The children give us considerable uneasiness in different ways. And fear and anxiety respecting them are the only troubles that I have. If I did not rely upon a higher power, I do not know what I should do.

Clear and cold morning. I went to the Office and looked over my Accounts which are not closed so rapidly as usual from the delay which has taken place among the Tenants. Read some of the Parliamentary History—Debates upon the American war and errors of the Ministers.

Walk. Afternoon. Wrote and despatched a letter to my brother John, inclosing his Note.1 Read Lord Bacon and finished the Sylva Sylvarum. Read part of Patronage to my wife and finished my second perusal of Mackintosh. I have been benefitted by this book. It has opened my eyes and enlarged my understanding. It has warmed my heart, and exalted my feelings.