A very pleasant day. I was out some time with my Wife making purchases and giving directions. Then to the House where matters looked far more cheerful. The sun is always a great thing to enliven the spirits. A great mass of work remains to be done however.

Office where I remained but a short time. Went in to see some Gobelin Tapestry which is exhibiting here—The original work from the Cartoons of Raphael. Paul preaching at Athens which I remember at Hampton Court in England. The death of Ananias. Christ delivering the Keys to Peter and the healing of the man at the gates of the Temple. These have been in existence three hundred years and have been successively transferred from Leo the 10 to Henry the 8 and from Charles the 1st to the Court of Spain. The gold is much tarnished and has lost it’s effect as a colour, but the rest are in admirable preservation. I think the third in the best preservation though perhaps the least effective piece as a whole originally. A fine copy of the crucifixion by Rubens is alone worthy of attentive observation. I mean to recur to it again.

Afternoon M. Thiers, Revolution of May 31, 1793—Another wave of the Ocean. Evening at home. Landor, Imaginary Conversations.1