortified with Partitions of this stone, and this stone forms the Covering over Head, &c. I took Notice of the Rock Weed, they were burning into Kelp and I find there are a great Variety of Species of it. Some of it grows out of the Rock, a small stalk, which soon spreads into several Brainches, and each of those Branches into several others, with those little Bubbles or Bladders, full of Air, scattered along at little Distances, on every Branch and Sprig, but at the End of Each twigg or Sprig, hangs a large Pod, full of seed incased in a spongy substance. We went down to some large stones, which had been thrown over between high Water and low water mark 2 or 3 Years ago. These stones are all grown over with the Rock Weed. The seed, We suppose is deposited by the Water upon the Rock, takes Root and grows. It grows very fast to the Rock and when you pull, you will sometimes break the stalk, sometimes pull off a flake of the Rock with it, and sometimes take the Weed, as it seems to me, fairly up by the roots, and the Roots are little fine Spiculae, finer than the Point of the finest Needle. These Roots insert themselves into the Pores of the Rock and thence draw Nourishment. And the connoiseurs say, that some Rocks will produce Weeds, large and rank and strong, while others, laid in the same Place at the same time, will produce only a meagre, short, lingering one. They seem to take a deeper and stronger Root, in Timber and Planks, as on the sides of Wharfes, than they do in Rocks. The salt Water seems to be impregnated with the seeds of it, for whenever a Rock is thrown below high Water mark, immediately a Crop of these Weeds Spring up. It is excellent Manure for the Soil. The salts and sulphurs in it are very good. When they thro it into the Kelp Kiln, it is of a dark brown, or a dirty Yellow, but after it has been heated in the Kiln, it turns of a bright clear green. The Fire occasions some Change in the Configuration of the surface, that reflects green Rays most plentifully, where it used to reflect yellow and brown. They burn it into an ashes, which is a fixed salt, which they call Kelp. 20 Tons of the Weeds will produce about one Ton of the ashes. It tastes a little like Gun powder, it smells like marsh Mud, like a muddy Creak, &c. It has a saltish, sulphurous Taste and Smell. —The Deacon shewed us a Sort of Stone, that the old Glass Company brought from Connecticut, to use instead of Grindstone, for the furnace. He called it stone of the asbestus Kind. Dr. Eliot used it in his  and never found the fire made any Impression on it. But the Glass men found it dissolved in about 4 months. They call it a Cotten stone. It seems to have no Gritt at all, it feels as soft as soap. It cost the Company about  or £900.—Thus, the first Essays, generally rude, and unsuccessful, prove burdensome instead of profitable.

   Deacon Joseph Palmer, later called General Palmer, conducted with his brother-in-law Richard Cranch various business enterprises, including a glass manufactory in the Germantown section of Braintree (DABAllen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; 20 vols. plus index and supplements., under Palmer; Pattee, Old Braintree and QuincyWilliam S. Pattee, A History of Old Braintree and Quincy, with a Sketch of Randolph and Holbrook, Quincy, 1878., p. 473–492).

   Doubtless Jared Eliot (1685–1763), Yale 1706, of Killingworth, Conn.; a Congregational minister, physician, and writer on scientific and agricultural subjects (DABAllen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; 20 vols. plus index and supplements.).

      June 21st. 1760. Saturday.

      June 23rd. 1760. Monday.

       A long obstinate Tryal, before Majr. Crosby, of the most litigious, vexatious suit, I think that ever I heard. Such Disputes begin with ill humour and scurrilous language, and End in a Boxing Bout or a Law suit.

      Tuesday. 24th. June.

       Arose early, a very beautiful Morning. Zab. seems to make insufficient Distinctions between the Vowells. He seems to swallow his own Voice. He neither sounds the Vowells nor Articulates distinctly. The story of Yesterdays Tryal, spreads. Salisbury told my Uncle and my Uncle told Coll. Quincy. They say I was saucy, that I whipped the old Major, &c., that I ripped about the Law suits of this Town And of that House, and that I reminded the Majer of his oath to be of Council to neither Party, and to do Justice equally between the Parties according to Law.

      Wednesday 25 June.

       Went out with the Coll., in his Canoe, after Tom Codd. Rowed down, in a still calm, and smooth Water, to Rainsford Island, round which we fished in several Places, but had no Bites. Then we went up the Island, and round the Hill. Upon the North Easterly side of the Hill, or Island, is a prodigious Bank or Head, which is perpetually washing away, with Rains and Tides. Heartley says it has been washed away 10 feet since he lived on the Island. The Rocks all round the Island are covered with long, rank, rich Weeds, 3 Years old, which Heartley sells at 5s. a Load.
       At one of the Clock we took our Mutton and Cyder, under the shade of a fine Tree, and laid our Provisions on a large flat stone which answered for Table, Dish and Plate, and then we dined expecting with much Pleasure an easy sail Home before the Wind, which then bread fresh at East. After Diner we boarded and hoisted sail, and sailed very pleasantly a Mile, when the Wind died away into a Clock Calm and left us to row against the Tide, and presently against the Wind too for that sprung up at south, right a Head of us, and blew afresh. This was hard work. Doubtful what Course to steer, whether to Nut Island, or to Half Moon, or to Hangmans Island or to Sunken Island, Coll. Q. grew sick which determined us to go ashore at Hangmans for that was the nearest. As soon as he set foot on shore he vomited, very heartily, and then weak and faignt, and spiritless, he crawled up to the Gunning House, and wrapping his great Coat round him, lay down on the sea weed and slept, while I rambled round the Island after Weeds and flowers and stones and young Gulls and Gulls Eggs. 500 Gulls I suppose hovered cawing and screaming over the Island, for fear of their Eggs and Young ones, all the time we were there. When the Coll. awoke and found himself strengthened and inspirited, we rowed away, under Half Moon, and then hoisted sail and run home. So much for the Day of Pleasure, The fishing frolick, the Water frolick. We had none of the Pleasure of Angling, very little of the Pleasure of Sailing. We had much of the fatigue of Rowing, and some of the Vexation of Disappointment. However the Exercise and the Air and smell of salt Water is wholesome.

   This entire entry was omitted by CFA in editing JA’s Diary, perhaps because, though it records a characteristic incident, it shows Col. Josiah Quincy in a momentarily undignified posture. The course of the fishing expedition among the islands of Boston Harbor and Quincy Bay may be traced on the map in Shurtleff, Description of BostonNathaniel B. Shurtleff, A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, 3d edn., Boston, 1890., facing p. 518. Hangman or Hangman’s Island is about midway between Squantum and Hough’s Neck, in shoal water some two miles northeast of the mouth of Black’s Creek in present Quincy. Rainsford Island, about two miles farther northeast, had been in use by the town of Boston for quarantine and hospital purposes since 1737 (same, p. 523–525). For present-day details see U.S. Geological Survey map of Hull, Mass.

   That is, “bred”? But possibly an end-of-line contraction for “breathed.”

   Half Moon Island, now submerged except at low tide, formed a half-circle in the flats just off the mouth of Black’s Creek. It faced what was called Mount Wollaston Farm, the estate of Col. John Quincy and his son Norton, AA’s uncle. After Norton Quincy’s death in 1801, Mount Wollaston Farm came into the possession of the Adamses, partly by bequest and partly by purchase. A few years later the title to the island came into dispute because it had long been used by fishing and hunting parties from the neighboring towns. Thereupon JA wrote an historical and legal memorandum that provides an engaging account of Half Moon Island as he had known it since boyhood. This undated memorandum is in the Adams Papers under the assigned date of 1806. On 7 April 1806 a Quincy town meeting voted “To dismiss the article respecting fishing and fowling on half-moon, viz.:—’To know if the town will maintain their right and priviledge, according to old custom, in fishing and fowling on half-moon, and if any inhabitant should be prosecuted on that account, that the town, as a town, would defend the prosecution’” (Pattee, Old Braintree and QuincyWilliam S. Pattee, A History of Old Braintree and Quincy, with a Sketch of Randolph and Holbrook, Quincy, 1878., p. 98). Search of the (unpublished) Quincy Town Records reveals nothing more on this subject.

      1760. June 26. Thurdsday.

       Feel indifferently well after my yesterdays walk and sail. I have begun to read the Spirit of Laws, and have resolved to read that Work, thro, in order and with Attention. I have hit upon a Project that will secure my Attention to it, which is to write in the Margin, a sort of Index to every Paragraph.

   JA had at least sampled the Spirit of Laws earlier; see Summer 1759, above, and note 19 there.

      June 27th. Friday.

       Read 100 Pages in the Spirit of Laws. Rambled away to a fine Spring in my Cozen Adam’s Land, which gushes thro a Crack in a large flat Rock and gurgles down in a pretty Rill. The Water is clear, sweet, and cool, and is supposed to have a very wholsome Quality, because it issues from a Mountain, and runs towards the North. What Physical Quality its northern Direction may give it, I know not. By its sweetness it flows thro clean Earth, and not minerals. Its Coolness may be owing to its Rise from the Bowells of the Hill.
       Zab’s Mind is taken up with Arithmetical and Geometrical Problems, Questions, Paradoxes and Riddles. He studies these Things that he may be able to gratify his Vanity by puzzling all the vain Pretenders, to Expertness in Numbers, and that he may be too expert, to be puzzled by any such Questions from others.
       There is a set of People, whose Glory, Pride &c. it is to puzzle every Man they meet, with some Question in the Rule of three or fractions, or some other Branch of Arithmetic. Jed. Bass. Moses French. Tom Peniman, &c. &c. Smith, Richard Thayer, &c.


Title: Tuesday. July 1st. 1760.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Went to Town.
       Mr. Thatcher. You have read a great deal, Mr. Adams, in the Roman History, concerning the Modesty of Youth, and their Veneration of the Elders. Now I think these young Gentlemen had very little of that Modesty and Veneration, when they went in the face of Law and against the Remonstrances of all the Elders to act their Plays.
       Mr. Otis says there is no Limitation of Attachments. There is no Proportion established between the Demand and the Quantity to be attached, so that a Villain may attach 20,000£ if he pleases as security for £20, and take the whole into the Officers Custody. Tho on second thought, this cant be done without Collusion between the Plaintiff and the officer, for unless the officer is malicious as well as the Plaintiff, he will run the Risque for the Defendant, of making a Common Service, and this is the Reason why there has been no Mischief made of the unlimited Power of Attachment.


Title: 1760. Saturday July 5th.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Last Night Cranch explained to me, the Water Works in the River Thames which convey water, all round the City of London. There is first, a long water Wheel, like the Water Wheel of some saw Mills, which is carried round by the River. On the End of the Axis of this water Wheell are Coggs, which carry round a cogg Wheel. This Cogg wheel has upon the End of its Axis, a Number of Cranks and each of these Cranks lifts up and lets down a Pump Box every Time the Cogg wheel Turns. These Pumps are very large, and prodigious Quantities of Water are pumped away into a general Conveyance and Receiver, from which Pipes are carried to almost every Cellar and to many of the Rooms, and Chambers, and Garrotts, in Gentlemens Houses, thro the City. Cranch says he has seen the Works for Conveying ships up a Cataract, as that between Topsham and Exeter. Vessells are conveyed along, up Hill, so 3 Miles. They rise up hill as far as from the Bottom of the long Wharf to the Top of Bacon Beacon Hill. They have Walls of great Thickness and strength built across the River Ex, with Gates, of Timber fortified with Irons, in the Middle. These Gates are opened, and the Vessells float, within the Wall. The gates are then shut, and the fresh running Water of the River let down into that Apartment where the Vessell is which soon raises the Vessell as high as the Top of the lower Walls when the Gates of the second Wall are opened and the Vessell is floated within that. Then the second Gate is shut, and the freshit raises the Vessell up another stair.— These Gates have several smaller sluice Gates in them that slide up and down. These they slide up, and let out as much Water as they can, before they pretend to open the Great Gates.
       This whole Passage and Conveyance is artificial, for the natural Course of the River was at some Distance. This whole Channell was cut by Art. What an Expence! to cutt such a Channell for 3 miles, to erect such and so many Walls across the River, to build such Gates, and such Machines to open them.
       Invention has laid under Discouragements in England, for Inventions to facilitate any Manufacture, by which Numbers of People might be thrown out of Business have been prohibited by Act of Parliament. Saw Mills for that Reason were prohibited, That a greater No. of Hands might be employed in sawing, by Hand, Boards and Timber &c. But that Act was of no service. Our Merchants could send to Holland and buy Boards and all sorts of Timber much cheaper, than they could procure them at home. I suppose the Act is expired, and not to be revived, by the Encouragement the society for Encouraging Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, have offered to the Man who shall produce the best Modell of a saw Mill.
       The Dutch erected a Dike, some Years since, which shut out the sea for a great Extent of Land, and they erected Wind Mills, at small Distances upon this Dike, which threw all the Water that was left within, over the Dike into the Sea.
       Deacon Palmer’s Glass Furnace, it seems is a reverberating Furnace. That is, the Heat, which is flashed against the internal surface of the Furnace, when a dry stick of Wood is thrown in, is reverberated, down into the Pots, and melts the Glass, much more than the silent Heat below. So that, rugged Excrescences, prominent Bits of Grindstone, within must be a disadvantage, for if the internal Concave could be polished like a concave Mirror, it would be in its most perfect state. Besides this Furnace is too high. These 2 faults, Hight and internal Ruggedness, the Deacon thinks have wasted him almost a Cord of Wood a Day.
       Cowen and Young Thayer the Marketman are full of White and Bowditch. Cowen heard I tore Whites account all to Pieces, and Thayer thought that White had a dirty Case. Few Justices Causes have been more famous, than that. Isaac Tyrrell Tirrell had the story too, but he thought Bowditch was to blame, was abusive.


Title: July 9th. Wednesday.
From: Adams, John
To:

       Gould has got the story of White and Bowditch.


Title: Saturday [12 or 19 July].
From: Adams, John
To:

       I find upon Examination, that a Warrant of Attorney given by an Infant is void; so that, if you intend during your Apprentices Absence, to put the Note you mentioned to me in suit, or to sue for the Detention of the Province Note, or any other wise to prosecute your Right, the only Way I can think of is, for the Lad to elect your father for his Guardian and see to procure the Judge of Probates allowance of it, before he goes off.If your father is unwilling to go to Town, you may ride down and wait on this Judge. Altho Deacon Bass might have been appointed Guardian to him when a Child, yet you know he has a Right to choose one at fourteen, and he is no doubt willing to choose his Master, but he must give security to the Judge for the faithful Discharge of his Trust.
       From the very hasty and imperfect Account of the Case which you gave me, I can think of no other Way at Present, that will have any Safety. So you may Act your own Pleasure.
       With Regard to the Notes, as the old Note you mentioned to me, was given to the Lad an Infant, neither He nor his Guardian will be under any Obligation to accept it in Satisfaction for the Province Note, unless they please. So that if that Note is not sufficient to secure the Money, you may bring your Action for the Detention of the Province Note. But in that Case you know you must be able to prove by Witnesses, Confession, or other Circumstances, first that your Apprentice owed the Note, 2dly that French had it in Possession, and 3dly that he converted it to his own Use.
       If these Hints are of any service to you, I shall be glad, or if, upon your letting me further into the facts, any Thing further should occur to me, I shall be ready to communicate it.

        Yr. svt.,
        J. Adams


Title: Sunday Morning [13 or 20] July 1760.
From: Adams, John
To:

       The week before last Salome Pope appeared before Coll. Quincy, to confess herself with Child, by Jos. Ryford.

       Her Intention was to complain against Jos. Ryford and charge him before the Justice with being the father of the Bastard Child with which she is now pregnant. Now what Occasion for taking her Examination upon Oath?—By the Province Law.


Title: Fryday July 25th.
From: Adams, John
To:

       We contend that the Plaintiffs ought to recover nothing on this Bond, because according to the original Agreement it is paid. The Case was this. The Plaintiffs about 15 years ago conveyed to one Tower, a Tract of Land, containing with such and such Boundaries, 30 Acres. And the present Defendants became jointly bound with the Grantee for the Money, which was £750, for which they gave 8 or 10 Bonds, one of which was to be paid off every Year. But at the Time of these Transactions, a suspicion arose, that the Land included within the mentioned Bounds, did not contain so much as 30 Acres, which induced the Defendants to insist upon and the Plaintiffs to enter into an Agreement which they committed to Writing, that the Land should be surveyed, and if it fell short of 30 Acres, the Deficiency should be deducted out of these Bonds. Accordingly an Admeasurement was made, and the Land fell short 7 Acres and 1/2, which in Proportion to the Price of the whole amounted to about the Value of this Bond. With regard to the other Bonds some of them were put in suit, others were paid off and taken up, at length all of them were taken up, but this, and the Reason why this was never taken up was this. The Plaintiff Hollis who had kept all the Bonds in his own Hands never would come to a final settlement with them. The Grantee had made several Payments, and Tower had made several more and Hayden had made several others. Some of these Payments were minuted on the Bonds, but many of them were made abroad upon Hollis Promise to enter them on the Bonds when he went home which was never done, so that these People being Brothers to Hollis and confiding in his Honor have been let led on Blindfold, in midnight Darkness, till they have already paid 12 or 1500 Pounds for 750, and when all is done they have no Land. For by some Accident the Deed of this Land is lost, of which Hollis got scent some way or other and has since conveyed away this very Land to another Man. This very land is now mortgaged to Mr. Goldthwait.

       The Case of Chambers vs. Bowles was this. Capt. Chambers had sold to one Anthony Lopez a Spaniard of Monto Christo, a Quantity of Merchandizes. Lopez called for the Goods, but when he came to count his Money he found it fell short, 60 Dollars. Chambers, who had no other Dealings with Lopez and was unacquainted with his Circumstances, refused to trust him for the 60 Dollars, and accordingly took back Merchandizes, to that Value. Upon this Captn. Bowles, who was well acquainted with the Spaniard, and knew him to be rich, spoke a few Words to him in Spanish and then turning to Captn. Chambers, said, let Lopez have the goods and I will pay you the Dollars; call upon me tomorrow or any time and Ile pay you the Money.
       Mr. Otis said this fell within the Province Law to prevent frauds and Perjuries “that no Action shall be brought whereby to charge the Defendant upon any Special Promise to answer for the Debt, Default or Miscarriages of another Person, unless the Agreement upon which such Action shall be brought, or some Memorandum or Note thereof shall be in Writing, and signed by the Party to be charged therewith,” &c. This is, says he, an Agreement to answer for the Debt or Default or Miscarriage of Lopez. The Contract and sale was from Chambers to the Spaniard, not from Chambers to Bowles. No Discrimination was made between the Merchandizes sold to Lopez and these sold to Bowles, but Bowles says let Lopez have the Goods according to your Contract and I will see you paid if he dont.
       Thatcher. This is not a conditional Undertaking for Another, but an absolute Undertaking for himself.
       I remember a Case in Salkeld precisely parrallel which is this. “A and B go into a Warehouse together and A says to the Merchant, deliver B such and such Merchandizes, and if he dont pay you I will. This Promise is void by the Act of Parliament from which our Province Law was copied. But if A says Let B have such and such Goods and I will be your Pay master, or I will see you paid, or I will be answerable to you, in this Case A’s promise is good, is an absolute Undertaking for himself not a conditional Undertaking for Another, and A shall be answerable.—Just so in the Case at Bar. Captn. Bowles says, Let the Spaniard have the Goods and I will pay you, call tomorrow or any time at my Lodgings and I will pay you. Here is an Absolute Undertaking for himself, not a Conditional Undertaking in Case Lopez failed, for We never sold these Goods to Lopez, we have no Demand vs. Lopez for them, we refused to sell them to him: We sold them to Bowles, he sold them to Lopez; He only can demand pay of Lopez and we can demand pay only of him; and we expect your Verdict accordingly.— This was like Fairbanks v. Brown. There Brown Undertook for the Govt., that the Carter should have such a Price. I will ensure You such a Price. I promise you such a Price, &c.
       The Jury gave a Verdict for Chambers in this Case.


Title: 1760. July 26.
From: Adams, John
To:

       This Bond has been at least once and an half, if not twice, paid. The Case is this. About 15 Years ago, the Plaintiffs sold a tract of Land, containing 30 Acres, within such and such Boundaries, to one Tower, for 750£, and He together with the present Defendants became jointly bound to the Plaintiffs, in 10 different Bonds, of which this is one, for the Payment of the Money. But in the Time of it, a suspicion arose that those Bounds did not include 30 Acres; and least they should not an Agreement was made and committed to Writing, that the Land should be surveyed, and if it was found to fall short the Deficiency should be deducted from some of these Bonds. Accordingly the Land was afterwards surveyed, and found to fall short, 7 Acres and an half, which in Proportion to the Price of the whole amounted to about the Value of this Bond. All the other Bonds have been discharged and taken up, and this was set against the Deficiency of Land. But Besides all this, at least one half of it has been paid another Way. For one of these Obligers carried the Money to Hollis and had 1/2 of what was due upon every Bond in his Hands callculated, and paid him down his Money, and Hollis promised to indorse one half, upon every Bond that was left: yet this has never been indorsed; and Hollis has assurance enough to sue for this whole Bond. The Defendants have been extreemely careless, and negligent. Sometimes they paid Money abroad, and took no Receipts, but relied on his Honour to indorse it when he went home. They even left the Agreement that obliged him to make up the wanting Land, in Hollis’s own Hands; after the Land was surveyed they left the Plan and survey in his Hands, in short there has been the Utmost Simplicity and Inattention on their Part in every Part of all these Transactions; and there have not been fewer Proofs of Artifice, secresy, and Guile, I must say Guile, on the Part of Hollis, for He always avoided giving Receipts; he never would suffer any 3d Person to be present, when he did Business. They sometimes would carry with them a Neighbour who understood Numbers, better than they, to calculate for them and see that they were not injured, but whenever they did so Hollis would never do any Business with them and at last had the Assurance to tell them that he never would do any Business with them if they brought any Body with them, as long as he lived. So that by one Artifice and another we have been led on to pay, I suppose, £1500 for 750, and what is worse than all the rest, the Deed he gave is accidentally lost. Of this Hollis got a Hint, and has since sold it to another Person. This Hollis has mortgaged this very Land to Mr. Gouldthwat, the Clerk of this Court, since he found We had lost our Deed. Yet he has the assurance to sue this Bond. We have offered him to relinquish his obligation to make good the deficient Land and pay him the 1/2 of this Bond, if he will execute a new Deed of the Land; but he cant do that. He has sold it.


Title: [July 1760]
From: Adams, John
To:

      Tuesday. July 1st. 1760.

       Went to Town.
       Mr. Thatcher. You have read a great deal, Mr. Adams, in the Roman History, concerning the Modesty of Youth, and their Veneration of the Elders. Now I think these young Gentlemen had very little of that Modesty and Veneration, when they went in the face of Law and against the Remonstrances of all the Elders to act their Plays.
       Mr. Otis says there is no Limitation of Attachments. There is no Proportion established between the Demand and the Quantity to be attached, so that a Villain may attach 20,000£ if he pleases as security for £20, and take the whole into the Officers Custody. Tho on second thought, this cant be done without Collusion between the Plaintiff and the officer, for unless the officer is malicious as well as the Plaintiff, he will run the Risque for the Defendant, of making a Common Service, and this is the Reason why there has been no Mischief made of the unlimited Power of Attachment.

      Thurdsday July 3rd. 1760.

       Read pretty diligently in the Spirit of Laws.—Hayden’s Consultation suggested the following Questions. Q. Is there any Method of compelling a Grantor to give a new Deed when the Deed he has executed before happens to be burned or lost?—Q. May an Agreement in Writing without seal, or by Parol only be given in Evidence against a Bond sealed and delivered? After Confession of the Forfeiture of the Penalty, any Special Agreement may be given in Evidence.

      1760. Saturday July 5th.

       Last Night Cranch explained to me, the Water Works in the River Thames which convey water, all round the City of London. There is first, a long water Wheel, like the Water Wheel of some saw Mills, which is carried round by the River. On the End of the Axis of this water Wheell are Coggs, which carry round a cogg Wheel. This Cogg wheel has upon the End of its Axis, a Number of Cranks and each of these Cranks lifts up and lets down a Pump Box every Time the Cogg wheel Turns. These Pumps are very large, and prodigious Quantities of Water are pumped away into a general Conveyance and Receiver, from which Pipes are carried to almost every Cellar and to many of the Rooms, and Chambers, and Garrotts, in Gentlemens Houses, thro the City. Cranch says he has seen the Works for Conveying ships up a Cataract, as that between Topsham and Exeter. Vessells are conveyed along, up Hill, so 3 Miles. They rise up hill as far as from the Bottom of the long Wharf to the Top of Bacon Beacon Hill. They have Walls of great Thickness and strength built across the River Ex, with Gates, of Timber fortified with Irons, in the Middle. These Gates are opened, and the Vessells float, within the Wall. The gates are then shut, and the fresh running Water of the River let down into that Apartment where the Vessell is which soon raises the Vessell as high as the Top of the lower Walls when the Gates of the second Wall are opened and the Vessell is floated within that. Then the second Gate is shut, and the freshit raises the Vessell up another stair.— These Gates have several smaller sluice Gates in them that slide up and down. These they slide up, and let out as much Water as they can, before they pretend to open the Great Gates.
       This whole Passage and Conveyance is artificial, for the natural Course of the River was at some Distance. This whole Channell was cut by Art. What an Expence! to cutt such a Channell for 3 miles, to erect such and so many Walls across the River, to build such Gates, and such Machines to open them.
       Invention has laid under Discouragements in England, for Inventions to facilitate any Manufacture, by which Numbers of People might be thrown out of Business have been prohibited by Act of Parliament. Saw Mills for that Reason were prohibited, That a greater No. of Hands might be employed in sawing, by Hand, Boards and Timber &c. But that Act was of no service. Our Merchants could send to Holland and buy Boards and all sorts of Timber much cheaper, than they could procure them at home. I suppose the Act is expired, and not to be revived, by the Encouragement the society for Encouraging Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, have offered to the Man who shall produce the best Modell of a saw Mill.
       The Dutch erected a Dike, some Years since, which shut out the sea for a great Extent of Land, and they erected Wind Mills, at small Distances upon this Dike, which threw all the Water that was left within, over the Dike into the Sea.
       Deacon Palmer’s Glass Furnace, it seems is a reverberating Furnace. That is, the Heat, which is flashed against the internal surface of the Furnace, when a dry stick of Wood is thrown in, is reverberated, down into the Pots, and melts the Glass, much more than the silent Heat below. So that, rugged Excrescences, prominent Bits of Grindstone, within must be a disadvantage, for if the internal Concave could be polished like a concave Mirror, it would be in its most perfect state. Besides this Furnace is too high. These 2 faults, Hight and internal Ruggedness, the Deacon thinks have wasted him almost a Cord of Wood a Day.
       Cowen and Young Thayer the Marketman are full of White and Bowditch. Cowen heard I tore Whites account all to Pieces, and Thayer thought that White had a dirty Case. Few Justices Causes have been more famous, than that. Isaac Tyrrell Tirrell had the story too, but he thought Bowditch was to blame, was abusive.

   This paragraph, and possibly the next as well, may have been intended as direct discourse by Cranch.

   A common name in Weymouth in JA’s time; often spelled Cowing in contemporary records.

      July 6th. Sunday.

       Heard Mr. Mayhew of Martha’s Vineyard.

      July 9th. Wednesday.

       Gould has got the story of White and Bowditch.

      Saturday 12 or 19 July.

       I find upon Examination, that a Warrant of Attorney given by an Infant is void; so that, if you intend during your Apprentices Absence, to put the Note you mentioned to me in suit, or to sue for the Detention of the Province Note, or any other wise to prosecute your Right, the only Way I can think of is, for the Lad to elect your father for his Guardian and see to procure the Judge of Probates allowance of it, before he goes off.If your father is unwilling to go to Town, you may ride down and wait on this Judge. Altho Deacon Bass might have been appointed Guardian to him when a Child, yet you know he has a Right to choose one at fourteen, and he is no doubt willing to choose his Master, but he must give security to the Judge for the faithful Discharge of his Trust.
       From the very hasty and imperfect Account of the Case which you gave me, I can think of no other Way at Present, that will have any Safety. So you may Act your own Pleasure.
       With Regard to the Notes, as the old Note you mentioned to me, was given to the Lad an Infant, neither He nor his Guardian will be under any Obligation to accept it in Satisfaction for the Province Note, unless they please. So that if that Note is not sufficient to secure the Money, you may bring your Action for the Detention of the Province Note. But in that Case you know you must be able to prove by Witnesses, Confession, or other Circumstances, first that your Apprentice owed the Note, 2dly that French had it in Possession, and 3dly that he converted it to his own Use.
       If these Hints are of any service to you, I shall be glad, or if, upon your letting me further into the facts, any Thing further should occur to me, I shall be ready to communicate it.

        Yr. svt.,
        J. Adams

   CFA omitted this draft of a letter to an applicant for legal advice and all of JA’s legal notes that follow in July and August.

      Sunday Morning 13 or 20 July 1760.

       The week before last Salome Pope appeared before Coll. Quincy, to confess herself with Child, by Jos. Ryford.

       Her Intention was to complain against Jos. Ryford and charge him before the Justice with being the father of the Bastard Child with which she is now pregnant. Now what Occasion for taking her Examination upon Oath?—By the Province Law.

   Here a line is drawn across the page in the MS and a short entry follows which has been scratched out with two different pens: “Ryford is not only suspected but has been charged to have begotten a Bastard Child; therefore Q. may now himself perhaps bind him to the sessions, But is not  to do it by the Province Law.”

      Fryday July 25th.

       We contend that the Plaintiffs ought to recover nothing on this Bond, because according to the original Agreement it is paid. The Case was this. The Plaintiffs about 15 years ago conveyed to one Tower, a Tract of Land, containing with such and such Boundaries, 30 Acres. And the present Defendants became jointly bound with the Grantee for the Money, which was £750, for which they gave 8 or 10 Bonds, one of which was to be paid off every Year. But at the Time of these Transactions, a suspicion arose, that the Land included within the mentioned Bounds, did not contain so much as 30 Acres, which induced the Defendants to insist upon and the Plaintiffs to enter into an Agreement which they committed to Writing, that the Land should be surveyed, and if it fell short of 30 Acres, the Deficiency should be deducted out of these Bonds. Accordingly an Admeasurement was made, and the Land fell short 7 Acres and 1/2, which in Proportion to the Price of the whole amounted to about the Value of this Bond. With regard to the other Bonds some of them were put in suit, others were paid off and taken up, at length all of them were taken up, but this, and the Reason why this was never taken up was this. The Plaintiff Hollis who had kept all the Bonds in his own Hands never would come to a final settlement with them. The Grantee had made several Payments, and Tower had made several more and Hayden had made several others. Some of these Payments were minuted on the Bonds, but many of them were made abroad upon Hollis Promise to enter them on the Bonds when he went home which was never done, so that these People being Brothers to Hollis and confiding in his Honor have been let led on Blindfold, in midnight Darkness, till they have already paid 12 or 1500 Pounds for 750, and when all is done they have no Land. For by some Accident the Deed of this Land is lost, of which Hollis got scent some way or other and has since conveyed away this very Land to another Man. This very land is now mortgaged to Mr. Goldthwait.

       The Case of Chambers vs. Bowles was this. Capt. Chambers had sold to one Anthony Lopez a Spaniard of Monto Christo, a Quantity of Merchandizes. Lopez called for the Goods, but when he came to count his Money he found it fell short, 60 Dollars. Chambers, who had no other Dealings with Lopez and was unacquainted with his Circumstances, refused to trust him for the 60 Dollars, and accordingly took back Merchandizes, to that Value. Upon this Captn. Bowles, who was well acquainted with the Spaniard, and knew him to be rich, spoke a few Words to him in Spanish and then turning to Captn. Chambers, said, let Lopez have the goods and I will pay you the Dollars; call upon me tomorrow or any time and Ile pay you the Money.
       Mr. Otis said this fell within the Province Law to prevent frauds and Perjuries “that no Action shall be brought whereby to charge the Defendant upon any Special Promise to answer for the Debt, Default or Miscarriages of another Person, unless the Agreement upon which such Action shall be brought, or some Memorandum or Note thereof shall be in Writing, and signed by the Party to be charged therewith,” &c. This is, says he, an Agreement to answer for the Debt or Default or Miscarriage of Lopez. The Contract and sale was from Chambers to the Spaniard, not from Chambers to Bowles. No Discrimination was made between the Merchandizes sold to Lopez and these sold to Bowles, but Bowles says let Lopez have the Goods according to your Contract and I will see you paid if he dont.
       Thatcher. This is not a conditional Undertaking for Another, but an absolute Undertaking for himself.
       I remember a Case in Salkeld precisely parrallel which is this. “A and B go into a Warehouse together and A says to the Merchant, deliver B such and such Merchandizes, and if he dont pay you I will. This Promise is void by the Act of Parliament from which our Province Law was copied. But if A says Let B have such and such Goods and I will be your Pay master, or I will see you paid, or I will be answerable to you, in this Case A’s promise is good, is an absolute Undertaking for himself not a conditional Undertaking for Another, and A shall be answerable.—Just so in the Case at Bar. Captn. Bowles says, Let the Spaniard have the Goods and I will pay you, call tomorrow or any time at my Lodgings and I will pay you. Here is an Absolute Undertaking for himself, not a Conditional Undertaking in Case Lopez failed, for We never sold these Goods to Lopez, we have no Demand vs. Lopez for them, we refused to sell them to him: We sold them to Bowles, he sold them to Lopez; He only can demand pay of Lopez and we can demand pay only of him; and we expect your Verdict accordingly.— This was like Fairbanks v. Brown. There Brown Undertook for the Govt., that the Carter should have such a Price. I will ensure You such a Price. I promise you such a Price, &c.
       The Jury gave a Verdict for Chambers in this Case.

   This entry is a draft of an argument in which JA was defending Hayden and others against the rapacity of Thomas Hollis, the shoemaker, tavern-keeper, and writ-drawer of Braintree Middle Precinct. The suit was evidently tried in the Suffolk Inferior Court, since Ezekiel Goldthwait, who held the mortgage on the land in question, is mentioned as “Clerk of this Court.”

   The name is a scrawl in the MS, but is clarified in the entry of next day, which contains another version of JA’s argument.

      1760. July 26.

       This Bond has been at least once and an half, if not twice, paid. The Case is this. About 15 Years ago, the Plaintiffs sold a tract of Land, containing 30 Acres, within such and such Boundaries, to one Tower, for 750£, and He together with the present Defendants became jointly bound to the Plaintiffs, in 10 different Bonds, of which this is one, for the Payment of the Money. But in the Time of it, a suspicion arose that those Bounds did not include 30 Acres; and least they should not an Agreement was made and committed to Writing, that the Land should be surveyed, and if it was found to fall short the Deficiency should be deducted from some of these Bonds. Accordingly the Land was afterwards surveyed, and found to fall short, 7 Acres and an half, which in Proportion to the Price of the whole amounted to about the Value of this Bond. All the other Bonds have been discharged and taken up, and this was set against the Deficiency of Land. But Besides all this, at least one half of it has been paid another Way. For one of these Obligers carried the Money to Hollis and had 1/2 of what was due upon every Bond in his Hands callculated, and paid him down his Money, and Hollis promised to indorse one half, upon every Bond that was left: yet this has never been indorsed; and Hollis has assurance enough to sue for this whole Bond. The Defendants have been extreemely careless, and negligent. Sometimes they paid Money abroad, and took no Receipts, but relied on his Honour to indorse it when he went home. They even left the Agreement that obliged him to make up the wanting Land, in Hollis’s own Hands; after the Land was surveyed they left the Plan and survey in his Hands, in short there has been the Utmost Simplicity and Inattention on their Part in every Part of all these Transactions; and there have not been fewer Proofs of Artifice, secresy, and Guile, I must say Guile, on the Part of Hollis, for He always avoided giving Receipts; he never would suffer any 3d Person to be present, when he did Business. They sometimes would carry with them a Neighbour who understood Numbers, better than they, to calculate for them and see that they were not injured, but whenever they did so Hollis would never do any Business with them and at last had the Assurance to tell them that he never would do any Business with them if they brought any Body with them, as long as he lived. So that by one Artifice and another we have been led on to pay, I suppose, £1500 for 750, and what is worse than all the rest, the Deed he gave is accidentally lost. Of this Hollis got a Hint, and has since sold it to another Person. This Hollis has mortgaged this very Land to Mr. Gouldthwat, the Clerk of this Court, since he found We had lost our Deed. Yet he has the assurance to sue this Bond. We have offered him to relinquish his obligation to make good the deficient Land and pay him the 1/2 of this Bond, if he will execute a new Deed of the Land; but he cant do that. He has sold it.

   MS: “to”—an obvious slip of the pen.