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Browsing: Diary of John Quincy Adams, Volume 1
Saturday 18th.
Docno: DQA01d042
Date: 1779-12-18
This morning I went to the French Consul's and from there to the Governor's of this place. We saw Mr. Logonare1 at the Con•
{p. 15}
suls. We gave him a Letter and carry another to the Governor's and gave it to him.2 He said he would give us a Passport this afternoon3 or to morrow and that it was impossible to go till monday. Very fine weather. I look'd this morning out of our chamber window and saw a beautiful sight. The waves all foaming upon the Beach and Breaking made a terrible noise and as beautiful a sight as I ever saw in my life. We expected to see a Nun made to day but we were disappointed. The Nuns are shut up in Convents and never see any men Except the friars. <
[They go? ...] different [... reasons?]. Sometimes the thing is this. In these European Countries a Girl must marry the person that her parents [to?] chuse for her. If they are ever so obstinate as to absolutely refuse to marry a Person> This afternoon the Gentlemen all went to see the armory but I was a writing a Letter4 and therefore could not go.
1. Michel Lagoanere, “acting” American agent in La Coruña, who proved unusually helpful to JA by providing travel information and hiring mules and carriages for the trip across northern Spain (JA, Diary and Autobiography
, 2:412; and letter to Lagoanere referred to in note 2, below).
2. Both letters are dated 18 Dec. (LbC, Adams Papers); in the Lagoanere letter JA discussed his travel needs for the journey across northern Spain and in his letter to the governor listed the names of those for whom he was requesting passports.
3. The passport, which was issued that day for JA and his party, is in the Adams Papers and is reproduced in JA, Diary and Autobiography
, 2:facing p. 290).
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/