Morning at the Office. Hard frost last night by which all the vegetation must be somewhat retarded. I finished the Peruvian letters with which I have on the whole been pleased.1 The idea is purely French. The Peruvian is somewhat civilized and exceedingly delicate. 285But the observations are frequently just and the style has much of feminine sentiment. I was pleased.

My time at the Office was taken up by Accounts. Mr. Spear called to pay me from Quincy and I was thus relieved from a great deal of the pressure which I have been experiencing. Took a short walk. Joseph H. Adams came in from Quincy today for the purpose of starting for New York upon his final expedition for some time to come in this Country I hope.2 He goes out in the United States. I gave him advice, and one or two letters,3 with money enough to go to New York. This took so much of the Afternoon, that I devoted the little balance to my Catalogue.

Evening at home. My Wife having gone out to visit with her father, I read a large quantity of the Life of Napoleon and worked on my Catalogue.