Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 2
We went to Hudson the first day,2 and there spent the night. The next day we rode to Poughkeepsie in a way which made me exceedingly regret I was not in proper order for the Journey. I believe, had I been well, I could have enjoyed the journey. But as it was, I was anxious for home.3 The next day we went down the river to New York, and arrived in the evening after a tedious, and disgusting pas-77sage in a Steamboat. I will not detail all the painful feelings which were excited by the contending wishes of my Mother and I. Suffice it to say that in about the time for starting South, Thomas Hellen seemed as if dropped from Heaven for my relief into the Bar room of the City Hotel. I left Madame &c. in his hands, I jumped on board the Steam Boat, thanking Heaven, that I had some prospect of relief.
On Sunday Morning I arrived in Philadelphia, sent for Hopkinson, and determined to spend four or five days with him under his care. This I did and grew better every day. I passed my time very much at home, with the exception of a ride for every day with Hopkinson to some neighboring place. My spirits began gradually to rise.
From D/CFA/5.
On the way home to Washington.
The compelling reason behind LCA’s decision to return to Washington was CFA’s health. She wrote her husband: “Charles is quite sick and his spirits in a state of depression that makes me quite uneasy” (LCA to JQA, 21 Aug. 1826, Adams Papers).
1826-08-28
Philadelphia. Morning at home, Novels, Varieties of Life,2 Peaches, arrival of Weed, evening at the Circus, conversation.
From D/CFA/1.
Anon., Varieties of Life: or, Conduct and Consequences, 3 vols., London, 1815.
1826-08-29
Philadelphia. Morning at home, improving, Sketches of Character,1 evening, Weed, conversation.
Anon., Sketches of Character; or, Specimens of Real Life, a Novel, 3 vols., London, 1808.
1826-08-30
Philadelphia. Morning at home, Sketches of Character, afternoon, ride with Hopkinson, billiards, evening at home.
1826-08-31
Philadelphia. Morning at home, Vivian Grey,1 afternoon, ride with Hopkinson, Schuylkill Water Works, Fairmount, evening at home.
Benjamin Disraeli, Vivian Grey, 5 vols., London, 1826–1827. CFA confided to his mother that he felt a kinship to the character of Disraeli’s hero, but LCA retorted that he should work to destroy any similarity to “the cold, calculating, selfish, vain atom Vivian Gray,” reminding her son that “A man entirely without sentiment, becomes a fiend” (LCA to CFA, 9 Sept. 1826, Adams Papers).