and (p. 006)
enable me to be more entertaining to you." What gratification must
this letter from one who was quite justified in signing himself her
"dutiful and affectionate son" have brought to the Puritan bosom of
the good mother at home! If the plan for the diary was not pursued
during the first short flitting abroad, it can hardly be laid at the
door of the "lad of eleven years" as a serious fault. He did in fact
begin it when setting out on the aforementioned second trip to Europe,
calling it

A JOURNAL BY J. Q. A.,

_From America to Spain._

Vol. I.

Begun Friday, 12 of November, 1779.

The spark of life in the great undertaking flickered in a somewhat
feeble and irregular way for many years thereafter, but apparently
gained strength by degrees until in 1795, as Mr. C. F. Adams tells us,
"what may be denominated the diary proper begins," a very vigorous
work in more senses than one. Continued with astonishing persistency
and faithfulness until within a few days of the writer's death, the
latest entry is of the 4th of January, 1848. Mr. Adams achieved many
successes during his life as the result of conscious effort, but (p. 007)
the greatest success of all he achieved altogether unconsciously. He
left a portrait of himself more full, correct, vivid, and picturesque
than has ever been bequeathed to posterity by any other personage of
the past ages. Any mistakes which may be made in estimating his mental
or moral attributes must be charged to the dulness or prejudice of the
judge, who could certainly not ask for better or more abundant
evidence. Few of us know our most intimate friends better than any of
us may know Mr. Adams, if we will but take the trouble. Even the brief
extracts already given from his correspondence show us the boy; it
only concerns us to get them into the proper light for seeing them
accurately. If a lad of seven, nine, or eleven years of age should
write such solemn little effusions amid the surroundings and
influences of the present day, he would probably be set down justly
enough as either an offensive young prig or a prematurely developed
hypocrite. But the precocious Adams had only a little of the prig and
nothing of the hypocrite in his nature. Being the outcome of many
generations of simple, devout, intelligent Puritan ancestors, living
in a community which loved virtue and sought