Morning at the Office. Weather still holding on very cold. I passed my time for the most part in writing off my second Article upon Mr. McLane’s Report. But it does not altogether please me. The strength of the argument does not seem to be fully laid down. And I have doubts about some part of it. I thought I would go to the Athenaeum to look at the Debates of the period, but I so dawdled away my time as not to have any of consequence for my purpose when I got there. Returned home.

In the Afternoon, read Cicero’s first book “de Legibus,” which is but a repetition of what has already been said in the books de Finibus. But the treatise is a noble one. It conveys an idea of Law far above the grasp of petty Attorneys.

Evening, Mr. Brooks drank Tea here and spent an hour in conversation. He is a singular man. I respect his practical good sense and unassuming manners, but I do not feel at ease with him from a want of union in Taste. After he went, read to my Wife, part of the Canterbury Tales, and afterwards Gibbon, Homer and the Spectator.