Returned to town with Mr. Brooks. The morning was very fine and the ride pleasant. Found at the Office, a letter for me from my Mother the general tenor of which seemed to be delay. I regret this somewhat though I do not know whether my feeling is not selfish. That the leaving a place which has for so long been their home should affect them is natural enough. Remained at the Office, though my time was not passed as usefully as it should have been. Afternoon, read the lives of Christopher Wren and Edward Coke in the Numbers of the Library of Useful Knowledge.1 Evening, a walk and Pope’s Correspondence. Life at a Hotel is a dreary business. There is so much liveliness in a crowd, that I would prefer the constraint of a private family to the only advantage it possesses, independence.