Morning cool and clear. I went to the Office as usual. Time occupied by attending a Meeting of Directors of the Middlesex Canal for the purpose of consulting upon a Dividend. The annual report of the agent was read which displays a very favorable state of the concern, but the dread of competition from the rail road just going into operation still hangs over us. Divided as usual, making a considerable reserve. Collected some money and made a deposit. The teller informed me that after the close of this month I must go elsewhere.1 This is unpleasant after dealing so long and quietly with this Institution. Accounts. I succeeded in making a Copy of my Account with T. B. Adams and wrote a letter to accompany it as well as a short one to my father to whom I directed the whole packet.2

Home to read Livy. In the afternoon, after consuming part in copying the letters abovementioned, I spent the rest in reading the remainder of Cicero’s Letters to Lentulus. The closing one is perhaps the most memorable of the whole collection, as a description of policy, as a question of justification. Evening at home. Read to my Wife from Gil Blas. The intrigue under the Duke of Lerma. A capital sketch of court corruption. Afterwards, writing until very late upon the last letter to Mr. Slade a sketch of which I finished before I went to bed—as I thought, a little jewel.