Morning clear with a high wind form the North West. I went to town accompanying Mr. Brooks. Time wasted, excepting a little in business.

Mr. Brooks has made his children another present—Dividing among 401them the amount which his son Henry had remaining of his property at his death. This comes to my Wife and myself in the shape of three shares in the Lawrence Manufacturing Co. and is another evidence of the beneficence of my father in law,1 as well as of the goodness of the Deity. My means are now more than sufficient for my living and mere property can add little more to my happiness. It must be my endeavor that it shall not take off from it by giving me a spirit of uneasy restlessness or vague ambition. I am blessed as much as man ever is in this sublunary state. May God be merciful to me and keep me humble and sensible of the extent of his goodness.

Athenaeum. John Quincy made me a visit. He is not to sail for some days. Home to Medford. Afternoon German and in the evening read Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Also Mrs. Austin’s Characteristics of Goethe.