Adams Papers Digital Edition

Diary of John Adams, volume 1

14 Saturday.

16 Monday.
15 Sunday. JA 15 Sunday. Adams, John
15 Sunday.

Charming Weather. A.M. staid at home reading the Independent Whig.1 Very often Shepherds that are hired, to take care of their Masters sheep, go about their own Concern’s and leave the flock to the Care of their Dog. So Byshops, who are appointed to oversee the flock of Christ, take the Fees themslves, but leave the Drudgery to their Dogs, alias i.e. curates and understrappers.

 1.

[Thomas Gordon and John Trenchard,] The Independent Whig, originally a periodical publication but issued as a volume, London, 1721. There were numerous later enlarged editions, some bearing the subtitle “A Defence of Primitive Christianity.” Gordon and Trenchard attacked the high-church party in England and became still more influential as anticlerical and whig propagandists through their Cato’s Letters (London, 1724; 4 vols.), which was a popular book in America. JA owned several of their works. (Article on Gordon in DNB ; BM, Catalogue ; Josiah Quincy, Josiah Quincy, Jr. , p. 289; Catalogue of JA’s Library , p. 106, 247.)