Thursday, January 22 1761

…Paid Mr Will Blackwell 8/6 for 2 reams of paper received by him today…

My wife, poor creature, very bad. Oh, dreadful melancholy daily repetition; who can find words to describe my grief, a grief I hope thoroughly sincere, not built on passion or lust, but friendship’s more exalted tie, a tie of nature and of love.