Our changes of weather are abrupt enough. It was severely cold this morning. I went to the Office where I pursued my common avocations. Read a little of Mr. Sparks’ Memoir of Gouverneur Morris which is flat and dry enough. The fashion of unadorned prose is very prevalent in the present day but I cannot say that it strikes me as particularly charming. I want something to stir people up. I want to see the higher kinds of style.

Went to the Athenaeum and was therefore very considerably abridged of my walk. N.B. Never to go there at or near one o’clock.

Afternoon, Anquetil. Account of the murderous conflict in the suburbs of Paris, between the armies of Turenne and Condé. Very interesting. Read more of Voltaire. The Parliament of Paris. He hardly is distinct as to the present constitution of it. He wrote for such as were familiar with it. Evening quiet at home. My Wife was suffering with a head ach and the Child has hardly been well all day. Read Alison whose argument is ingenious but hardly convincing.