Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 3
1829-11-18
Morning cloudy but as mild as Summer. I went to the Office and was occupied much of the morning in giving an opinion upon the 79Deed of Mr. Curtis as opposed to my Deed, in drawing a Quitclaim Deed which I could approve of, and in making a process of Foreign Attachment in Henderson’s case. All which I did and moreover translated a portion of Pufendorf as usual but not quite so much to my satisfaction. I was not this morning quite so much in the spirit of it. Called to see Mr. Kinsman and Mr. Davis.1 Conversation with them upon various subjects, particularly with one upon the Note of the City Guards, with the other upon the news of the engagement to be married between Mr. Webster and Miss Le Roy of New York. He has been so long talked about that it is desirable to have some end put to it.2 Mr. Curtis called for a few moments and took all the papers which had been left with me. I was thus quite glad to have had an opportunity to have given an opinion in defence of my own deed, and devolving the responsibility of it upon another. I am satisfied as I get my perquisites also.
Returned home and after dinner, read as usual my portion of Aeschines besides bottling a very considerable portion of Whiskey, a duty I am obliged to attend to now that I have a House of my own and things to keep, though not over agreeable. In the evening I continued reading to my Wife a portion of Clarissa Harlowe, commencing the letters of Lovelace, which are amusing enough though rather broad. Being desirous of becoming acquainted with the Older Authors rapidly, I began late this evening Potter’s Translation of the Tragedies of Aeschylus, with his Preface.3 My only complaint is that I cannot find time enough for all my avocations.
Henry W. Kinsman and Thomas Kemper Davis had read law along with CFA in Daniel Webster’s office at 33 Court Street. Kinsman was farther along in his career than the others, having been admitted to practice by Oct. 1827, a full year before CFA, and remaining afterward with Webster (vol. 2:170; Fuess, Webster
, 2:319). CFA took Kinsman legal questions on which he had had experience.
Davis, first in his Harvard class (1827), was still a year or more away from admission to the bar (
Mass. Register, 1831). CFA’s conversations with him were nonprofessional, often on literary matters; CFA valued them and regarded him highly. See, for example, the entry for 28 April 1830, below. Thomas Kemper Davis is frequently referred to in vol. 2 (1964 edn.), but he is erroneously identified at 2:199 and thus in the index as Timothy K. Davis.
Since the death of Webster’s first wife in Jan. 1828 there had been rumors linking him to several ladies; see vol. 2:360; Fuess, Webster
, 2:383–384. His marriage to Miss Caroline LeRoy, 17 years younger than he, took place in New York on 12 Dec. (Fuess, Webster
, 1:358–360).
Of the two editions in MQA of the Tragedies translated by R. Potter and published at London, that of 1779 in 2 vols. has JQA’s bookplate, that of 1809 contains a note in CFA’s handwriting.