Browsing: Diary of Charles Francis Adams, Volume 2

The weather changed during the Night and saluted us this morning with a most bitter cold. The Thermometer was some degrees below zero and I really suffered more than usual. During the whole of the last Winter, I felt nothing like it. At the Office. Wrote a letter to my Mother and examined my Law Case for the evening, which occupied me diligently.1 I read some of Mr. Burke upon the Catholic question in Ireland, in the afternoon, and studied my subject for delivery at the Moot Court. I find the principal thing consists in the due arrangement of thought. Extemporaneous delivery consists in some measure in the strength with which the mind grasps an idea preserving the distinctness of it, and thereby rendering explanation easy. In the evening, I argued the case and was on the whole pretty well satisfied, as I had no great difficulty, although very far from elegance. This will come afterwards. Once confidence is gained in my own powers, I will not fear for the rest.