Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1

207 Friday Decr. 5th. 1783. JQA

1783-12-05

Friday Decr. 5th. 1783. Adams, John Quincy
Friday Decr. 5th. 1783.

In the evening I went to the Covent Garden Theatre, and saw the Merchant of Venice, with Love a la Mode;1 a young Lady appeared for the first Time she play'd upon any Stage in the part of Portia.

1.

Love à la Mode, London, 1793, by Charles Macklin, first produced in 1760 ( Biographia Dramatica ; Hogan, ed., London Stage, 1660–1800 ).

Saturday. Decr. 6th. 1783. JQA

1783-12-06

Saturday. Decr. 6th. 1783. Adams, John Quincy
Saturday. Decr. 6th. 1783.

Dined at Mr. W. Vassal's1 at Clapham.

1.

William Vassall, once a prominent Bostonian, now a loyalist refugee, whom JA later described as “one of my old friends and clients ... a man of letters and virtues, without one vice that I ever knew or suspected, except garrulity” (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates , 9:349–359; JA, Works , 10:214–215).