Spring day with showers. The news from America continues highly favorable If it goes on at the same rate for a month more the rebellion will be at an end. The strokes come to too thick and fast to be much longer endured by this impatient population. I await every report with anxiety. I went out today to attend a public sale of a collection of coins belonging to the estate of a lady deceased. They were said to have been selected by Lord Northwick, one of the best authorities known here, and were certainly in generally support condition. The English portion was sold today. There were not more than about thirty persons present. But the bidding was lively and the prices secured to me to be pretty high. My object in attending was to become familiar with the rates and the coins. One such sale teaches more than a year’s study of books. I purchased myself to some extent, but only with caution and in cases where I could make no mistake. Home at five, after which I took a walk. The days grow rapidly now, so that the light continues almost until dinner time. In the evening we got the American papers which made me strain my eyes until my head ached.61