Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 2

21st. JQA

1788-08-21

21st. Adams, John Quincy
21st.

Upon Stacey's invitation I went with him and Putnam, and two young lads by the name of Greenough, to Mr. Greenleaf's; where we had something like a concert of music. The house was soon filled with people; it seemed as if there was nobody within five miles that had ever heard the sound of a violin before. Some of the young Ladies thought it would be pretty to join with their voices in the music; and the concert thenceforth became both vocal and instrumental. I was fatigued by ten o'clock; and could blow no more: and finding that Stacey and Putnam had got so 445much engaged, with a lovely songstress, (or one that might be lovely) as shew no prospect of an intention to quit, I came off and left them at about eleven o'clock.

22d. JQA

1788-08-22

22d. Adams, John Quincy
22d.

We assembled this evening at Thompson's. Mr. Greenleaf called in and past an hour with us. He was apprehensive that we were disgusted with the crowd last evening; but we undeceived him. He talk'd about the war; for he was an officer in our army. “And little of this great world can he speak More than pertains to feats of broils and battle.”1 Putnam has not yet got over his trick of leaving us to join the young Ladies; but this evening he acknowledged, he was going to Mr. Frazier's. We likewise walk'd in the evening, and stroll'd about till ten o'clock.

1.

Othello, Act I, scene iii, lines 86–87.

23d. JQA

1788-08-23

23d. Adams, John Quincy
23d.

Dined at Thompson's, with Mr. Andrews and Townsend. In the afternoon I took a ride with Little to Haverhill. I endeavoured to persuade him to go with me the week after next to Cambridge; but my labour was in vain. We had a very smart thunder shower, while we were on the road, but it was very soon over.

[24 August–2 September] JQA [24 August–2 September] Adams, John Quincy
24 August–2 September

Here, this journal very abruptly breaks off. I had long doubted whether the utility attending the method which I have pursued were adequate to the time I have devoted to it. But an indisposition, which for two months has prevented me from writing has finally turned the wavering scale.

I will not however immediately drop all memorials of my transactions; but the remainder of this volume will probably contain a space of time as long as that recorded already in more than two vols, and an half.1

1.

This entry appears immediately after the previous one. Handwriting and the lighter ink suggest that it and the entries for 23 Aug. and 3 Sept. were probably written at the same time. After this entry, with scattered exceptions, the only Diary entries for the remainder of the year come from line-a-day memoranda in D/JQA/13. The exceptions, from D/JQA/12, are 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 20, 24, 27, 30 Sept. and 1, 2, 3, 7, 14 Oct.

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