Morning cloudy but it afterwards cleared away. I finished copying the letter to my father which is always a tedious operation. Attended divine Service all day and heard my Classmate Hedge. His Sermons pleased the mass, but they were very dull to me. So much so that I know little beyond the Texts. That of the morning was from Matthew 23. 26. “Thou blind Pharisee! cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also,” upon the value of internal Piety. The afternoon’s was from James, 1. last verse. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself un-177spotted from the world.” The word religion he affirmed to be a wrong translation, the proper word being “service.” The text is a beautiful one. It means more than any Commentary.

I afterwards read a Sermon of Massillon’s from Matthew 4. 4. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” The subject, attention to the word of God. Division twofold. 1. The Disposition proper to go to Church with. 2. The Disposition with which we listen to the word. Subdivision 1st. part. 1. In order to benefit yourself by a wish to improve. 2. In a spirit of humility and self debasement. 3. In a spirit of thankfulness. 2d. part. 1. With an earnest and sincere conviction of the divine authority of the word delivered. 2. In a spirit, not of critical niceness to judge of the Speaker, but with a sense of the value of religious instruction. The Sermon was a very good one. But the very regular and invariable mode of building a Discourse by the French becomes tedious through its uniformity.

Evening read a little of the Life of George 4th but not much, as my Wife was not quite well. Finished the Lectures of Fuseli with which I have been pleased. They have given me a good deal of knowledge of the Artists and of the different portions of the Art itself. Finished as usual with the Spectator.

Morning cloudy with rain. I went to the Office as usual. After writing my Diary which on this day of the week always takes much time, I went over to vote—This being the day in which by the new law, all the State Officers are chosen together. The distracted state of public feeling here leads to exceedingly divided votes. And this owing to the wretched mismanagement of the party called the National Republican. This party, not having any particular grounds to adhere with, splits into a thousand divisions upon the most trifling causes. As a party I have done with it, and instead will try to stick to an independent judgment even though by it I throw away my vote.1 Took a short walk, stopping first at the Athenaeum.

Afternoon. Read Cicero’s first book De finibus, containing an examination of the Epicurean Doctrine. It is delightful from the flowing easy nature of the style and the clearness of the argument.

Evening. Read Mason’s translation of Du Fresnoy on Painting with the Notes of Sir Joshua Reynolds,2 and after it the latter’s Journey in Holland and Flanders.3 All these things give me new ideas. Read the Spectator.