Clouds and drizzle from the Eastward. At home all day reading and evening at the Mansion.

Continued and finished Mr. Locke’s Chapter on power. p. 252–282. This does not satisfy me because it resorts to a distinction between liberty and the will which begs the question. The discussion itself seems to be hardly in place. Yet Mr. Locke is still a strong thinker even when he grapples with subjects too tough for him. Read Lessing’s Criticism upon Voltaires Semiramis and Hamlet, and began Winkelman’s History of Art, rather dry I think. Lucretius b. 3, l. 425–633. Grimm.

An evening visit at the other house had not much to interest us, and upon my return I sat down to write a little squib for the Newspaper about my late adventure at my house. It is remarkable how difficult writing becomes to me now, so as in fact to discourage me from often attempting it.