10th. Finished reading Ward's Law of Nations, two vols.,
and began Vattel.

18th. Went from Dr. P.'s to McC.'s to board. Sent by E.
twenty dollars to Mr. Abbott. Paid one dollar and fifty cents
for door keys; one dollar and eighty cents for locks and keys.

31st. Attended the trial of Blood, for passing counterfeit bills;
heard Otis, in his defence; very fluent, rapid, and ingenious;
Davis, on the part of the government, shrewd and dextrous, but.
using language incorrect and often inelegant.

September 1st. Handed Dr. P. thirteen dollars.

4th. Finished reading Evans's Essays on the "Account for
money had and received," and bills of exchange. Wrote to
J. McGaw, Esq., yesterday.

14th. Paid S. A. Bradley five dollars for some small notes,
et cetera. Wrote Mr. Bigelow. Finished Evans on Insurance,
some time ago; read Boswell's Hebrides.

17th. Professional life affords fewer prospects of making great
estates, but more certainty of earning a comfortable living.
Mercantile business is precarious though often exceedingly lu-
crative; professional, seldom very lucrative; but generally, cer-
tain; therefore, I rejoice that I am in the way of a profession.
Oh, Instability! To-day, I have heard of mercantile failures.
I philippize against that employment now; to-morrow, perhaps,
I shall hear of great and heavy gains, and shar then eulogize it.

22d. Returned from Worcester; heard A. Walcott say that
the Democrats had lost ground in Connecticut, at this fall elec-
tion; that the constitution plan was rather unpopular; and, as
he thought, premature.

24th. Socrates said, if you marry, you will repent; if you
neglect it, you will repent. Read Viner's Title of Pleadings
yesterday, and to-day. It is not so copious nor so instructive
as what Bacon says, under the same title. Wrote Mr. Peirce,
some days ago.

26th. Read one hundred pages in Abbott on Shipping; de-
rived much instruction from it. "If a captain in his voyage
hypothecates his ship to different loaners, and to a greater
amount than the value of the ship, the last loaner shall be
entitled to priority of payment; because it is that loan which
preserved the ship."

October 1st. Finished Abbott on Shipping; a valuable trea-

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