Morning clear but quite cool after the rain of yesterday. I made considerable progress in the Poetic of Aristotle. The Commentators upon all the works of the ancients make a large class by themselves. Many of them have done little but to heap up useless masses of quotation to show their learning. Perhaps of all the follies to which the human mind is subject, none is greater, than the folly of disquisition upon trifling points. To see the fury with which men take sides upon the true reading of a passage supposed to be corrupted, one would suppose that the world was to feel the consequences of a mistake.

Went to the Office and read the Defence of the American Constitutions. I was very quiet and without any interruption. Read Mr. Berrien’s exposition of the causes that led to the difficulty in the Cabinet. It is very dignified, and calculated to bring men back to their senses if any thing can. But the view it gives of Genl. Jackson is disgraceful enough to the Nation.1 Talked with Mr. Brooks and went to the Athenaeum. Home to dine, found Miss E. C. Adams from Quincy who told us the family were well.

Afternoon, reading Cicero as usual. Letters to Appius. They are beautifully written but Melmoth is a painful expositor of their want 100of sincerity.2 Evening, Judge Hall, and Mr. and Mrs. Frothingham, so that I had only time to read the Spectator.

Morning very close and sultry, the sun coming out, but being soon after enveloped in clouds, we found a little relief from rain. After reading a portion of Aristotle over again, having finished the first examination of it, I went to my Office and sat down very quietly to the reading of the Defence. I must say that of all the books upon Government that I have read, none accords with my fancy so much as this. It has fewer fancies and proceeds only upon the footing of experience. The Comments upon the Government of Lacaedemon are very much the same with mine made in the margin of Mably’s book.1 They are true, and show that it is merely by looking at things in a plain practical light one may succeed at arriving at wise conclusions.

I returned home early feeling fearful of being without my Umbrella. Afternoon, concluded the third book and began the fourth of Cicero’s Epistles. Read the Letters to Servius Sulpicius, and the famous one of the latter, condoling with Cicero for the loss of his daughter. It is certainly very beautifully done. This man seems to have been a very honorable character. I do not think Cicero rises in one’s estimation quite so much. Short evening. Took a little walk with my Wife, and read Pye and the Spectator.

Morning clear with a fine wind and pleasant. My Wife did not seem quite so well as usual, but I conclude that this must be as she approaches her term. I have felt more anxiety today however, and wish that some person was with her to relieve me in case of responsibility.

After reading Aristotle as usual, I went to the Office and had a very quiet and uninterrupted morning. I spent it for the most part in reading my Grand Father’s Defence, the first Volume of which I finished. When we consider that it was written previous to the formation of 101our Federal Government, when an experiment on a grand scale was not at all so certain of success as we are apt to think now, the earnestness with which certain principles are pushed was not superfluous, nor was confidence in the theory ill founded. As my Man Servant is absent, I was obliged to go and deliver my Notes myself, for a Meeting of the Directors of the Boylston Market.

Returned home, and after dinner read Cicero’s Epistles which continue to interest me. I read today the complaint of Metellus Celer, and Cicero’s reply which is pretty tart. It is a little remarkable that so powerful a mind should have so much weakness. He was timid, and though he knew the right, he did not always strive to convince himself that it ought to be pursued. Evening at home. Took a short walk with my Wife, read more of Pye’s Commentary and closed with the Spectator.