Very cold for the season of the year. I went first to Market and then to the Office. Received a letter from my father mentioning his being indisposed and obliged to remain absent from the House for a few days.1 He speaks encouragingly of my efforts which is some comfort as certainly there is no great amount of that article granted to me.

I received the answer of the Merchants Bank which was a refusal to me of the smaller amount and an offer of 7000 which I refused. I called upon Mr. Tucker and released him from all further engagement. The remainder of my morning was passed in Diary &ca. Called at the Athenaeum and procured another volume of the Duchess with which we hope to go on, but it is the eighth. Then home where I made very good progress in Livy—His speculations upon the possible result of an attack upon the Romans by Alexander the great. Afternoon, Sismondi and Fouqué.

Evening, family at my House—E. Everett and his Wife, with A. H. Everett and his Wife who are staying there, Mr., Mrs., and T. Frothingham and Mr. Brooks. Edward B. did not come, nor P.C.B. Jr. and his Wife. The introduction of strangers at these parties is a novelty not entirely relished, particularly A.H.E. who has made himself obnoxious to my Wife’s relations by his political course.

Morning cloudy with a very raw East wind. I went with my Wife and a party to the Menagerie in Union Street.1 Carried with us the two elder children. There is a tolerable collection of large animals. A male and female elephant, a rhinoceros, several lionesses but no lion, Tigers of Java and Bengal, the white polar bear and the black bear, hyaenas, panthers and leopards in plenty. Also two beautiful Zebras, a gnu or horned horse, a buffalo, several camels and dromedaries, an antelope, Lama and Angora goat, Monkeys in plenty, cockatoos and an anaconda. A curious creature is the kangaroo from New Holland.

On the whole, an exhibition of this kind is exceedingly interesting, but to enjoy it fully requires the absence of children, for first they must be taken strict care of, second, they are so small and defenceless that one cannot keep out of the imagination, a possibility of the breaking of a single iron bar.

I went to the Office for a short time, then home to read Livy. Afternoon, Sismondi and Fouque with something of Berni. Evening, Madame Junot again and Swifts Examiner.2