Morning I went to town and was actively occupied in various commissions as usual until eleven o’clock, when I went to the Office. Calls from P. C. Brooks Jr. with a Note from his father,1 P. P. F. Degrand and S. E. Greene who has at last sold Mr. Johnson’s Exchange. Then home.

This was the day fixed upon for the great dinner to Mr. Webster, the manifestation of the feeling of the citizens of Boston against the Administration and in his favour. I do not attend, first because I dislike all of these sorts of display. Secondly, because I dislike the public character of the hero.

Afternoon read Pliny. Panegyric upon Trajan in the extreme of the adulatory spirit though regarded in that age as moderation. Evening at the Mansion.