Adams Papers Digital Edition

Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1

26th.

28th.
27th. JQA

1785-01-27

 27th. Adams, John Quincy
27th.

Company to dine Mr. d'Asp,1 and another Swedish gentleman. Mr. Setaro a Portuguese gentleman in the Evening. Mr. Williams2 spent the evening with us. Coll. Humphreys presented to Mr. A: a copy of his Poem address'd to the Armies of the United States.3 It appears very well written. The versification is in general noble, and easy. It is a recapitulation of some of the principal events that happened during the course of the late Revolution, and contains predictions concerning the future grandeur of the United States. May they be verified!4

1.

Per Olof von Asp, secretary of the Swedish embassy at Paris ( Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon; entry for 18 April, below).

 2.

Jonathan Williams Jr., who joined his great-uncle Benjamin Franklin in France in 1776 and served as U.S. commercial agent at Nantes ( DAB ).

 3.

“A Poem, Addressed to the Armies of the United States of America,” New Haven, 1780, repr. Paris and London, 1785 218(Dexter, Yale Graduates , 3:417–418). JA's presentation copy, presumably of the Paris edition (see AA2, Jour. and Corr. , 1:45), has not been found.

 4.

A red exclamation mark here was probably added after 1 Feb., when JQA began to record dates in red ink.