Morning at the Office. As Miss Oliver this morning sent me a portion of her rent I was again occupied in arranging my Accounts, though they did not take up quite so much time as usual. I was engaged in reading Williston and the sharp Speeches of Mr. Giles and Mr. Bayard upon the Judiciary Bill of 1802. Mr. Beale of Quincy called in to see me having heard I had made inquiry respecting the meeting of the Quincy Canal Company. He told me that the meeting would be held at six o’clock on Tuesday next which is a very inconvenient hour to me. But I agreed to attend as my Father is desirous that I should. He gave me also the unwelcome news that the Neponset 126Bridge Company made no Dividend this Quarter. I am somewhat disappointed at the State of my father’s funds, this month, and am thus taught the necessity of never anticipating too much. This Company is a rarely failing source of revenue. But so it is, it fails when most calculated upon.

After dinner I was as usual occupied reading Aeschines in his close where he attempts to anticipate the objections of his Adversary and so evidently exhibits the great dread he entertains of him, but I did not finish the Oration. As Abby was again out I continued my Essay upon Eloquence. Although I get dissatisfied as I go on, yet I am resolved to persevere, and after my whole plan is finished I will then look it over to criticize. This evening I was not in the spirit, being oppressed with a bad cold upon my Lungs. I left off to call for Abby at her sister Anne’s, after which, I read over the Lives of Demosthenes and Cicero by Plutarch.