Cloudy and cold morning. Usual occupations. Evening at the Mansion besides meals.

I spent the day very quietly. Tried to continue my Lecture but found myself deficient in clear ideas so I had to go back to the books to study more fully Law’s scheme. This took up most of my morning with a little of Menzel. I dined at my father’s and in the afternoon studied Tacitus, B. 3. s 1–30.

The quiet of the house is very great and strange to say it does not seem to promote my studies. Man is such a creature of habit and the things which he dreads at one time become so necessary to his happiness at another. The noise of children is generally cheerful and excites that variety of sensations which make at once the occupation and the pleasure of life. I did not work so well because I felt more lonely. Evening at my father’s.