Morning cloudy with occasional showers of rain. I went to the Office and sat down very resolutely to making up the accounts with my 341father which have been in arrear for so long. This I adhered to pretty steadily and brought them down pretty well until interrupted by Mr. Ayer who came with his last bill. I settled with him entirely for his work upon my house and paid over the balance thus relieving my mind of a considerable burden which has been hanging upon it. My desire is to get rid of all my liabilities for that estate and to come down again to a solid basis.

I find my Quincy house will have cost me about $8000 dollars or about double my estimate. This of course is an unexpected and disagreeable surprise but the only way is to meet it and then begin again afresh.

Home to read Herodotus whose text I find a little more difficult than I thought. Afternoon as usual. The secret correspondence is extremely amusing. After which, arrears of Diary.