Title: [March 1786]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      Wednesday March 1st. 1786.

       At home all day: Eliza, dined and passed the afternoon, at Mr. Duncan’s. Mr. Thaxter went to Portsmouth upon business. Felt quite fatigued all day, though, I did not sit up, later than common last night. Retired at about 11.

      2d.

       Finished, the sixth book of Homer’s Iliad in the forenoon, and shall go no further in it here. I admire this Poem, more, and more, though it must be confess’d the author now and then nods. It has however more, and more confirmed me, in the opinion that the world has vastly improved, even as, to sentiments since that time. In the last book, an instance occurs where a young warrior entreats Menelaüs to spare his life, but Agamemnon, kills him immediately, and old Nestor, highly approves the cruelty. Whenever the Greeks are exhorted by their chiefs, the arguments made use of, are, that if they are conquerors the wives, daughters, and fortunes of the Trojans, will be at their disposition. Now I will own, that in modern times there are examples of great Barbarity in War. But there are also many of humanity which among the ancients was thought inconsistent with war. But I will say no more, on this subject.
       Mr. Thaxter return’d this Evening, though it has been either snowing or raining all day. He was not to come home till to-morrow; but gave two reasons for coming so soon: he did not mention a third, which I fancy, was as strong, as either of the others.
       Storm’d hard in the night: was up after 1. in the morning.

      3d.

       I have often wish’d to hear the following Question discussed by persons well acquainted with the human heart. Whether any Person can at the same time, Love, and despise, another, of a different sex? I think the two sentiments not only can be, but very often are united: but I may mistake. No Love can be permanent, but what is founded on esteem; but there may be a temporary attachment to a person, whom we are sensible is wholly unworthy of it, and such must be I imagine, all the Conquests of a Coquette who though she may be beloved by many, can be esteemed by none. This Character is so contemptible; that one would think no being blessed with any share of Reason ever could assume it. Vanity it is true, may be flattered for a Time; but it is soon doubly mortified, and when once the flower of Beauty is gone, they have nothing left to recommend them: but so much must suffice for the present.

      4th.

       Eliza, spent the day at Mr. White’s. Mr. Thaxter was here in the Evening. The weather very mild: a farmer, who was here in the Course of the day, said the river was very ticklish.

      5th.

       Snow’d all the morning, but the air so mild, that it melted generally as it fell to the ground. Two Sermons from I. Corinthians X. 31. Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. The text in itself is good, but like most other texts of Scripture, has been shamefully abused. There was in this Sermon, as in many I have heard since I have been here, little, that I admired, and little, that I disliked. Liberality of Sentiment, cannot be expected from a Pulpit, on religious points. If a Clergyman ventures, not to be quite illiberal, it is the most he can do. While they exclaim against the Palpable absurdities of the Romish Church: they themselves fall into others equally ridiculous, and the never failing resource of texts from Scripture, is continually produced. There is a new System which carries the depravity of human Nature further, than, any I ever heard of, all arising from the text which Mr. Howe, who has adopted the plan, preach’d on three Sundays agone. I have several times discovered my abhorrence, of any Idea, of a divinity who should condemn men to everlasting torments, for what they could not in any measure help or prevent. I was perhaps too zealous; and a person who I suspect is inclined to the same uncharitable way of thinking, though he does not profess to be, used this Argument. Did I think it was possible I might be wrong? I did. Well; who of two Persons was most probably right, one who was merely a youth, who had not studied those things; or a man who had made them his chief (he might have said only) study for many years? But this proves nothing. Should a man, who for 50 years had studied nothing but the Proprieties and differences of colours, tell me that ebony and alabaster, were of the same colour I should think the assertion absurd, though I judge of colours only as they strike my Senses. I desire never to have an Idea, of a god, who is not infinitely good, and merciful, as well as powerful.

      6th.

       Mrs. Saltonstall, Mrs. Harrod, and Betsey Duncan drank tea here. Mr. Thaxter remained part of the Evening. He is I think as much attached as I ever saw any body: and is an instance, of what has often been observed that men, free from any passion, can reason, upon them, much better than they can practice, when called to. Many times have I heard him declare his disgust at fondness shown by Husbands and Wives before Company: but now, he is behind hand to no person I am acquainted with. He cannot bear to see Parents indulgent to little children: perhaps, in three or four years I shall see him do like most other People in the same Situation.

   Anna Treat Harrod (ca. 1752–1832), mother of Ann Harrod, who later married TBA.

      7th.

       Fine Weather, all day and very mild, yet the river is not so weak but what Teems and slays cross’d it.
       This day Week, I am, to go to Cambridge. The nearer any Circumstance approaches; the greater is our Impatience of it. What two months ago, I did not think of once in a week; now comes to my mind almost every hour. Studied Watts in the Night.

      8th.

       Mr. White’s family, and Miss Sally McKinstry, drank tea here. This young Lady has been all the Winter at Boston; she is very genteel, and was it not for a little twist in the Position of her eyes, would be uncommonly handsome. Notwithstanding this blemish her Countenance, is pleasing, and frequently dimpled with a smile. She is sociable, but unfortunately I cannot be so with a stranger, and had not much Conversation with her.

      9th.

       Mr. Shaw went over to Bradford, to Mr. Allen’s Lecture. The river still remains in a dangerous situation; but freezes so much in the night, that the mildness of the day is not sufficient to break up the Ice.

      10th.

       Clear, but cold Weather. Went, and took a walk with Eliza, just before dusk, as far as the ship yard, we pass’d the Evening, at Mr. White’s. Mrs. Moody and Miss Codman were there. The Latter is a Lady from Boston; not handsome, and appears to be in a poor State of Health. Mrs. Moody, is a widow, who, is fond of appearing young, and is what the french call une jeune femme de 20 à 60 ans. Miss Priscy McKinstry, and Nancy Hazen came in too in the course of the Evening. Nancy was very formal, and ceremonious to me, as she has been, uniformly, since she left this house. I was not displeased at it, and return’d it as much as I could. Where a person will not be upon terms of friendly intimacy; I wish never to be behind hand with him in Ceremony.

      11th.

       Dined at Dr. Saltonstall’s, with Mr. Shaw, Mr. Thaxter and Master Parker. Spent the Afternoon at Mr. White’s. Mr. Thaxter was here in the Evening.

      12th.

       Went all day to hear Mr. Smith. I had never heard him before. His text for the whole day was from Solomon’s song II. 14. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see, thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. The discourse in the forenoon, was entirely taken up in a description of the Properties of the Dove, and how they Coincided with those of the Church of Christ. Its Innocence, it’s Beauty chastity and cleanliness, and Swiftness, were all taken notice of, and some good practical observations were drawn from the subject in the afternoon. The remainder of the text was considered, but as he commonly is said to do, towards the latter end of the discourse he grew extremely vociferous, and it was a continued strain of declamation. As he preaches without notes, and with very little previous studying, his sermons do not shine in the disposition of his arguments. He often starts from his subject; and when embarassed with any contested point, screaming, is his only resource.

      13th.

       The Day was employ’d in paying visits, and packing up my trunks. I went to Mr. White’s, Major Bartlett’s, Mr. Osgood’s, Mr. Duncan’s, and Mr. Dodge’s. The weather very mild.

      14th.

       At 7 in the morning, we mounted our horses, and went about half a mile up the River where a passage for a Boat was cut through, yesterday, as the Ice was so much weaken’d as made it dangerous to cross over it. We went in to Mr. Allen’s, for about half an hour, and then proceeded before dinner as far as Wilmington. We arrived at Cambridge, a little after Sun set, much fatigued as the roads were but indifferent. The weather was mild.


Title: 16th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Rain’d, a great part of the day. Walker went to Boston and brought back my bond properly filled. Dined with Mr. Dana. Returned to the College in the afternoon, and lodged with my brother. The Government have been endeavouring to discover the principal actors in the last Night’s riot. The Sophimores are very much afraid, that some of them will suffer some public punishment, for it.


Title: 17th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       This morning I finished the business of my admission. I carried the bond to Mr. Gannett the Steward. He then certified that I had complied with the Law. This certificate I went with to the President’s, who thereupon signed an Admittatur, which I had to carry again to the Steward, to be filed with the College Papers. The Steward told me then I was to all intents and Purposes, generally, and in all particulars a Member of the University.
       I then went to Boston with my Cousin, and Abbot, of the Juniors. I paid a number of Visits, and dined at my Uncle Smith’s. Walk’d about the Town, with Charles Storer; spent the Evening, and supped, at Deacon Storer’s, lodged at my Uncle Smiths.


Title: 19th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Heard Mr. Wibird, preach all day from Romans VIII. 1st. There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Ladies complain’d that it was an old one, which, had been delivered so many Times, that, they had it, almost by heart: indeed it is said Mr. Wibird has written but very few Sermons; and preaches them over and over in a continual succession. I went down to the Library, in the Evening, and got me, some books, which I shall want at College.


Title: 20th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       The whole forenoon, I was with my Cousin, down at our house, packing up, furniture, though many articles, are yet to be got. Mr. Cranch went to Boston in the forenoon, and Mr. Tyler, said he was very much mortified, he was obliged to attend the town meeting, but he should be at home in the Evening. It was  however so late before he return’d that I could not have the Pleasure of his Company in the Evening.


Title: 21st.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Cold, disagreeable Weather, all the morning. In the afternoon it storm’d. My Aunt and myself, sat out to go and see Mrs. Warren, in Milton, but it began to storm before we got far; so we turn’d about and went down to Uncle Quincy’s. We drank tea with him. I believe he would be much happier than he is, if he was married.


Title: 22d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       At about 10 o’clock, Lucy and I, set out from Braintree. She came with me to Boston, to purchase, the remainder of the furniture that I shall want. We stopp’d at Milton, and saw Mrs. Warren; she was much affected at the news she lately received, of the Death of her Son Charles, in Spain a few Weeks after his arrival there. Nothing else was to be expected when he sailed from here, but however prepared we may be for the Death of a Friend; the tears of Nature, still must flow from the eye, and the sigh of sympathy from the heart.
       As we passed by Milton hall, we saw the Ruins, of the Windows. On the 21st. of March the Junior Sophister Class, cease reciting at 11 in the forenoon; they generally in the Evening have a frolic; yesterday they had it, at Milton-hall, and as they are not by any means at such times remarkable for their Discretion, we saw many fractures, in the Windows of the hall they were in.
       We got to Boston at about 1 afternoon; Mr. Cranch, and Dr. Tufts dined out. We dined with Mr. Foster; and soon after dinner, I footed it for Cambridge. When I got here I found all my things had arrived. Immediately after Prayers I went to the President, who said, “Adams, you may live with Sir Ware, a batchelor of Arts.” I made a most Respectful Bow, and retired. I was the greatest Part of the Evening, fixing all my things to rights.


Title: 24th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       No reciting, for any of the Classes, on Fridays, for the whole, Day. I wrote some Problems out of Ward to carry to Mr. Williams, next Monday Morning. After Prayers, I declaim’d, as it is term’d. Two Students every evening Speak from Memory, any Piece they chuse, if it be approved by the President. It was this Evening my turn, with the 2d. Abbot, and I spoke, from As you

        like it. All the world’s a stage &c. When I came to the description of the Justice, in fair round Belly with good Capon lined, Tutors and scholars, all laugh’d, as I myself, truly represented the Character. But the President did not move a feature of his face. And indeed I believe, it is no small matter, that shall extort a smile from him when he is before the College. This Afternoon I took from the Library, Montesquieu’s Reflections on the rise and fall of the Romans, and an Anacreon. The two elder Classes have a right, every second friday to take from the Library, each person three volumes, which he must return at the End of a fort’night.


Title: 25th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We had no reciting to day. Saturday mornings commonly the two elder Classes, recite to their own Tutors in Doddridge’s Lectures on Divinity; but our Tutor did not hear us. The weather, warm and Pleasant. In the Afternoon Mr. Cranch, and my Cousin, came, and brought me the remainder of my furniture; I did but little to day, because the weather being so fine, we were almost all day walking, about.


Title: 27th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We recited this day in Euclid, to our own Tutor, Mr. Read, as we shall do all the week. We began, at the 4th. Book, and the way of reciting is, to read the Proposition, and then without the book demonstrate it: but it is by no means a popular, book, and many of the Students, will do nothing with it. At 9 we attended Mr. Williams. He gave each of us two or three problems, to draw the Diagrams: this is a more easy, and more pleasant Study than Euclid. After Prayers, the Senior Class, had a Class meeting, in order to check the freshmen, who they suppose have taken of Late too great Liberties. By the Laws, of the College, all freshmen, are obliged to walk in the yard, with their heads uncovered, unless, in stormy Weather, and to go on any errand, that any other Scholar chuses to send them, at a mile distance. But the present freshmen have been indulged very much, with respect to those Laws; and it is said, they have presumed farther than, they ought to have done. The Seniors it is said, have determined to enforce the old Laws, send the Freshmen, and order, their hats off, in the yard.


Title: 30th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       My Trunks, which I have been so long expecting, came, at last this morning, from Haverhill. White, and my Brother, went to Boston; this day our Class finished reciting in Euclid. A Lesson was set us in Gravesande, for next Quarter; when we go, in to Mr. Read. It would have been best to have gone in to Gravesande before Mr. Williams, began his Lectures; but the Class was considerably delayed last year, by Mr. Howard’s going away, as he was the mathematical Tutor. Mr. Cranch stopp’d here, on his Return, from Lincoln. Weather fair and pleasant all day. The freshmen, are still very high. Sullivan, one of the Seniors had a Window broke, by one of them this Evening.


Title: 31st.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       No reciting, this day. I was not in at Prayers, in the morning. Mr. Williams gave us, his second Lecture, upon those Properties of Matter, which though not essential to it, was in a greater or smaller degree common to all. Such were Attraction, which was of 2 kinds, Cohesion, and Repulsion, and Gravitation. The Substance of the Lectures I have taken down on Separate Paper, so that I shall not repeat it here. I attended the Junior tea-Club, and signed the Regulations, as I was admitted to it, Last Evening. A Nephew of the President, by the same Name, was this day examined, and admitted, as a Junior Sophister.


Title: [March 1786]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      15th.

       Between 9 and 10 in the morning, I went to the President’s, and was there admitted examined, before, the President, the four Tutors three Professors, and Librarian. The first book was Horace, where Mr. James the Latin Tutor told me to turn to the Carmen saeculare where I construed 3 stanza’s, and parsed the word sylvarum, but called potens a substantive. Mr. Jennison, the greek Tutor then put me to the beginning of the fourth Book of Homer; I construed Lines, but parsed wrong αλληλομς. I had then παραβληδην given me. I was then asked a few questions in Watts’s Logic by Mr. Hale, and a considerable number in Locke, on the Understanding, very few of which I was able to answer. The next thing was Geography, where Mr. Read ask’d me what was the figure of the Earth, and several other questions, some of which I answered; and others not. Mr. Williams asked me if I had studied Euclid, and Arithmetic, after which the President conducted me to another Room, and gave me the following piece of English to turn into Latin, from the World.There cannot certainly be an higher ridicule, than to give an air of Importance, to Amusements, if they are in themselves contemptible and void of taste, but if they are the object and care of the judicious and polite and really deserve that distinction, the conduct of them is certainly of Consequence. I made it thus. Nihil profecto risu dignior, potest esse, quam magni aestimare delectamenta, si per se despicienda sunt, atque sine sapore. At si res oblatae atque cura sunt sagacibus et artibus excultis, et revera hanc distinctionem merent, administratio eorum haud dubie utilitatis est. (I take it from memory only, as no scholar is suffered to take a Copy of the Latin he made at his examination.) The President then took it, was gone about ¼ of an hour, return’d, and said “you are admitted, Adams,” and gave me a paper to carry to the Steward. I had the form of a bond, which is to be signed by two persons, in the presence of two witnesses: this is what every student is obliged to do; and the bondsmen forfeit 200 ounces of silver, if the bills are not paid once a Quarter. Mr. Shaw went to Boston before dinner: I sent by him the form of the bond to Doctor Tufts to fill it. I went with my brother to Mr. Dana’s, where we dined, in Company with Harris, of the Senior Class, who boards there. It is against the Laws of the College to call any under-graduate, by any but his Sir-name, and I am told, the President, who is remarkably strict in all those matters, reproved a gentleman at his table, for calling a student Mr., while he was present.
       Spent the afternoon, and evening in College. The Sophimore Class had what is called in College, an high-go. They assembled all together in the Chamber, of one of the Class; where some of them got drunk, then sallied out and broke a number of windows for three of the Tutors, and after this sublime manoeuvre stagger’d to their chambers. Such are the great achievements of many of the sons of Harvard, such the delights of many of the students here.
       Returned to Mr. Dana’s, and lodged there.

   Eleazar James, tutor 1781–1789, was later a lawyer in Barre, Mass. (MH-Ar: Quinquennial File).

   Timothy Lindall Jennison, tutor 1785–1788, became a Cambridge physician (Harvard Quinquennial Cat.Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates, 1636- 1930, Cambridge, 1930.  ; John A. Vinton, “Memoir of the Lindall Family,” NEHGR,New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 7:22 [Jan. 1853]).

   John Hale, tutor 1781–1786, became a lawyer in Portsmouth, N.H. (Bell, Bench and Bar of New Hampshire,Charles H. Bell, Bench and Bar of New Hampshire, Boston, 1894. p. 413–414).

   Nathan Read, tutor 1783–1787, was later an inventor and served Salem in the congress, 1800–1803 (Essex Inst., Hist. Colls.,Essex Institute Historical Collections. 24:259–262 [Oct.–Dec. 1887]).

   The World, No. 171, 8 April 1756.

      16th.

       Rain’d, a great part of the day. Walker went to Boston and brought back my bond properly filled. Dined with Mr. Dana. Returned to the College in the afternoon, and lodged with my brother. The Government have been endeavouring to discover the principal actors in the last Night’s riot. The Sophimores are very much afraid, that some of them will suffer some public punishment, for it.

      17th.

       This morning I finished the business of my admission. I carried the bond to Mr. Gannett the Steward. He then certified that I had complied with the Law. This certificate I went with to the President’s, who thereupon signed an Admittatur, which I had to carry again to the Steward, to be filed with the College Papers. The Steward told me then I was to all intents and Purposes, generally, and in all particulars a Member of the University.
       I then went to Boston with my Cousin, and Abbot, of the Juniors. I paid a number of Visits, and dined at my Uncle Smith’s. Walk’d about the Town, with Charles Storer; spent the Evening, and supped, at Deacon Storer’s, lodged at my Uncle Smiths.

   JQA’s certificate of admission (Adams Papers) is described and illustrated in this volume; see the Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 1.

      18th.

       Went with Charles Storer, and heard, the debates in the House of Representatives; and afterwards, the pleadings, at the Supreme Court. Dined at Deacon Storer’s with Mr. Jackson. As Dr. Tufts was detained in Town, he let me have his horse, to go out to Braintree with. I set out between 3 and 4, with Mr. Cranch. I stopp’d and drank tea at my Uncle Adams’s. Got home, just before dark.

      19th.

       Heard Mr. Wibird, preach all day from Romans VIII. 1st. There is therefore now no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Ladies complain’d that it was an old one, which, had been delivered so many Times, that, they had it, almost by heart: indeed it is said Mr. Wibird has written but very few Sermons; and preaches them over and over in a continual succession. I went down to the Library, in the Evening, and got me, some books, which I shall want at College.

      20th.

       The whole forenoon, I was with my Cousin, down at our house, packing up, furniture, though many articles, are yet to be got. Mr. Cranch went to Boston in the forenoon, and Mr. Tyler, said he was very much mortified, he was obliged to attend the town meeting, but he should be at home in the Evening. It was  however so late before he return’d that I could not have the Pleasure of his Company in the Evening.

      21st.

       Cold, disagreeable Weather, all the morning. In the afternoon it storm’d. My Aunt and myself, sat out to go and see Mrs. Warren, in Milton, but it began to storm before we got far; so we turn’d about and went down to Uncle Quincy’s. We drank tea with him. I believe he would be much happier than he is, if he was married.

      22d.

       At about 10 o’clock, Lucy and I, set out from Braintree. She came with me to Boston, to purchase, the remainder of the furniture that I shall want. We stopp’d at Milton, and saw Mrs. Warren; she was much affected at the news she lately received, of the Death of her Son Charles, in Spain a few Weeks after his arrival there. Nothing else was to be expected when he sailed from here, but however prepared we may be for the Death of a Friend; the tears of Nature, still must flow from the eye, and the sigh of sympathy from the heart.
       As we passed by Milton hall, we saw the Ruins, of the Windows. On the 21st. of March the Junior Sophister Class, cease reciting at 11 in the forenoon; they generally in the Evening have a frolic; yesterday they had it, at Milton-hall, and as they are not by any means at such times remarkable for their Discretion, we saw many fractures, in the Windows of the hall they were in.
       We got to Boston at about 1 afternoon; Mr. Cranch, and Dr. Tufts dined out. We dined with Mr. Foster; and soon after dinner, I footed it for Cambridge. When I got here I found all my things had arrived. Immediately after Prayers I went to the President, who said, “Adams, you may live with Sir Ware, a batchelor of Arts.” I made a most Respectful Bow, and retired. I was the greatest Part of the Evening, fixing all my things to rights.

   Henry Ware, Harvard 1785.

      23d.

       I did not hear the Bell Ring this morning, and was tardy at Prayers. Every time a Student is tardy at prayers he is punished a penny; and there is no eluding that Law, so that a Student must prefer not attending prayers at all; to being ½ a minute too Late. After prayers we went in to Mr. James to recite in Terence. The manner of reciting this is, the Persons at the head of the Class, read an whole Scene in the Latin, and then the same into English, and when they have finished the next read another Scene and so on.
       Cranch went to Boston in the forenoon. Thursday, is a Day which commonly both Tutors and Students take as a leisure day, and there is seldom, any reciting, except in the morning. After Prayers the President read a Paper to this effect. That on the evening of the 15th. it appeared the Sophimores had assembled at the Chamber of one in the Class, and had behaved in a tumultuous, noisy manner; that at length they sallied out, and were very riotous to the disturbance, and dishonour of the University. But as their conduct till then had been such as deserved approbation, and was submissive and, as they early shew a proper repentance for their fault having, presented an humble petition to be forgiven. Therefore, it had been voted that no further Notice should be taken of it; but it was hoped the Students, would not abuse, the Lenity of the government, but rather show that they were deserving of it. The Fresh men, who are always, as a Class, at Variance with the Sophimores, thought the government had been partial; and the Consequence was, that Mr. James, the Tutor of the Sophimore Class, and who was supposed, to have favoured them, and to have been the means of saving them from severer punishment; had four squares of glass broken in his Windows. Such was the Effect of the Lenity, which was to induce the Students to do their Duty.

      24th.

       No reciting, for any of the Classes, on Fridays, for the whole, Day. I wrote some Problems out of Ward to carry to Mr. Williams, next Monday Morning. After Prayers, I declaim’d, as it is term’d. Two Students every evening Speak from Memory, any Piece they chuse, if it be approved by the President. It was this Evening my turn, with the 2d. Abbot, and I spoke, from As you

        like it. All the world’s a stage &c. When I came to the description of the Justice, in fair round Belly with good Capon lined, Tutors and scholars, all laugh’d, as I myself, truly represented the Character. But the President did not move a feature of his face. And indeed I believe, it is no small matter, that shall extort a smile from him when he is before the College. This Afternoon I took from the Library, Montesquieu’s Reflections on the rise and fall of the Romans, and an Anacreon. The two elder Classes have a right, every second friday to take from the Library, each person three volumes, which he must return at the End of a fort’night.

   John Ward, The Young Mathematician’s Guide. Being a Plain and Easie Introduction to the Mathematicks... with an Appendix of Practical Gauging, London, 1719, and other editions (Harvard, Catalogus Bibliothecae, 1790[Isaac Smith, comp.], Catalogus Bibliothecae Harvardianae Cantabrigiae Nov- Anglorum, Boston, 1790., p. 92).

   Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence, Amsterdam and Leipzig, 1759; Works of Anacreon, transl., with the original Greek, by Joseph Addison, London, 1735, and other editions (A Catalogue of the Library of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, 1830; Harvard, Catalogus Bibliothecae, 1790[Isaac Smith, comp.], Catalogus Bibliothecae Harvardianae Cantabrigiae Nov- Anglorum, Boston, 1790., p. 12).

      25th.

       We had no reciting to day. Saturday mornings commonly the two elder Classes, recite to their own Tutors in Doddridge’s Lectures on Divinity; but our Tutor did not hear us. The weather, warm and Pleasant. In the Afternoon Mr. Cranch, and my Cousin, came, and brought me the remainder of my furniture; I did but little to day, because the weather being so fine, we were almost all day walking, about.

   A Course of Lectures on the Principal Subjects in Pneumatology, Ethics and Divinity, London, 1763, by Philip Doddridge. So essential had the lectures become to the Harvard curriculum that the college treasurer ordered thirty sets of them from London to lend to such of the two senior classes as were unable to buy them (Harvard, Catalogus Bibliothecae, 1790[Isaac Smith, comp.], Catalogus Bibliothecae Harvardianae Cantabrigiae Nov- Anglorum, Boston, 1790., p. 166; MH-Ar: Corporation Records, 3:199).

      26th.

       Mr. Patten, a young Clergyman from Rhode Island, preach’d in the forenoon, from Proverbs III. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are Peace. I never felt so disagreeably, in hearing any Preacher. He look’d as if he had already, one foot in the grave, and appeared plainly, to suffer while he spoke. His diction was flowery, but he spoke, in a whining manner, lowering his voice, about an octave, at the last Syllable of every Sentence. I dined at Mr. Dana’s. In the afternoon Mr. Everett, a Boston preacher, gave us a discourse, from II of Corinthians. I. 12. For our rejoycing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly Sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our Conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you ward toward you. The Contrast in the preaching, was as great as that in the men, for Mr. Everett is quite, a large man. He pleased very generally. The weather has been uncomfortably warm all day, and the Evening, has by no means been cool.

   Probably William Patten, minister at Newport (Historical Catalogue of Brown University, 1764–1904, Providence, 1905).

   Oliver Everett, minister of New South Church, Boston, 1782–1792, and father of Edward Everett (Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit,William B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit; or Commemorative Notices of Distinguished American Clergymen of Various Denominations, New York, 1857-1869; 9 vols. 1:559).

      27th.

       We recited this day in Euclid, to our own Tutor, Mr. Read, as we shall do all the week. We began, at the 4th. Book, and the way of reciting is, to read the Proposition, and then without the book demonstrate it: but it is by no means a popular, book, and many of the Students, will do nothing with it. At 9 we attended Mr. Williams. He gave each of us two or three problems, to draw the Diagrams: this is a more easy, and more pleasant Study than Euclid. After Prayers, the Senior Class, had a Class meeting, in order to check the freshmen, who they suppose have taken of Late too great Liberties. By the Laws, of the College, all freshmen, are obliged to walk in the yard, with their heads uncovered, unless, in stormy Weather, and to go on any errand, that any other Scholar chuses to send them, at a mile distance. But the present freshmen have been indulged very much, with respect to those Laws; and it is said, they have presumed farther than, they ought to have done. The Seniors it is said, have determined to enforce the old Laws, send the Freshmen, and order, their hats off, in the yard.

   JQA actually means not laws but the college customs, nearly all of which applied only to freshmen. For the most nearly contemporary extant listing, recorded in 1781, see Josiah Quincy, The History of Harvard University, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1840, 2:539–541 (MH-Ar: Faculty Records, 4:257).

      28th.

       Mr. Williams, this day, gave us, the first Lecture, upon Experimental Philosophy. It was upon the Properties of Matter, as Extension, Divisibility, Solidity, Mobility, figure, and Vis Inertiae. After the Lecture was over, he told us, the Regulations, which were, that the Door should be lock’d at the beginning of the Lectures; that there should be no whispering, nor spitting on the floor, and some others. After prayers Bancroft, one, of the Sophimore Class read the Customs to the freshmen, one of whom (McNeal) stood with his hat on, all the Time. He, with three others, were immediately (hoisted,) (as the term is,) before a tutor, and punished. There was immediately after, a Class meeting of the Freshmen; who it is said determined they would hoist any scholar of the other Classes, who should be seen with his Hat on, in the yard, when any of the Government are there. After the meeting, several of the Class went and had a high go. In Consequence of which the Librarian, had a number of squares of glass broke, in his windows. Drunkenness is the mother of every Vice.

   James Winthrop.

      29th.

       This forenoon we had a Lecture from Mr. Wigglesworth, the Professor of Divinity, upon the Question, whether Some Persons, had not carried their Ideas of the Depravity of human Nature, too far? He appeared to reason very coolly, and without prejudice upon it. He supposed that although mankind, are greatly depraved; yet that the Scriptures, show, he is not so, absolutely in capable of doing any thing good. In the afternoon Mr. Cranch, and Dr. Tufts, stop’d here, on their Road to Lincoln.

   Edward Wigglesworth, successor to his father as Hollis Professor of Divinity 1765–1791 (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates,John Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- . 12:507–517).

      30th.

       My Trunks, which I have been so long expecting, came, at last this morning, from Haverhill. White, and my Brother, went to Boston; this day our Class finished reciting in Euclid. A Lesson was set us in Gravesande, for next Quarter; when we go, in to Mr. Read. It would have been best to have gone in to Gravesande before Mr. Williams, began his Lectures; but the Class was considerably delayed last year, by Mr. Howard’s going away, as he was the mathematical Tutor. Mr. Cranch stopp’d here, on his Return, from Lincoln. Weather fair and pleasant all day. The freshmen, are still very high. Sullivan, one of the Seniors had a Window broke, by one of them this Evening.

   Willem Jacob van’s Gravesande, Mathematical Elements of Natural Philosophy, Confirmed by Experiments, Or, An Introduction to Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy..., transl. John Théophilus Desaguliers, 2 vols., London, 1720–1721. When JQA requested JA to purchase a copy for him in England, he asked for the octavo edition because it was the one “studied here. They are very scarce in this Country, as they can neither be bought, nor borrowed out of College” (JQA to JA, 21 May–14 June, Adams Papers).

   Bezaleel Howard, Harvard 1781, tutor 1783–1785, had been minister at Springfield, Mass., since 1785 (Heman Howard, The Howard Genealogy: Descendants of John Howard of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, from 1643 to 1903 [Brockton, Mass.], 1903, p. 54; Harvard Quinquennial Cat.Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates, 1636- 1930, Cambridge, 1930.  ).

      31st.

       No reciting, this day. I was not in at Prayers, in the morning. Mr. Williams gave us, his second Lecture, upon those Properties of Matter, which though not essential to it, was in a greater or smaller degree common to all. Such were Attraction, which was of 2 kinds, Cohesion, and Repulsion, and Gravitation. The Substance of the Lectures I have taken down on Separate Paper, so that I shall not repeat it here. I attended the Junior tea-Club, and signed the Regulations, as I was admitted to it, Last Evening. A Nephew of the President, by the same Name, was this day examined, and admitted, as a Junior Sophister.

   None of JQA’s Harvard lecture notes has been found.


Title: Saturday April 1st. 1786.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       After having had a month of March uncommonly pleasant, and warm, the Present one begins with a Snow Storm. From about 2 o’clock afternoon it has snow’d, steadily till late in the Evening. Our Class recited this morning in Doddridge, but I was not in. My Chamber is so situated that the College bell, does, not sound with sufficient force to wake me, in the morning, and I have not of late been used to rise, so early as 6, which is here, the hour for prayers.


Title: 2d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       The storm continued all night with unabated violence, and it blew so hard that one of our Windows was burst in. While we were fixing it up again, the bell, rang and toll’d for prayers though neither of us heard it. It continued snowing as much as ever till about noon, and there was no meeting all day. After dinner, I went and spent a couple of hours at Sever’s chamber, after which I returned to my own, and wrote something upon surveying.


Title: 4th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       The Seniors this morning, had a forensic disputation, upon the Question, whether a democratical form of Government, is the best of all. The Class in alphabetical order, alternately supported or opposed this Question. I went to Sullivan’s chamber. Studied in the 7th. Book of the Iliad. I made tea, for the Club this Evening. They were all here Amory, Beale, Bridge, 3 Chandler’s, Cranch, Hammond, Kendall, Little, Lloyd, Mason, Putnam, White, and Williams. After tea, and singing two or three songs, they all retired but Bridge, a very steady, and studious young fellow, who sat and had a couple of hours chat with me.


Title: 5th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       No reciting this morning. Cranch went to Boston, bought me a flute. We had a Lecture from Mr. Williams, upon Motion proceeding from Gravity. Williams, the Professor’s son, made tea for the Club; I was a great part of the Evening, taking off, extracts from the morning Lecture.


Title: 6th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Fast day: I was at meeting all day, as indeed all the Students, must be, by Law, unless, excused by a Tutor. The President preach’d two Sermons from Micah VI. 6, 7, 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee O man what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? It is certainly a most noble Subject, and we had 2 good Sermons upon. That in the afternoon especially, I thought excellent. No flowers of rhetoric, no Eloquence, but plain common Sense, and upon a liberal plan. But the President has by no means a pleasing Delivery. He appears to labour, and struggle very much, and sometimes strains very hard. And making faces, which do not render his harsh countenance, more agreeable.


Title: 7th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Return’d my books to the Library. We had the 5th. Lecture from Mr. Williams, who informed us, he should not have another till the first Monday in the next Quarter. This was upon projectile Motion, and the central Forces. Deacon Storer pass’d by in a Chaise, and gave me a Letter, from my Sister which was dated December 9th. It was very acceptable, as I have not heard before, since, the beginning of January. White returned to Haverhill, by leave from the President, though the Vacation will not begin till next Wednesday. We had no Prayers.


Title: 8th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Dined at Mr. Tracy’s, in Company, with Mr. Molyneux, Mr. Price, Dr. Cutting, Mr. Mores an Englishman, Mr. Storer and H. Otis, and Mr. Hughes. There were two sharp wits present, Mr. Hughes and Dr. Cutting; their bons-mots flew about very frequently. After Dinner I went with Mr. Storer, to Mr. Gannetts for a few Minutes. Went very early to Bed.


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

       Attended the meeting all day. Mr. Hilliard preached in the forenoon from Job II. 10. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil. He inculcated submission to the Divine will both in Prosperity and Adversity: it was occasional, as he lost one of his Children, in the Course of the week. Dined, with Bridge, at Professor Williams’s. Mrs. Williams is affable. Miss Jenny, very pretty. Sam: is one of my Classmates. The afternoon Text was from Matthew VI: 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things, shall be added unto you. We drank tea, and spent the Evening at Bridge’s Chamber. I wrote a Letter to my Father.


Title: 10th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       No reciting this Day, because the Government met to examine the reasons of those scholars that are absent, or have been within the two last Quarters. Went over in the Evening with the musical Club, and heard them play a number of tunes, at Mr. Tracy’s Summer-house. Spent the Evening with Bridge at his Room.


Title: 12th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       I went down to our Office, to see if there was a Gravesande, there, but none was to be found;—while we were at dinner my Cousin came in from Boston, where he went last night from Cambridge. In the afternoon Charles, and I went out fowling, but came home, as deeply laden as we went. We went in the Evening, and Cranch play’d to an Echo; it has a very agreeable effect.


Title: 14th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We went down to General Palmer’s at German town. Went to catch fish, forenoon and afternoon, but with little success; It was late before we got home, and I was very much fatigued; I have, not walk’d so much in one day these 6 months.


Title: 15th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       At home all day; wrote to my Sister. Mr. Cranch return’d, in the Evening, and brought a number of English News Papers with him. All, as common, full of nothing.
       A Declamation to be spoken on Wednesday June 7th. 1786.
       “Varro, the most learned of the Romans, thought, since Nature is the same wherever we go, that this single circumstance was sufficient to remove all objections to change of Place, taken by itself and stripped of the other inconveniences which attend exile. M. Brutus, thought it enough, that those, who go into banishment cannot be hindered from carrying their Virtue along with them. Now, if any one judge that each of these comforts is in itself insufficient, he must however confess that both of them joined together, are able to remove the terrors of exile. For, what trifles must all we leave behind us be esteemed, in comparison of the two most precious things which men can enjoy, and which we are sure, will follow us wherever we turn our steps, the same Nature, and our proper Virtue? Believe me, the providence of God, has established such an order in the World, that of all which belongs to us the least valuable parts can alone fall under the will of others. Whatever is best is safest; lies out of the reach of human power; can neither be given nor taken away. Such is this great and beautiful work of nature, the world. Such is the mind of man, which contemplates and admires the world whereof it makes the noblest part. These are inseparably ours, and as long as we remain in one we shall enjoy the other. Let us march therefore intrepidly wherever we are led by the course of human accidents. Wherever they lead us, on what coast soever we are thrown by them, we shall not find ourselves absolutely strangers. We shall meet with men and women, creatures of the same figure, endowed with the same faculties, and born under the same laws of nature. We shall see the same Virtues and Vices, flowing from the same general Principles, but varied in a thousand different and contrary modes, according to that infinite variety of laws and customs which is established for the same universal end, the preservation of Society. We shall feel the same revolution of Seasons, and the same Sun and Moon will guide the course of our year. The same azure vault, bespangled with stars will be every where spread over our heads. There is no part of the world from whence we may not admire those planets which roll, like ours, in different orbits round the same central Sun; from whence we may not discover an object still more stupendous, that army of fixed Stars, hung up in the immense Space of the Universe, innumerable Suns, whose beams, enlighten and cherish the unknown worlds which roll around them; and whilst I am ravished by such contemplations as these, whilst my soul is thus raised up to heaven, it imports me little what ground I tread upon.”

        Bolingbroke, Reflections upon Exile.


Title: 16th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Mr. Weld the Minister in the middle Parish, preached for Mr. Wibirt, and took his text all day from Hebrews IV.11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. I have not heard a more indifferent prayer, or Sermon, since I came home. Sermon I say, for although I was all day at meeting, yet I did not hear the afternoon one. We went down to our house in the Evening to get some Papers, and books.


Title: 17th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We went out on a shooting party, and were gone all the morning. The weather quite warm all day. Mr. Tyler return’d, but did not come into the House, till 11. at night. It is the last day before the setting of the Court; so that he had a great deal of Business.


Title: 18th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       My Uncle Cranch, and Mr. Tyler went to Boston in the morning. About noon it began to Storm; at about 5 afternoon, Mr. Tyler came up the yard, with Eliza, just returned from Haverhill and there was nothing, but how do you do? and I am so glad to see you, and when did you come? and how and so on. No news from Haverhill but bad. Mr. Johnny White’s wife, after lying in the 6th. of this month, was very well for several days; but caught a cold, which produced a putrid fever, and sent her the night before last to “that Country from whose bourne no Traveller returns.” It seems as if misfortunes of the severest kind, were continually the lot of this family.


Title: 19th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Drizzling, misty weather all day. Did not stir out of the house. Amused myself with reading, writing, and taking lessons on the flute; which I have lately begun to learn.


Title: 20th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       The weather continued just the Same, all day. It sets every one yawning, and keeps all within doors. But it is very advantageous for the husbandry, and has already given a great start to the grass.


Title: 22d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       I went to Boston this morning, with a Chaise, for Mr. Cranch to come home. Stop’d at Milton, and bespoke me a writing desk. Dined at Mr. Foster’s: and at about 4 o’clock set out again and got to Braintree, just after dark. Convers’d on the road, with Mr. Cranch Who is always entertaining, and always instructive. Continuation of the Storm. The Sun has not appeared this week.


Title: 23d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Heard old Parson Wibird, preach from Luke. XIX. 10. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Mr. Cranch said he had heard it ten Times before. No one would complain if the Parson would read printed Sermons, But to hear one thing continually repeated over which does not deserve, perhaps, to be said more than once, is very fatiguing.
       We had the Pleasure of Mr. Tyler’s Company, in the morning, and at noon. It is the first Time I have seen him since I returned to Braintree.


Title: 24th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       It seems as if there is to be no end of this Stormy weather. It does not look more likely to clear up, than it did, a week agone; Charles and myself lodg’d down at our house; it is almost 7 years since I pass’d a night there before this.


Title: 25th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Weather still the same. Mr. Wibird spent the afternoon at Mr. Cranch’s. I went with my brother down, and drank tea at my Uncle Adams’s. Had some difficulty to get horses to go to Cambridge with to-morrow. Mr. H. Hayden, died last night of a wound he received by a gun going off, while he was fowling, about 3 weeks agone.


Title: 26th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       The Vacation being at end; Charles and I left Braintree at about 10 o’clock. My Cousin has been unwell, with a bad Cough several days, and therefore intends to stay till Saturday. The weather, for the first Time these ten days was favorable, which was a lucky circumstance to us. We got to College, at about 1. just after Commons. I dined on bread and cheese; there were only 40 scholars, in at Prayers, this afternoon. Put my name in at the Buttery. At the end of each Vacation, every scholar, must go in Person, and give his name to the Butler; any scholar who stays away after the expiration of the Vacancy, unless, he gives good reasons for it, forfeits 1 sh. 6d. every night. Spent the Evening at Mr. Dana’s, where I found a Mr. and Mrs. Buckminster, from Portsmouth.


Title: 27th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       A List of the Present, junior Sophister Class
       William Lovejoy Abbot.
       *Abiel Abbot
       *John Quincy Adams.
       Jonathan Amory
       Samuel Angier
       *William Amherst Baron Barron
       *Benjamin Beale
       *James Bridge.
       *Josiah Burge
       John Chandler.
       Thomas Chandler
       *Gardner Leonard Chandler
       Caleb Child

       *William Cranch
       *Joshua Cushman
       Peter Eaton
       *Oliver Fiske
       John Murray Forbes
       Bossinger Bossenger Foster
       **Nathaniel Freeman
       Timothy Fuller
       Thomas Hammond
       *Thaddeus Mason Harris
       Walter Hunnowell Hunnewell
       Joseph Jackson
       Asa Johnson
       Ephraim Kendall
       Nathaniel Laurence Lawrence
       Ebenezer Learned
       *Moses Little
       James Lloyd
       James Lovell.
       William Mason
       Daniel Mayo
       Samuel Mead
       Ephraim Morton
       *Hezekiah Packard
       Nathaniel Shepherd Prentiss.
       Samuel Putnam
       Isaac Rand.
       John Sever
       Solomon Vose
       John Jones Waldo
       Francis Welch
       Leonard White
       Richard Whitney
       Samuel Willard.
       Samuel Williams.
       No reciting this day, nor indeed this week. The Scholars that live near Cambridge, commonly come and enter their names in the Buttery, and then go home again, and stay the remainder of the Week. I went down to the President’s in the morning to carry a Letter to him. Spent my Time in writing, reading, and playing on the flute. Lodg’d with my brother.


Title: 28th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       The weather fine, but rather cool.
       Somewhat unwell, and had a bad head ache in the afternoon. My Cousin, and Leonard White, both came. We had been anxious for Leonard, as we heard he was sick: he was so in the beginning of the Week, but, has now pretty well recovered. About half the College, are now here. The bill at prayers, is not kept, till the Friday after the Vacation ends.


Title: 29th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Went to Mr. Dana’s, in the afternoon, upon some business. There were two gentlemen, there, one of which, had a deal of small talk with Miss Almy, upon matrimony. Tea, at 3d Chandler’s. Most of the Members were there. Few of the Scholars are now absent. Windy Weather.


Title: 30th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Heard Mr. Hilliard all day upon Acts. VII. 9. And the patriarchs moved with envy sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him. The Sermons were good, but there is such, a sameness in almost all the Sermons, I hear preach’d, that they are Seldom very entertaining to me. Dined at Mr. Dana’s, with his brother in Law Mr. Hastings, Captn. Hobby, and two Seniors, Dwight, and Harris. Mrs. Dana, always sociable and contented. Dwight and Harris, have a very good reputation in College; it is supposed they will have good Parts at Commencement, they will be distributed in about a fort’night. Two young fellows from New Haven, offered themselves yesterday, for the Senior Class; but after examination, were not found qualified for admittance; this was surely losing the Substance by grasping at the Shadow; for they have not only failed getting their degree, here, but have lost the opportunity of having one, at their own College.


Title: [April 1786]
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

      Saturday April 1st. 1786.

       After having had a month of March uncommonly pleasant, and warm, the Present one begins with a Snow Storm. From about 2 o’clock afternoon it has snow’d, steadily till late in the Evening. Our Class recited this morning in Doddridge, but I was not in. My Chamber is so situated that the College bell, does, not sound with sufficient force to wake me, in the morning, and I have not of late been used to rise, so early as 6, which is here, the hour for prayers.

   For a discussion of JQA’s physical surroundings at Harvard, see the Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 7.

      2d.

       The storm continued all night with unabated violence, and it blew so hard that one of our Windows was burst in. While we were fixing it up again, the bell, rang and toll’d for prayers though neither of us heard it. It continued snowing as much as ever till about noon, and there was no meeting all day. After dinner, I went and spent a couple of hours at Sever’s chamber, after which I returned to my own, and wrote something upon surveying.

      3d.

       We recite this Week, to Dr. Jennison in Greek. Mornings in Homer, and afternoons in the Greek Testament. Willard, first came in to recite; the Dr. ask’d me by what rule λαβων governed γομνῶν H: 6: v. 45. I did not know, and said Verbs of Sense &c. No, it was under that long Rule; I read the long Rule, there was nothing to be found in it, that would apply. He said there was something very peculiar in it, and I sat down. He is not a very extraordinary greek scholar, but they say, he improves, as it is but of late since, he has taken that department. At 11. We had a Lecture from Mr. Williams, upon Motion; that of elastic, and that of nonelastic bodies. The Lecture was not, to me, so entertaining, as the two former. This evening, there were it is said upwards of 100 Scholars out on the common, armed with Clubs, to fight the People, belonging to the Town. A few evenings since, Lovell, a junior, got quarrelling with a man belonging to the Town, about a girl, two or three other juniors being present took Lovell’s part, and a few blows were dealt on both sides. Lovell, has told his Story just as he pleased; and has raised almost all college; for this Society like most others thinks that an insult offered to one member, must be resented by all, and as in a well ordered Republic, although, some of the Classes, have of late, been so much at Variance, yet immediately upon a foreign insult they all United. The only thing wanting, to make the scholars highly praise-worthy in this Case, is a good Cause. It appears plainly that the first insult was from Lovell, and the original Cause of the quarrel an infamous girl. There would probably some very severe blows have past had not the Tutors and Professor Williams, interposed, this Evening. They perswaded both Parties to disperse; but this will perhaps be only a Suspension of arms: I doubt whether the matter will end here.

      4th.

       The Seniors this morning, had a forensic disputation, upon the Question, whether a democratical form of Government, is the best of all. The Class in alphabetical order, alternately supported or opposed this Question. I went to Sullivan’s chamber. Studied in the 7th. Book of the Iliad. I made tea, for the Club this Evening. They were all here Amory, Beale, Bridge, 3 Chandler’s, Cranch, Hammond, Kendall, Little, Lloyd, Mason, Putnam, White, and Williams. After tea, and singing two or three songs, they all retired but Bridge, a very steady, and studious young fellow, who sat and had a couple of hours chat with me.

      5th.

       No reciting this morning. Cranch went to Boston, bought me a flute. We had a Lecture from Mr. Williams, upon Motion proceeding from Gravity. Williams, the Professor’s son, made tea for the Club; I was a great part of the Evening, taking off, extracts from the morning Lecture.

      6th.

       Fast day: I was at meeting all day, as indeed all the Students, must be, by Law, unless, excused by a Tutor. The President preach’d two Sermons from Micah VI. 6, 7, 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee O man what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? It is certainly a most noble Subject, and we had 2 good Sermons upon. That in the afternoon especially, I thought excellent. No flowers of rhetoric, no Eloquence, but plain common Sense, and upon a liberal plan. But the President has by no means a pleasing Delivery. He appears to labour, and struggle very much, and sometimes strains very hard. And making faces, which do not render his harsh countenance, more agreeable.

      7th.

       Return’d my books to the Library. We had the 5th. Lecture from Mr. Williams, who informed us, he should not have another till the first Monday in the next Quarter. This was upon projectile Motion, and the central Forces. Deacon Storer pass’d by in a Chaise, and gave me a Letter, from my Sister which was dated December 9th. It was very acceptable, as I have not heard before, since, the beginning of January. White returned to Haverhill, by leave from the President, though the Vacation will not begin till next Wednesday. We had no Prayers.

   Letter not found.

      8th.

       Dined at Mr. Tracy’s, in Company, with Mr. Molyneux, Mr. Price, Dr. Cutting, Mr. Mores an Englishman, Mr. Storer and H. Otis, and Mr. Hughes. There were two sharp wits present, Mr. Hughes and Dr. Cutting; their bons-mots flew about very frequently. After Dinner I went with Mr. Storer, to Mr. Gannetts for a few Minutes. Went very early to Bed.

   Harrison Gray (Harry) Otis, who received his master’s degree from Harvard in 1786 and shortly thereafter was admitted to the Boston bar (DABAllen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928-1936; 20 vols, plus index and supplements.).

      9th.

       Attended the meeting all day. Mr. Hilliard preached in the forenoon from Job II. 10. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil. He inculcated submission to the Divine will both in Prosperity and Adversity: it was occasional, as he lost one of his Children, in the Course of the week. Dined, with Bridge, at Professor Williams’s. Mrs. Williams is affable. Miss Jenny, very pretty. Sam: is one of my Classmates. The afternoon Text was from Matthew VI: 33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things, shall be added unto you. We drank tea, and spent the Evening at Bridge’s Chamber. I wrote a Letter to my Father.

   No letter has been found written by JQA to JA between 2 April and 21 May. Internal evidence in the letters written on these two dates indicates that no other letter was written or, at least, sent during the intervening period.

      10th.

       No reciting this Day, because the Government met to examine the reasons of those scholars that are absent, or have been within the two last Quarters. Went over in the Evening with the musical Club, and heard them play a number of tunes, at Mr. Tracy’s Summer-house. Spent the Evening with Bridge at his Room.

      11th.

       We recited this morning in Locke on the Understanding to Mr. Hale. A number of the scholars first read, the Lesson that has been given, and the others in their turns give an account of particular Sections. At about 10 o’clock 2 horses came from Braintree for my brother and myself to go home upon. Mr. Cranch came a little before 11. At about 11 ½ the Government and Corporation came and seated themselves, and the President spoke very audibly, expectatur Oratio in Lingua Latina, per Andrews. It was in praise of Literary Societies, and mentioning the advantages derived from them. The next thing was a forensic dispute upon the Question, whether Error could be productive of good to mankind. Sullivan supported, and Taylor opposed it. Their parts were both very well; but Taylor, though I think he had the wrong side of the Question maintained it best. The English Dialogue, between Scipio Africanus, and Julius Caesar, was spoken by Williams, and Waldo, and I thought well. The Greek Oration by Cranch, and the Hebrew by Burge followed, and lastly the Oratio in lingua Vernacula, as the President calls it, by Gardner. It was upon the progress of the Christian Religion; was very well done, and closed with about 20 lines of very pretty, Poetry. The President then called out expectatur Symphonia, and a song was sung, after which, as all the Company was going, the musical Club play’d a number of tunes upon their Instruments which closed the Scene. We soon after went into Commons, and dinner was not quite ready; there was no bread, and there was such a screaming from every part of the Hall, bread! bread! that it might be heard I suppose at a mile’s distance.
       At about 4 o’clock Beale, my brother, and myself set off to return to Braintree. Beale left us about 3 miles from Mr. Cranch’s where we arrived just at Sun set. The weather very fine.

   This was the highly republican dialogue in George Lyttelton’s Dialogues of the Dead, 4th edn., London, 1765, p. 353–370 (MH-Ar: Faculty Records, 5:216–217).

      12th.

       I went down to our Office, to see if there was a Gravesande, there, but none was to be found;—while we were at dinner my Cousin came in from Boston, where he went last night from Cambridge. In the afternoon Charles, and I went out fowling, but came home, as deeply laden as we went. We went in the Evening, and Cranch play’d to an Echo; it has a very agreeable effect.

   That is, JA’s law office, a ground-floor room in what is now known as the John Quincy Adams Birthplace.

      13th.

       Went down and staid part of the forenoon, at the Office. Drank tea at Mr. Apthorp’s. A man of a strange character. I intended when I came from Cambridge to have written, a great deal during this Vacation, but I find there is continually something or other happens to prevent me; so that I begin to fear, I shall do but very little.

      14th.

       We went down to General Palmer’s at German town. Went to catch fish, forenoon and afternoon, but with little success; It was late before we got home, and I was very much fatigued; I have, not walk’d so much in one day these 6 months.

      15th.

       At home all day; wrote to my Sister. Mr. Cranch return’d, in the Evening, and brought a number of English News Papers with him. All, as common, full of nothing.
       A Declamation to be spoken on Wednesday June 7th. 1786.
       “Varro, the most learned of the Romans, thought, since Nature is the same wherever we go, that this single circumstance was sufficient to remove all objections to change of Place, taken by itself and stripped of the other inconveniences which attend exile. M. Brutus, thought it enough, that those, who go into banishment cannot be hindered from carrying their Virtue along with them. Now, if any one judge that each of these comforts is in itself insufficient, he must however confess that both of them joined together, are able to remove the terrors of exile. For, what trifles must all we leave behind us be esteemed, in comparison of the two most precious things which men can enjoy, and which we are sure, will follow us wherever we turn our steps, the same Nature, and our proper Virtue? Believe me, the providence of God, has established such an order in the World, that of all which belongs to us the least valuable parts can alone fall under the will of others. Whatever is best is safest; lies out of the reach of human power; can neither be given nor taken away. Such is this great and beautiful work of nature, the world. Such is the mind of man, which contemplates and admires the world whereof it makes the noblest part. These are inseparably ours, and as long as we remain in one we shall enjoy the other. Let us march therefore intrepidly wherever we are led by the course of human accidents. Wherever they lead us, on what coast soever we are thrown by them, we shall not find ourselves absolutely strangers. We shall meet with men and women, creatures of the same figure, endowed with the same faculties, and born under the same laws of nature. We shall see the same Virtues and Vices, flowing from the same general Principles, but varied in a thousand different and contrary modes, according to that infinite variety of laws and customs which is established for the same universal end, the preservation of Society. We shall feel the same revolution of Seasons, and the same Sun and Moon will guide the course of our year. The same azure vault, bespangled with stars will be every where spread over our heads. There is no part of the world from whence we may not admire those planets which roll, like ours, in different orbits round the same central Sun; from whence we may not discover an object still more stupendous, that army of fixed Stars, hung up in the immense Space of the Universe, innumerable Suns, whose beams, enlighten and cherish the unknown worlds which roll around them; and whilst I am ravished by such contemplations as these, whilst my soul is thus raised up to heaven, it imports me little what ground I tread upon.”

        Bolingbroke, Reflections upon Exile.

   Letter not found. One letter, printed in AA2, Jour. and Corr.,Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams,... edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841-[1849]; 3 vols. [3]:106–112, bears the date 15 April – 16 May 1786, but the substance of the letter under the initial date shows that it was begun on 25 April.

   Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, Letters on the Study and Use of History, London, 1770, p. 445–448 (MQA).

      16th.

       Mr. Weld the Minister in the middle Parish, preached for Mr. Wibirt, and took his text all day from Hebrews IV.11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. I have not heard a more indifferent prayer, or Sermon, since I came home. Sermon I say, for although I was all day at meeting, yet I did not hear the afternoon one. We went down to our house in the Evening to get some Papers, and books.

   Ezra Weld, minister of the First Congregational Church, Braintree, 1762–1816 (Weis, Colonial Clergy of N.E.Frederick Lewis Weis, comp., The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial Churches of New England, Lancaster, Mass., 1936.).

      17th.

       We went out on a shooting party, and were gone all the morning. The weather quite warm all day. Mr. Tyler return’d, but did not come into the House, till 11. at night. It is the last day before the setting of the Court; so that he had a great deal of Business.

      18th.

       My Uncle Cranch, and Mr. Tyler went to Boston in the morning. About noon it began to Storm; at about 5 afternoon, Mr. Tyler came up the yard, with Eliza, just returned from Haverhill and there was nothing, but how do you do? and I am so glad to see you, and when did you come? and how and so on. No news from Haverhill but bad. Mr. Johnny White’s wife, after lying in the 6th. of this month, was very well for several days; but caught a cold, which produced a putrid fever, and sent her the night before last to “that Country from whose bourne no Traveller returns.” It seems as if misfortunes of the severest kind, were continually the lot of this family.

   Hamlet, Act III, scene i, lines 79–80.

      19th.

       Drizzling, misty weather all day. Did not stir out of the house. Amused myself with reading, writing, and taking lessons on the flute; which I have lately begun to learn.

      20th.

       The weather continued just the Same, all day. It sets every one yawning, and keeps all within doors. But it is very advantageous for the husbandry, and has already given a great start to the grass.

      21st.

       Same Story over again. Chilly, and misty. This is but a poor way of dragging out an existence; I want much to be doing something: here, every minute something turns up to prevent me, from writing. I could do more in two days at Cambridge, than I have in the whole vacation here. Next Wednesday we shall again return to our Business.

      22d.

       I went to Boston this morning, with a Chaise, for Mr. Cranch to come home. Stop’d at Milton, and bespoke me a writing desk. Dined at Mr. Foster’s: and at about 4 o’clock set out again and got to Braintree, just after dark. Convers’d on the road, with Mr. Cranch Who is always entertaining, and always instructive. Continuation of the Storm. The Sun has not appeared this week.

      23d.

       Heard old Parson Wibird, preach from Luke. XIX. 10. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Mr. Cranch said he had heard it ten Times before. No one would complain if the Parson would read printed Sermons, But to hear one thing continually repeated over which does not deserve, perhaps, to be said more than once, is very fatiguing.
       We had the Pleasure of Mr. Tyler’s Company, in the morning, and at noon. It is the first Time I have seen him since I returned to Braintree.

      24th.

       It seems as if there is to be no end of this Stormy weather. It does not look more likely to clear up, than it did, a week agone; Charles and myself lodg’d down at our house; it is almost 7 years since I pass’d a night there before this.

      25th.

       Weather still the same. Mr. Wibird spent the afternoon at Mr. Cranch’s. I went with my brother down, and drank tea at my Uncle Adams’s. Had some difficulty to get horses to go to Cambridge with to-morrow. Mr. H. Hayden, died last night of a wound he received by a gun going off, while he was fowling, about 3 weeks agone.

      26th.

       The Vacation being at end; Charles and I left Braintree at about 10 o’clock. My Cousin has been unwell, with a bad Cough several days, and therefore intends to stay till Saturday. The weather, for the first Time these ten days was favorable, which was a lucky circumstance to us. We got to College, at about 1. just after Commons. I dined on bread and cheese; there were only 40 scholars, in at Prayers, this afternoon. Put my name in at the Buttery. At the end of each Vacation, every scholar, must go in Person, and give his name to the Butler; any scholar who stays away after the expiration of the Vacancy, unless, he gives good reasons for it, forfeits 1 sh. 6d. every night. Spent the Evening at Mr. Dana’s, where I found a Mr. and Mrs. Buckminster, from Portsmouth.

      27th.

       A List of the Present, junior Sophister Class
       William Lovejoy Abbot.
       *Abiel Abbot
       *John Quincy Adams.
       Jonathan Amory
       Samuel Angier
       *William Amherst Baron Barron
       *Benjamin Beale
       *James Bridge.
       *Josiah Burge
       John Chandler.
       Thomas Chandler
       *Gardner Leonard Chandler
       Caleb Child

       *William Cranch
       *Joshua Cushman
       Peter Eaton
       *Oliver Fiske
       John Murray Forbes
       Bossinger Bossenger Foster
       **Nathaniel Freeman
       Timothy Fuller
       Thomas Hammond
       *Thaddeus Mason Harris
       Walter Hunnowell Hunnewell
       Joseph Jackson
       Asa Johnson
       Ephraim Kendall
       Nathaniel Laurence Lawrence
       Ebenezer Learned
       *Moses Little
       James Lloyd
       James Lovell.
       William Mason
       Daniel Mayo
       Samuel Mead
       Ephraim Morton
       *Hezekiah Packard
       Nathaniel Shepherd Prentiss.
       Samuel Putnam
       Isaac Rand.
       John Sever
       Solomon Vose
       John Jones Waldo
       Francis Welch
       Leonard White
       Richard Whitney
       Samuel Willard.
       Samuel Williams.
       No reciting this day, nor indeed this week. The Scholars that live near Cambridge, commonly come and enter their names in the Buttery, and then go home again, and stay the remainder of the Week. I went down to the President’s in the morning to carry a Letter to him. Spent my Time in writing, reading, and playing on the flute. Lodg’d with my brother.

   JQA’s classmates are identified under the “character sketches” which he included in the diary entries of his senior year. In addition to those listed here, the class of 1787 included three other students—William Samuel Judd, Samuel Kellogg, and John Phelps, who were transfer students from Dartmouth and Yale. They entered Harvard in the months following this entry. The asterisks apparently denote members of the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa inducted before 11 Dec. 1786. Putnam and White were also members, but their names are unmarked and were presumably missed because the list continues on the verso of the Diary page. The meaning of the double asterisk before Freeman’s name is uncertain (MH-Ar: Phi Beta Kappa Records, 1 :passim).

      28th.

       The weather fine, but rather cool.
       Somewhat unwell, and had a bad head ache in the afternoon. My Cousin, and Leonard White, both came. We had been anxious for Leonard, as we heard he was sick: he was so in the beginning of the Week, but, has now pretty well recovered. About half the College, are now here. The bill at prayers, is not kept, till the Friday after the Vacation ends.

   That is, bills of absence and tardiness. See entry of 19 Aug., note 1 (below).

      29th.

       Went to Mr. Dana’s, in the afternoon, upon some business. There were two gentlemen, there, one of which, had a deal of small talk with Miss Almy, upon matrimony. Tea, at 3d Chandler’s. Most of the Members were there. Few of the Scholars are now absent. Windy Weather.

   Presumably a daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Gould) Almy, of Newport; Mrs. Elizabeth Dana’s family, the Ellerys, were intermarried with the Almys (Vital Record of Rhode Island. 1636–1850. First Series...., ed. James N. Arnold, 20 vols., Providence, 1891–1911, 4: Part II: 80; Joris Janssen De Rapaljé, William Almy, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 1630, Chicago, 1897, p. 35, 82).

      30th.

       Heard Mr. Hilliard all day upon Acts. VII. 9. And the patriarchs moved with envy sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him. The Sermons were good, but there is such, a sameness in almost all the Sermons, I hear preach’d, that they are Seldom very entertaining to me. Dined at Mr. Dana’s, with his brother in Law Mr. Hastings, Captn. Hobby, and two Seniors, Dwight, and Harris. Mrs. Dana, always sociable and contented. Dwight and Harris, have a very good reputation in College; it is supposed they will have good Parts at Commencement, they will be distributed in about a fort’night. Two young fellows from New Haven, offered themselves yesterday, for the Senior Class; but after examination, were not found qualified for admittance; this was surely losing the Substance by grasping at the Shadow; for they have not only failed getting their degree, here, but have lost the opportunity of having one, at their own College.

   Timothy Hilliard, minister at the First Church, Cambridge (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates,John Langdon Sibley and Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873- . 16:59–63).


Title: 2d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Our Tutor, gave us this morning, a most extraordinary, construction of a passage in Homer. Abbot 1st. was beginning to construe, the 181st. line of the 6th Book.

          πρόσθε λέων, ο̈πισθεν δὲ δράκων, μέσση δέ χίμαιρα

         He said, a Lion, before, but the Dr. corrected him, by saying it meant superior to a Lion; Abbot immediately took the hint, and made it, superior to a Lion, inferior to a Dragon, and equal to a wild boar. I confess I should never have had an Idea, of giving such a Translation of this passage, though it always appeared to me a plain, easy one. I was pretty confident too, that comparative adjectives, governed a genitive; but now it is plain that it is no matter what case, a word is in and with this manner, it is much easier to read the ancient authors; because, you may render, any Latin or Greek word, by any English one you chuse.


Title: 3d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Wednesday, and Monday, are our two busiest days in the Week. Every minute is employ’d. This morning at 6. We went into Prayers after which we immediately recited. This took us till 7 ¼. At 7 ½ we breakfasted, at 10, we had a Lecture on Divinity from Mr. Wigglesworth. It was upon the Wisdom of all God’s actions, and justifying those parts of Scripture which some, have reproached, as contrary to Justice. At 11. we had a Philosophical Lecture, from Mr. Williams, upon the mechanical Powers, and particularly, the Lever, and the Pulley. At 12 ½ Dinner. At 3. an Astronomical public Lecture upon the planet Mercury, a very circumstancial, account of all its transits over the Suns Disk, since the first discovery of it by Kepler, to this day May 3d. 1786. when it will again pass the disk of the Sun, the 15th. Time since its first Discovery. Unfortunately it will pass in the Night so that it cannot be observed in this Country. Mr. Williams told us of all its different periods which are 6 or 7. from 3 years to more than 260. In the Course of this Century, it will pass twice more, in 1789, and in 1799.
       At 4. again we recited, and at 5, attended prayers again, after which there are no more exercises for this day, but we are obliged in the evening to Prepare our recitation for to-morrow morning. This I think is quite sufficient employment for one day, but the last three days in the week we have very little to do. Thursdays and Saturdays, reciting only in the morning, and Fridays, a Philosophical Lecture.
       4th. A Cart came this day from Braintree, and brought us some things. We had after Prayers a Class meeting, about making a present to our Tutor. It is customary at the end of the freshman year to make a present to the Tutor of the Class: but it has been delay’d by ours to the present Time, and many would still delay it, and lay it wholly aside. The Custom, I think is a bad, one, because, it creates partialities in a Tutor, because it increases the distinction between the wealthy, and the poor Scholars, because it makes the Tutor in some measure dependent upon his Class, and because to many that Subscribe it is a considerable expence but the Salaries of the Tutors, being so low,

         and it having been for many years an universal custom, I am sorry to see our Class so behind hand, and several, who could well afford it, and have really subscribed, meanly endeavouring, to put off the matter from Quarter to Quarter, till they leave College. Bridge, was chosen moderator, and it was finally voted that those who chose to give any thing, should deliver it to Kendall, on or before the 20th of this month: and another Class meeting was appointed for the 22d. to consider how the money should be laid out: the meeting was then dissolved.


Title: 4th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       No reciting this morning, on account of the last Nights Class meeting. This is a privelege, that all the Classes, and joy, and I am told there have been in our Class fellows, so lazy, and so foolish, as to call a Class meeting merely for that Purpose.
       I went to Boston this morning, with Leonard White. Sauntered about Town; almost all the forenoon. Dined at My Uncle Smith’s. In returning, Leonard, and I, were all the Time, disputing, upon Love, and Matrimony. Upon the whole, his System, is the best I believe, though, it might be carried to extremes, that would be very hurtful.
       I saw to day in the News Papers, of a duel fought between Mr. Curson, (who is mentioned: p: 115) and a Mr. Burling, in which the former was kill’d. The Circumstances, that caused it, were not honourable, to the Person, that fell, and if ever a duel, was justifiable, it is surely, in such a case as this.


Title: 5th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We had, this morning, a Philosophical Lecture, from Mr. Williams, in which he concluded the Subject of the mechanical powers. This is not so entertaining a subject, as some others but it is a very important one as all the instruments that mankind make use of: of what kind so ever, are upon the principle, of one or more of these Powers. There was a Lecture, at the meeting house in the afternoon; I did not attend: but went, and stay’d at Williams’s till about 4 o’clock. Kendall, got quite high. We went to his Chamber with him. I made tea for the Club in the Evening. They stay’d with me, till about 9 o’clock. A number of the Seniors too, got very high this afternoon.


Title: 7th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       Sacrament day. Mr. Hilliard, preach’d in the morning from 1st. of Corinthians. I. 30. But of him are ye, in Christ Jesus, who of God, is made unto us, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. I do not remember all his arguments; What I did remember, was not so pleasing to me, as his afternoon, discourse, which was from Acts. XI. 26. And the disciples, were called Christians, first in Antioch. This was, I thought, a very good one; he recommended to his hearers, to consider themselves, as Christians and not particularly belonging to any sect. He introduced, very properly, an excellent passage from Scripture, against Schisms. I: Cor: III. 4,5. For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul; and who is Apollos, but ministers, by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? His argument was, if a particular attachment, to such men as Paul, and Apollos, was reproved in the Scriptures, how much then must particular sects at this day, or enthusiasm for the opinions of men, much inferior to Paul or Apollos, be displeasing to God.


Title: 8th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We recite this week in Terence, and Caesar to Mr. James. This is the tutor of the oldest standing in College. He is very well acquainted with the branch he has undertaken, and Persons, that are not Students, say that he is much of a Gentleman. But it seems almost to be a maxim among the Governors of the College, to treat the Students pretty much like brute Beasts. There is an important air, and a haughty look, that, every Person, belonging to the government, (Mr. Williams excepted) assumes, which indeed it is hard for me to submit to. But it may be of use to me, as it mortifies my Vanity, and if any thing, in the world, can teach me humility, it will be, to see myself subjected to the commands of a Person, that I must despise.
       Mr. James is also accused of having many Partialities, and carrying them to very great length and moreover, that those partialities do not arise from any superior talents or Virtues, in the Student, but from closer, and more interested motives. There are some in our Class with whom, he has been peculiarly severe, and some he has shown more favour, than any Tutor ought to show to a Student. I wish not his favour, as he might prize it too high, and I fear not his Severity, which he can never display, if I do my Duty. Mr. Williams, gave us a mathematical Lecture at 9. Still on Surveying. About two thirds, of the Class are behind hand, and the rest are obliged to wait for them till they come up.


Title: 10th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We finished the Andria of Terence this morning. The Class began it last Feby. I went through it at Haverhill in 3 Evenings, however it must be said, here they Study it only 1 week in 4, and that week, only 4 mornings, but even in that way, it has taken 12 lessons to go through this one play. At 11. we had a Lecture from Mr. Williams, upon hydrostatics. He keeps exceeding close to Gravesande’s. Definitions, experiments; nearly all the same. We recite afternoons, the Latin Week, in Caesar, but I have had nothing to say this Week: the Class is so numerous, that he, cannot hear more than one half of them recite at once, and so he takes turns. Mr. I. Smith and Dr. Welch, were here in the afternoon. There was a Concert, by a number of Performers from Boston; Several of the Ladies and Gentlemen, of the Town were present, as well, as many of the Students, but I did not attend. Bigelow, a Senior came, and spent an hour after the Concert. He told me, that his mother, went to school to my father, about 30 years ago.


Title: 11th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       There has been no reciting this day. Cranch, went to Boston, in the morning, and will not probably return this Night. I have been employ’d almost all day in writing off, Mr. Williams’s yesterday Lecture; perhaps I spend too much time, at this, but I think it may be of considerable advantage, for the Study of S’Gravesande’s; and the whole must be over before the 21st. of June; on that day, the Seniors leave the College. It is Customary, for every Class, as soon as they commence Seniors to choose, among themselves, a person to deliver a Valedictory Oration on the 21st. of June. But by the Intrigues of several of the present Seniors, who wanted to have it, and saw no prospect of obtaining it, the Class, had delay’d hitherto, choosing any one, and it was thought there would be None; but they had this afternoon a Class meeting upon the Subject, and at length chose Fowle, to deliver a Valedictory Poem. The President was inform’d of it by a Committee, who also told him it was the unanimous desire of the Class, that Fowle, might, have another Poem, as a Part, for Commencement. He answered that he approbated their Choice, and would consider upon the other matter.
       Was Part of the Evening at Waldo’s chamber.


Title: 13th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       No reciting, this morning: was employ’d all day in mathematical Studies, of which I begin to grow exceeding fond. After dinner, I had Bridge, Kendall, Little and Sever about an hour at my Chamber. Bridge, and Little are two of the best Scholars in our Class, and moreover very clever fellows. Sever has a strong natural genious, and genuine Wit. But his morals are loose, and he is not by any means fond of studying.


Title: 16th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We had this morning, a forensic dispute, upon the Question, Whether the immortality of the human Soul be probable from natural Reason. My Inclination coincided, with my duty, and I read the following piece in the affirmative.

          “That there is in Man, an interior Power, far different, and vastly superior, to that possess’d by any other being, of the animal Creation, no one I believe will deny to be highly probable from natural Reason. Indeed, it is so obvious, and there are such continual proofs of it, that all Nations seem to consider it as a moral certainty, rather than a probability. Our bodies we have in common, with every other being of the animal Creation, and like them we are subjected to pain, disorders, and to final dissolution by Death. It is therefore natural to Conclude, that the faculty, which we alone possess, and which raises the vast distinction between man, and all other animals, is totally independent of the body; and if so, I know not of one reason, why we should suppose, it began with the body, or that it will end with it. The Soul it is true, while it is in Connection, with the Body, has no natural proof of its own immortality. But the supreme Being, in all whose works, an infinite wisdom, is display’d, when he saw that it was best to leave the Soul, thus in Suspense, at the same time has made, all its hopes, all its desires to centre in immortality. We know of no animal in the Creation (man excepted) that has if I may so express myself an Idea of Immortality; man himself neither expects nor wishes, that his body might remain forever; there are indeed frequent instances of his being so weary of it, as to become himself, the willing instrument of its destruction. But, is there a man in Nature, who if he had it in his power, would annihilate his own Soul, unless a consciousness of its crimes, had joined the idea of eternal damnation, to that of eternal existence. For what Reason, can we suppose this abhorrence of a dissolution, and this fond desire for immortality has been implanted in the Soul, if there is no foundation for them?
          Perhaps some one may say; if a man had nothing but natural Reason, to assist him in this Enquiry, he would not know, where to draw the line of distinction. There is perhaps a complete gradation of genius from a Newton, to the meanest insect in Creation; where then shall, we stop, or shall we also, grant immortality to the beasts? I answer, that I see not the necessity of this although I confess it will be difficult to distinguish aright. But would it not equally puzzle, the most skilful geometrician, to ascertain the limits between an angle, and a right Line. For although we can make an Angle, verging as near as we please, to a right line, yet a right Line never can be an angle. No two things can be more distinct, than these, yet no one knows where one begins, or where the other ends.
          But the most convincing proof of the probability, natural Reason affords, that the human Soul is immortal, is the opinion, of those nations, which having never been favoured with the blessings of a divine Revelation, could have no other standard. The Greeks and Romans, undoubtedly, generally believed in the Soul’s immortality: almost all the authors extant in these two Languages, are fully perswaded of it. It may be said, that the opinion of a few, writers, does not in any Country form that of the whole Nation, and that the greatest parts of the Greeks, and Romans, might believe the contrary. Supposing this to be the Case, must we not confess, that men whose Reason was enlightened, and cultivated, were more proper judges of what is probable, than the common herd of mankind, who derive but little advantage, from the Soul, that is given them. But these men, were universally admired; their writings were sought for with the utmost eagerness. Homer and Virgil were considered as Oracles, and in many Places, they went so far even as to deify the Greek Poet. They do not raise a doubt concerning the immortality of the Soul: one book of the Odyssey, and one of the AEneid, are founded entirely upon this belief: there is no reason to think, that, when their Countrymen, consulted those Poems as Oracles, they excluded the nth. book of the Odyssey, or the 6th. of the AEneid.
          But this perswasion of an eternal future State, is not confined to the Greeks, and Romans: if we look among Nations where Reason had made, but little progress, we shall still find the same belief. The northern parts of Europe, were unknown to the Greeks, and to the Romans in the days of their Republic; they had a System of Religion, and gods peculiar to themselves. As they were continually at War, their delight was, to slaughter their fellow creatures, and they believed that after death, their Souls would enjoy an eternal happiness, in drinking the blood of their enemies, from their skulls. Even at this Day, in the west India islands, the enslaved African, bending under the weight of oppression, and scourged by the rod of tyranny, sighs for the Day, when Death, shall put a period to his woes, and his Soul again return to be happy in his native Country.
          But to mention all the Nations that believe in the Soul’s immortality from natural Reason, would be to enumerate, almost every People, that is or has been known on Earth. Happy the People, who to confirm this Opinion, have been favoured, with a Revelation from above.”

       At 11 o’clock, when the Bell rung for Mr. Williams’s Lecture, several had not read their Parts. Angier and Mason who had done theirs, went and requested leave to retire, and attend the Philosophical Lecture. He flatly denied them; probably, merely for the sake of showing his tyrannical Power. The Class shew how much they were out of humour, by shuffling with their feet, and when he had kept us there about a Quarter of an hour; and at length dismiss’d us. If Mr. Williams had not waited all that Time for us, we must infallibly have lost a great part of as Important a Lecture, as we have yet had upon Pneumatics. After commons as Hale, was going through the alley, an universal hiss, was heard from the juniors. This is almost the only way, that the Students here have, to keep the Tutors within any bounds. With all their pedantic despotism, they affect Popularity, and I believe the fear of hissing, or shuffling often prevents them from being so arbitrary as they would otherwise be. I receiv’d this afternoon Letters from Europe, as late as March 20th.


Title: 18th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       This morning I received two very long Letters from my Mamma, and Sister; at length the whole mystery is revealed, and explain’d. We had from Mr. Williams a Lecture of an hour and an half, with which he finished the Subject of air.


Title: 19th.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       I was informed, that Captain  will sail to-morrow for Europe; went to Mr. Reed, and requested to be excused from reciting to-morrow morning, in order to write, to my friends. Studied Algebra, and wrote off part of the Lecture. Sullivan a Senior Sophister, spent an hour with me, in the afternoon. The Class are in the greatest anxiety, and Suspense, concerning the Parts, which are expected to be given out, every hour.


Title: 22d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We recite this week to our own Tutor Mr. Reed, in Gravesande’s experimental Philosophy. This gentleman, is not much more Popular, than the rest of the Tutors; he is said to be prejudiced, and very vindictive. He is liked in general by the Class, however; and this may be a Reason why I have not heard, as much said against him, as against the others. We had a Class meeting, this evening about making him a Present: but there had been scarcely anything collected; and it was determined, that it should be put off till next Quarter, and I suppose the Class will go on in this manner, having two or three Class meetings every Quarter, and finally do nothing. We endeavoured to get the Class to recite, to morrow morning, and a number have agreed they would.


Title: 23d.
From: Adams, John Quincy
To:

       We could not recite this morning, because Mr. Reed, was not in at prayers. This morning a number of the Seniors were sent for, by the President, to go to his House at 8 o’clock. They went, and the parts were distributed thus. Thompson+ English Oration A:M: Champlin Latin Oration A:M: Fowle and Gardner 2d. each a Poem. Blake English and Andrews+ 1st. Latin Oration’s P.M. Harris, Dwight+, Hubbard×, and Parker+ a Conference, Bigelow and Crosby+, Lowell and Taylor, Loring and Sullivan Forensics. Lincoln and Warland, a Greek dialogue, Bradford, Norton, Simpkins+, and Wyeth, Respondents in Syllogistics, and all the rest opponents to the same. These Syllogistics, are very much despised by the scholars, and no attention seems to be paid to them by the Company at Commencement. The scholars in general think that the Government, in giving them those Parts write on their foreheads DUNCE in capital Letters. Notwithstanding this some of the most learned men, in the Country, had syllogistics, when they graduated here. The good Parts, as they are called, are more numerous this year, than they ever have been. Before this there has been only one English, and one Latin Oration, and no Poems. It is a doubt, whether they intend, to establish this as a Precedent or whether it is only a distinguished favour, to the present Class who pretend to be the best Class for learning, and genius that ever graduated here. It is said, that the Parts have been exceedingly well distributed; and all the College, are pleased. There is only one person, who is said to have a part he did not deserve×, and one or two are mentioned, as deserving others than Syllogistics. However that may be, the syllogists all got together this Evening, and drank, till not one of them could stand strait, or was sensible of what he did. A little after 9 they sallied out, and for a Quarter of an hour made such a noise, as might be heard, at a mile distant. I was then up in Freeman’s chamber, upon a certain affair, he was informing me of. The Tutors went out, and after a short time, perswaded them to disperse. Mr. Reed had two squares of his Windows broke.