My time slipped away so fast this morning that I had only half an hour to continue Demosthenes. Walked into town with my Wife to make purchases. I think she is becoming gradually stronger, and hope that another fortnight will quite restore her. I read the numbers of the Federalist upon the Judiciary and was much pleased with them. As an 148instance of how much passes from the mind, it may as well be said that I have read the Federalist twice before, and yet it is now quite new to me. Continued the Debates in the Massachusetts Convention which amuse me more and more. The mind of man is generally but a weak affair, and no better proof of it can be produced than the incorrectness of the objections made to the Constitution, the features which have proved most faulty, were those least opposed or most approved.

After dinner I went down for amusement to fish, but I could not find that there were any smelts come up yet. I spent two hours in doing nothing and then returned. Read Bacon’s Essay on Custom and Education.

Evening a Party of Quincy People at M. T. Greenleaf’s, from which I was glad to get home and read the Spectator.