Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 6
1835-05-18
Morning very pleasant. I went out on the Common with my child and enjoyed her glee in skipping over its walks as much as she did. 141Then home, and to the Office. Diary and Accounts but on the whole rather indolent. A short walk. Home. Found my Wife looking at a Picture which Mr. C. Aug. Davis of New York has sent to her as a present. It is by Durand and of my father, a very good likeness.1 This is a compliment and of the highest kind.
Read Giffords Life of Juvenal together with a part of an Essay on Satire. Afternoon continued Duclos and then finished my work of a first draught of a Pamphlet Catalogue, by which I discovered three or four duplicates which I was about to order bound. Nothing further of material consequence.
Evening at home. As the warm weather draws near, we begin to enjoy the advantage of our situation. I think during the month of June and previous to the excessive heats it is exceedingly pleasant. Wilhelm Meister.
Asher Brown Durand had painted a likeness of JQA in March for the patron and collector Luman Reed, who was also a friend of Charles Augustus Davis. Davis, a partner in New York of Sidney Brooks, had apparently used his good offices in arranging to have JQA sit for Durand, and when the work was completed was so taken with it that he had Durand paint a replica. It was this that Davis presented to ABA. In June, again at Reed’s behest, Durand would undertake a new portrait of JQA; see below, entry for 11 June. On the several versions and their subsequent history, see Oliver, Portraits of JQA and His Wife
, p. 169–179. A reproduction of one of the Durand portraits of JQA appears in the present volume; see also p. vii–viii, above.
1835-05-19
The largest fire took place yesterday that has been known since the existence of the present organization of the Fire Department, and I went down to see the ruins. They extend along from the Mill Pond so called to Blackstone Street. The wreck was considerable of stables, shops and dwellings, mostly of small value and pretty fully insured. The principal inconvenience and loss falls upon the Tenants of them who lose furniture and stock. Such is life.
I accidentally met Richardson, my former Classmate and friend and not having seen him for a long time, I asked him to come to my Office and we talked over old and new times. He told me much respecting his present situation. He is desoeuvré far more than I because he has few resources in his own mind. He has married but his relations with his Wife’s friends are unpleasant. Such is life.
He left me so late, I did little else. Home, finished the Essay on Satire. The more I look the better I like my father’s picture, though it does not give his fire. After dinner, Ride with my Wife round the environs. Pretty. Quiet evening.