After reading my usual quantity of German I went to the Office and was occupied there with sundries. Mr. Ayer called upon me to report the result of the proceeding at the sale. He told me that agreeably to my directions he had bid off in my name the equity of redemption at $370 which is considerably within the limited price. I then went with him to see the Assignee whose name was Griggs and by whom it was sold and agreed to call upon him tomorrow to settle and take the Deed. The rest of the morning was passed in the register of Deeds Office looking up the Title of Mr. Griggs to his property. This was rather a laborious piece of work as there have been few more engaged in conveyancing than Mr. Griggs the brother of the Assignee who became Bankrupt by attempting too much.

Walk. Then home to read German. Afternoon finished the Memoirs of Marmontel. His latest days passed in all the anxieties of the French Revolution were cloudy enough and he appears to have had the consolation that it was not so bad with him as with many of his companions. Evening quiet at home. Wilhelm Meister.

I called to see Mr. Griggs this morning but as he was not yet prepared I postponed a definitive settlement until Monday. My time was a good deal taken up at the Office with business matters. Mr. Spear from Quincy called and paid me a good deal on Account for rent and his Note, and I talked with him upon matters connected with Agency affairs there. Nothing of consequence further. Took a walk. Afternoon at home. Read one of the Nouveau Contes de Marmontel, La Villée.1 It is pretty and has all the peculiar naivetée of that Author’s style. But it is not so lively. It has none of the grave air of the times in which it was written. I had read it repeatedly before but my recollection was not perfectly distinct. Evening at home. Nothing new. Wilhelm Meister.

The day was cold with an East wind but clear. I passed the morning in a continuation of Schiller’s History the Interest of which is wonderfully well kept up. The picture of Wallenstein agrees very well with his character in the Play, the master piece of the Author.

Attended divine Service and heard Mr. Putnam of Roxbury from Proverbs 23. 22. “Despise not thy Mother.” A poor text to preach from as conveying nothing but a negative exhortation. The duty of children to Parents is more positive than negative. It consists in active services, in honoring and obeying, not in the mere abstinence from insult. Mr. Putnam did not see his mistake and proceeded to preach upon a subject not included in his Text. The discourse itself would have been far better calculated to affect his own congregation who require the peculiar superintendence of their own Minister than a strange one who one supposed to be properly instructed in moral duties by their own head. The Afternoon Sermon from 2. Corinthians 4. 16. “Though 115our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” My attention was not fixed.

Read a discourse of Dr. Barrow upon Detraction. James 14. 11. “Speak not evil one of another, brethren.” He pursues his usual mode first in defining the modes then the motives which induce it and finally it’s effects from all which he derives the impropriety as well as naturally mean character of the Vice. Dr. Barrow is very strong and very sound but I have as yet found little eloquence. Evening, W. G. Brooks and his Wife with his elder brother Thomas came in. Conversation very uninteresting. Afterwards, read Wilhelm Meister.