Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 8
1839-01-22
Cloudy day with a light fall of snow. Time as usual. Mr. Stearns and coins. Evening ball at Mr. Appleton’s.
I prosecuted my work of arrears with some diligence and had the gratification of seeing some progress. I have a parcel of letters on hand which I scarcely know what to do with and which yet will require answers. One from Mr. Downing requesting me to get a picture of mine copied on his account.1 Home to read Electra.
Mr. Stearns a lawyer in practice here has written to ask to see my coins and upon my answer,2 had fixed this afternoon to see them. I was with him most of the time until sunset. He takes great interest in modern coins and not much in the ancient which are incomparably superior in point of interest. He has a collection of his own of some extent.
Evening, a visit from Dr. and Mrs. Frothingham, prior to our going to a ball at Mrs. W. Appleton’s given to the bride. Not a large but quite a choice party at which I enjoyed myself about as much as I commonly do. Home at midnight.
The letter is missing. The likelihood is that Andrew Jackson Downing of Newburgh, N.Y., architect and landscape gardener and the husband of Caroline Elizabeth de Windt (above, entry of 19 June 1838) was the writer. Also, that the request related to Gilbert Stuart’s 1823 portrait of JA, which JQA had given to CFA. Subsequently, the painting was copied for Downing by Samuel S. Osgood; see below, entry for 10 Nov., and Oliver, Portraits of JA and AA
, p. 191, 259.
W. G. Stearns to CFA, 14 Jan., Adams Papers; CFA to Stearns, 18 Jan., CLU:Gerson Autographs.