Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2

4th.

6th.

5th. JQA

1787-02-05

5th. Adams, John Quincy
5th.

The occurrences of the day, were not remarkable. I did not study much. I have been reading Sheridans lectures upon elocution,1 and am pleased with them. They contain many usefull instructions, and ought to be perused by every person who wishes to appear as a speaker. His praises of the Greeks and Romans, may be warmed with the heat of enthusiasm, and his censure of modern Oratory is perhaps too severe: but every candid reader must acknowledge, that the contrast, which he shews, is but too well grounded.

We passed the evening with Forbes at his chamber.

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1.

Thomas Sheridan, A Course of Lectures on Elocution..., London, 1762 (Harvard, Catalogus Bibliothecae, 1790, p. 149).