Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
1781-06-17
This morning Pappa, Mr. Dana, brother Charles and I, went to the English presbyterian Church, to hear a Sermon, the text was.
“And the times of this ignorance god winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” Acts 17:30.
81Mr. Brice din'd with us, after dinner I went alone to Church again; the text was.
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1st. 21st.
After Church I went to see Mr. Bordly; a little after brother Charles and Mr. Brice came there, brother Charles, Mr. Bordly and I went out to take a walk. We went to see Mr. Greves, but he was not at home; brother Charles and I went from thence to Madam Chabanel's where we supp'd; at about half past ten we came home.
From Guthrie's Grammar (continued from yesterday) Chapter 4th §: 7th.1
Here follow, on two pages of the Diary, “sections” 7, 8, and 9 from Guthrie's Geographical
Grammar
, p. 402–403, on Dutch dress, religion, and language. JQA
copied the “Lord's Prayer” in Dutch from a source other than Guthrie because, as he later
explained, it had been rendered incomplete there (entry for 10 July, below).
1781-06-18
This morning I went to a bookseller's to get the Politique Hollandois; Mr. Cerisier din'd here; after dinner I went to Mr. Sigourney's and drank tea there; after tea I went to see Mr. Greves, he was not at home, but as I was returning I met him in the Street and went to his house with him again, we went to the Coffy house where I left Mr. Greaves, and return'd home at about 9 o'clock.
(From Guthrie's Grammar continued from Yesterday) Chap. 4th §: 10th.1
On the next three and one-half pages of the Diary, JQA transcribed sections
10–12 from Guthrie, Geographical Grammar
, p. 403, concerning Dutch learning and learned men,
universities, and “antiquities and curiosities, natural and artificial.”
1781-06-19
This day we all din'd at Mr. Deneufville's with Mr. Cerisier Colo. Searle Mr. Brice Mr. Van Hasseldt, Mr. Le Comte, Commodore Gillon, and Mr. Jennings, after dinner I went to Madam Chabanel's: after I had been there a little while Mr. Thaxter, Mr. Bromfield,1 Mr. Guild and brother Charles came there; we 82went to take a walk out of the town. We walked some ways and then we return'd home and the gentlemen left us.
§: 13th.2
Probably Henry Bromfield Jr., who had left Massachusetts the previous July to settle some
of his father's accounts, and who possibly had helped establish earlier in 1781 the
Amsterdam mercantile firm of Sigourney, Ingraham & Bromfield (JA, Diary and Autobiography
, 2:453–454, 456;
Cal.
Franklin Papers, A.P.S.
, 2:272; 3:434; 4:49, 313).
On the following two and one-half pages from the Diary is Guthrie's account of Dutch
“cities, towns, and other edifices, public and private” (Geographical Grammar, p. 403–404). At the point where Guthrie's commentary turns to
the Dutch village of Saardam (p. 404), in which Peter the Great served an apprenticeship in
shipbuilding, JQA has inserted the note, “Vide. Voltaire History of Russia.
Chapter 9th.,” in which the French historian elaborates on the Russian czar's experience
there (Histoire de l'Empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand, 2
vols., n.p., 1759, 1:152–154). This work was purchased by JQA a month later in
Cologne on his journey to Russia and is listed in the
Catalogue of JQA's
Books
.