Morning clear and cold. I went to the Office and from the sickness of my boy had the gratification to find my own fire to make. This done and after a time to get warm, I went through my usual duties, the performance of which left me only about an hour to continue the Speech upon the Nabob of Arcot’s debts. I read however a fine parcel of the best of it especially the remarkable passage describing the irruption of Hyder Ali into the Carnatic. I. Hull Adams called with some sheets of Journal and requesting Stationary which I gave him. Then I went on my regular business of purchases and to the Athenaeum which consumed my hour until dinner.

Afternoon. Read a considerable portion of the second book De Natura Deorum giving a defence of the Theory that the Earth is a Deity which has for its only merit a little sophistical but ingenious reasoning. My Wife was quite sick with the Influenza all day so that she retired early. I began Gibbon this evening,1 and the 8th Volume of the Spectator.