I staid at home this morning while my Mother and Wife went to town. Occupied very constantly though not much intellectually. My father wished me to go into the Garden and examine the Peach Trees which have been usually neglected and suffered to decay more rapidly than they grew after the second year. I did this after writing my Diary which has of late been kept rather irregularly. In our work, we were interrupted by Mr. H. Brooks and Miss Julia Gorham who came out to see the ladies. These disappointments are constantly occurring. They stayed only a few minutes. I passed another hour in pasting in labels. The ladies came home late.

After dinner, I went down to fish but had no sport. The water was too clear, and the winds have been so perpetually to the westward that 389the smelts remain in deep water. I do not know when we have had a more lovely day.

Returned to tea, and in the evening read Lingard. Richard and Henry the 7th. I think well of the history so far, and as to the wars of the Roses and all the subsequent events, prefer it to Hume.