Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 7
1837-05-01
It had rained a little in the night and was cloudy at sunrise but cleared with a violent northwest wind which brought with it sharp frost before sunset. A pretty May day. I went to the Office, but not very profitably occupied. Performed various commissions and then 235home to read Homer, reviewing the second Book with the exception of the catalogue of Ships.
Afternoon to Quincy to see about some trees but it was blowing so hard as to make it impossible to do much with them. The cold was quite considerable and altogether the country looked cheerless enough. I found as usual enough to vex me and very little to be pleased with and returned at sunset half frozen and provoked with my carpenter for not being on the spot. A good many errors have thus crept into the account which it is too late now to remedy. How we shall get through I do not know and hardly dare conjecture.
Found T. K. Davis at my house who spent an hour or two in pleasant talk. Afterwards, continued Hugo’s Notre Dame.
1837-05-02
The day was quite cold and a sharp frost this morning. I went to the Office where I did not do much. Talk with A. H. Everett, interrupted by a call from Baxter to find some trees ordered by Kirk, and then ran about three or four Wharves without success to meet with them.
Nothing new. The times still continue distressing and bankruptcies to a large amount occur daily, in New York which appears to be the great scene of disaster. Home. Letter from my father of inquiry. Says he is anxious to come on, and inquires about money of which I have none.1 The first time my spirits have been affected by the state of things.
Read Homer. What constitutes the difficulty of the Greek language? And why is it that after reading one book and knowing it well, you appear so little equal to reading another. Afternoon at home. Plutarch in the review, and Agathon. Wieland is certainly a great writer. He has wit, knowledge of books and knowledge of the human heart, but there is some levity in his principles.
Evening at home. Mr. Brooks came in and sat an hour. Nothing new to tell us. A few pages of Moore afterwards and then Victor Hugo whose extravagant fancies seem to take a wide scope in this romance of Notre Dame, but it may be doubted whether Nature is not the durable object for imitation.
JQA to CFA, 28 April, Adams Papers. With the Congress in adjournment and his further presence at the trial in Baltimore not required until fall, JQA’s return to Quincy for the summer awaited only a remittance from CFA of funds from his receivables in Quincy and Boston. CFA, however, had been severely hampered in making collections by the current economic distress (CFA to JQA, 25 April, LbC, Adams Papers).