Clearing up. At home all day. Evening at the Mansion.

The night proved an exceedingly tempestuous one but the wind declined towards morning though it was Sunset before it was entirely calm. I occupied myself very steadily in copying and afterward began a sketch of a Lecture which seemed to me to run very easy. I have reflected upon the subject so much already as to have matured my thoughts. This is fortunate as today I received a letter from Mr. Ward leaving me the alternative of writing a new one or taking the old Revolutionary one of which I am rather tired.1

After dinner Tacitus, finishing the first book of the History, the struggles of Galba, Otho and Vitellius, fearful days. A little outdoor work and then in the evening at my father’s. The night was brilliantly clear, a singular contrast to last night.