Snow showers but on the whole clear. Time as usual. Evening, Diorama.

Finished the balance of occupation at the Office and now I promise to go on seriously with Burr and to try to squeeze something out of him. To this end went to the Athenaeum where I found the Private Journal and took it home with me.1 The afternoon was then devoted very much to the study of it which fills me with disappointment. What a mere parcel of emptiness it is.

Evening I accompanied Mrs. Adams, and the two elder children with E. C. Adams whom we called for at Mrs. Miller’s to the Diorama of the Battle of Bunker’s hill. This is an imitation of the Conflagration of Moscow, and represents three scenes—the march of the insurgents to take the heights, the preparation of the troops to go from Boston, and the action and burning of Charlestown. It is ingeniously done and carefully prepared, on the whole well worth seeing.

Clear and cold. Time divided as usual. E. C. Adams in the evening.

I sat down today in earnest both at the Office and at home to reading Aaron Burr. The biography at the former1 and the private Journal at the latter. In this way I made great progress in both and as my time was less interrupted than usual, gathered some materials for criticism. Read Electra too and this constitutes the whole of my work for the day. E. C. Adams spent the day here very quietly and I returned with her to Mr. Miller’s. Otherwise, nothing remarkable.