Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 3
1830-12-12
Morning bright but quite cold. The weather appears now to have become tolerably settled, and not more severe than one expects at this season. I attended divine service during the day and heard in the morning a discourse from Mr. Palfrey upon the subject of Truth. I do not know, whether I am right but this gentleman does not suit my taste much. He is not very agreeable as a Preacher, and there is a kind of Vinegar Acid in the tone, manner and character of the man, that repels his idea if I may so express it. Took a short walk after service before returning home. My Wife was not well enough to go out today.
As I have been pleased with Chapman’s general conduct so far as I have seen any thing of it latterly, and as I have never in any manner taken notice of it, I thought I would ask him to come and dine with me, today. He accordingly came and was very pleasant. His amiable disposition and creditable conduct on the whole have produced rather a favourable impression upon my mind.1 He went to Meeting with me in the Afternoon and we heard Mr. Frothingham, in a finished Sermon upon Social Worship. On the whole the day was pleasantly passed. I read in the Afternoon some of Enfield’s History of Philosophy, and in the Evening conversed with my Wife. Continued upon the Catalogue and read two Numbers of the Tatler.
Following the death of GWA and his own marriage, CFA, in keeping with the reformation he notes in his own be-behavior, had kept aloof socially from most of his old classmates and college friends, particularly those who had shared in his escapades and who remained unmarried. Jonathan Chapman 381was later mayor of Boston (1840–1842); he also became a contributor to the
North Amer. Rev.
and the Christian Examiner. See Winsor, Memorial History of Boston
, 3:247; John Langdon Sibley, Private Journal, p. 171–172 (MS, MHi, deposited in MH-Ar).