I employ'd myself in the forenoon with making some necessary preparations before my final departure for Newbury-port. In the afternoon I accompanied the ladies to Mrs. Quincy's. Miss 281Nancy has been very ill, and is much thinner than when I saw her last. She is however recovering.

Pass'd an agreeable afternoon, and return'd home just after dark.

Rode out in the morning with Mrs. Cranch. It rain'd hard all the afternoon—chilly north-east wind. The fruits of the earth are at this time extremely backward, on account of the little heat, and the great rains that have prevailed this summer. The productions of our lands require frequent, rather than plentiful rains, and great heat, as the summers are so short.

Rain'd in the fore part of the day but cleared up in the afternoon: I went with my gun down upon the marshes; but had no sport. Game laws are said to be directly opposed to the liberties of the subject: I am well perswaded that they may be carried too far, and that they really are in most parts of Europe. But it is equally certain that when there are none, there never is any game: so that the difference between the Country where laws of this kind exist, and that where they are unknown, must be that in the former very few individuals will enjoy the privilege of hunting, and eating venison, and in the latter this privilege will be enjoy'd by nobody.

Staid at home the whole day. Doctor Tufts was here in the morning, on his road to Boston, and in the evening on his return. I took a nap in the afternoon, and had a strange dream. I cannot conceive where my imagination ransack'd the ideas, which prevailed at that time in my mind. This part of the action of the human soul, is yet to be accounted for: and perhaps has not been scrutinized with so much accuracy as it might have been.

In the evening I read about one half of Mr. Jefferson's notes upon Virginia,1 and was very much pleased with them. There is a great deal of learning shown without ostentation, and a spirit of philosophy equally instructive and entertaining.