Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1

209 Monday [16th.] JQA

1784-08-16

Monday [16th.] Adams, John Quincy
Monday 16th.

Dined at Mr. Hartleys.

Tuesday [17th.] JQA

1784-08-17

Tuesday [17th.] Adams, John Quincy
Tuesday 17th.

Moved out to Auteuil.1

1.

Over the course of the preceding four months, JA in correspondence with Thomas Barclay had made arrangements to rent the house in which he and JQA had obtained apartments shortly after the signing of the Definitive Treaty (entry for 10 Aug. 1783, note 1 2 , above). The Hôtel de Rouault and the Adamses' life there are colorfully described by AA in Howard C. Rice Jr., ed., The Adams Family in Auteuil, 1784–1785 . . ., MHS Picturebook, Boston, 1956.

Wednesday [18th.] JQA

1784-08-18

Wednesday [18th.] Adams, John Quincy
Wednesday 18th.

Coll. Humphreys1 arrived.

1.

David Humphreys, a former aide-decamp to Washington, was appointed on 12 May secretary to the Commission (which included JA, Franklin, and Jefferson) to negotiate treaties of amity and commerce with foreign powers ( DAB ; JCC , 27:375). Humphreys later became known as one of the Hartford Wits.

[19th.] JQA

1784-08-19

[19th.] Adams, John Quincy
19th.

Thursday went into Paris shopping.

Saturday. [21st]. JQA

1784-08-21

Saturday. [21st]. Adams, John Quincy
Saturday. 21st.

Went to Paris. Gave Gregson a watch to repair. Am to have it again, Wednesday next.

Sunday August 22d. JQA

1784-08-22

Sunday August 22d. Adams, John Quincy
Sunday August 22d.

Mr. Jefferson and his Daughter,1 Coll: Humphreys, and Genl.2 dined with us.

1.

Martha Jefferson had only recently arrived with her father in Paris from America. She remained in France, attending school and studying French, until the end of Jefferson's diplomatic mission in 1789 (Edward T. James and others, eds., Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary, 3 vols., Cambridge, 1971).

2.

Left blank in MS. Probably Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who sailed from New York on 15 July and left Paris for Poland on 27 Aug. (AA2, Jour. and Corr., 1:16; Memorial Exhibition: Thaddeus Kosciuszko . . . Revealed in a Collection of Autograph Letters by Him . . . Being the Collection Formed by Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Kahanowicz, N.Y., [1927], introduction, p. 3, text, p. 14).

[24th.] JQA

1784-08-24

[24th.] Adams, John Quincy
24th.

Tuesday morning. Went to Paris.

210