Morning mild. Again to Cambridge returning by dinner time. Evening at Mrs. Shaw’s.

I was rather a volunteer today in going to Cambridge having already done as much as I ought for the week. But as Judge Merril was the only other member of the Committee who could go, I entered the carriage where I found Mr. Gould and Mr. Hubbard of the Latin Committee also. We today finished the examination of the Junior Class, this being the second section. It was much better than that of yesterday although it confirms me in my impression that the classes do not improve in their application as they advance. The young men today did not make out as well as they did in Thucydides a much harder author. Indeed my impression is that the facility of extracting the literal sense of Homer is one of the temptations to slight the study. We dined as usual, and returned by the time of my dinner at home.

Afternoon employed upon coins as usual. Evening to a great ball at Mrs. Shaw’s house in Beacon Street.1 This has been talked of a long while, and great preparations were made for it. The throng was so great as to fill all the rooms even of that spacious building and to make a degree of confusion not very pleasant. The disposition this winter seems to be towards a great deal of social amusement. People are reviving from the pressure of the past and hope is the prevailing feeling for the future. We came home at midnight.