candles, ornamented the mantle-piece.  The personal appearance of the ex-President himself corresponds with the simplicity of his furniture.  He resembles rather a substantial, well-fed farmer, than one who has wielded the destinies of this mighty Confederation, and been bred in the ceremony and etiquette of an European Court.  In fact, he appears to possess none of that sternness of character which you would suppose to belong to one a large part of whose life has been spent in political warfare, or, at any rate, amidst scenes requiring a vast deal of nerve and inflexibility.

“Mrs. Adams is described in a word—­a lady.  She has all the warmth of heart and ease of manner that mark the character of the southern ladies, and from which it would be no easy matter to distinguish her.

“The ex-President was the chief talker.  He spoke with infinite ease, drawing upon his vast resources with the certainty of one who has his lecture before him ready written.  The whole of his conversation, which steadily he maintained for nearly four hours, was a continued stream of light.  Well contented was I to be a listener.  His subjects were the architecture of the middle ages; the stained glass of that period; sculpture, embracing monuments particularly.  On this subject his opinion of Mrs. Nightingale’s monument in Westminster Abbey, differs from all others that I have seen or heard.  He places it above every other in the Abbey, and observed in relation to it, that the spectator ’saw nothing else.’  Milton, Shakspeare, Shenstone, Pope, Byron, and Southey were in turn remarked upon.  He gave Pope a wonderfully high character, and remarked that one of his chief beauties was the skill exhibited in varying the cesural pause—­quoting from various parts of his author to illustrate his remarks more fully.  He said very little on the politics of the country.  He spoke at considerable length of Sheridan and Burke, both of whom he had heard, and could describe with the most graphic effect.  He also spoke of Junius; and it is remarkable that he should place him so far above the best of his contemporaries.  He spoke of him as a bad man; but maintained, as a writer, that he had never been equalled.

“The conversation never flagged for a moment; and on the whole, I shall remember my visit to Quincy, as amongst the most instructive and pleasant I ever passed.”

As a theologian, Mr. Adams was familiar with the tenets of the various denominations which compose the great Christian family, and acquainted with the principal arguments by which they support their peculiar views.  While entertaining decided opinions of his own, which he did not hesitate to avow on all proper occasions, he was tolerant of the sentiments of all who differed from him.  He deemed it one of the most sacred rights of every American citizen, and of every human being, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, without let or hindrance, our laws equally tolerating, and equally protecting every sect.