Very cold morning. I went to the Office. Nothing very material excepting the pouring in of innumerable demands for the commencement of the year. I am almost discouraged at their extent, particularly as upon calling at the Cocheco Co’s. office I found they had postponed their Dividend a week or two. This makes it necessary for me to be prudent and gradual in paying Accounts. I continue however to pay out gradually. Nothing of any moment stirring. The political world seems exceedingly quiet.

Walk with Mr. Walsh. Home. Livy. Afternoon. Plutarch and Burnet. The old French of Amyot is somewhat crooked but I think more and more of Plutarch’s substance as I go on. This Essay on the management of public affairs seems to me to be as good as any thing I have seen in the lives.

Evening at home. M. von Tietz’s travels in Russia are rather insipidly eulogistic1 and my wife seemed so unwell today that I stopped early, after which my father’s letter to Harrison Gray Otis.2