Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 5
1833-02-07
Sunrise clear, but it soon changed to a driving storm from the north west with excessive cold, and was on the whole as unpleasant a day as I have experienced this Winter. I went to the Office and was occupied in writing and reading as usual. Continued Mackintosh and admired him more and more. I was also out a good deal executing commissions. Attempted to walk but found it too much.
Returned home and made ready to dine at Mr. T. L. Winthrop’s. The Company consisted of Mr. S. P. Gardner and J. L. Gardner, I. P. Davis, F. J. Oliver, Mr. Brooks and P. C. Jr., Grenville and Robert Winthrop. The only two ladies Miss W. and Mrs. Grenville.1 I was placed next to the latter and Mr. Oliver, and I had a pretty stupid time. The Company was not one of any interest to me. Nor was there any valuable or lively conversation. Returned home. Mrs. Gorham Brooks took tea and spent the evening, he came in late. Nothing but the World.
Thomas Lindall Winthrop had been until recently Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and was one of the few of the powerful figures in Boston who continued in friendly relations with JQA. His guest lists, as on this occasion, tended to mix the generations, including when possible fathers and sons, and even the sexes. Samuel Pickering Gardner, Isaac P. Davis, Francis J. Oliver, and Peter C. Brooks were among the wealthiest of Boston merchants, insurance executives, and capitalists. Davis and Brooks, along with Winthrop, were exceptions to the generalization that the ruling families in Boston were hostile to JQA; see, for example, the entry of 18 March, below, and the references to each in earlier volumes.