Arose this morning with a slight head ache which worried me for nearly the whole of the day. I remained at home and read some of a life of the late King of England which I took up to give me some idea of the facts which existed during the reign, and not from any merit in the work which is the production of a man named Scott.1 There was a dinner here today. I received and answered a pleasant letter from Abi which I answered in the afternoon previous to it. This is possibly the last dinner which I shall witness in this House. The Company consisted of Mr. and Mrs. P. B. Porter,2 Mr. Vaughan, Mrs. St. André, Baron Krudener, Mr. Bresson, Judge Anderson,3 Sir William Eden, a young English puppy,4 Mr. Baillie, Mr. Bankhead, Doyle, Ternaux a companion of Bresson on his tour, Krehmer, Orhanda, Russians, Dr. Lovell, Mr. Lovell,5 Mr. Anderson,6 Baron Lederer,7 Mr. Richardson of Baltimore8 and this family. The dinner was a beautiful specimen of the richest of luxury. And I partook of it accordingly, after which, I went with Mr. and Mrs. Smith to Mrs. Rush’s where we passed an hour not tediously though not very agreeably. We returned early.

This is the day upon which the great Presidential question which has so long agitated the Country commences to assume a definitive result. And our family are at last to cease being the eternal subjects of contention and abuse. I am rejoiced at this, and as to the general prospect, whatever it may be, I rely with great confidence in Heaven, that in any event, it will turn out for the best.