Autograph notes from an unidentified journal criticizing the poem of Pierre Le Moyne, 1602-1671, on Saint Louis with reference to Book XIII, and mentioning Voltaire.

The journal details Morgan’s tour from Rome to London in 1764 and provides details of the imporant persons he met during this time, including Voltaire. He also writes about universities and academies, palaces, cities, travel, and social life in eighteenth-century Europe. The copy of the 1764 journal is accompanied by his daybook of 1781-1788 which contains accounts of his professional activities such as the medical supplies he sold to his patients and the services he rendered.

Amory left Boston after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and the volume tracks his journey to Newport, Rhode Island, and New York, where he transacted business and exchanged notes with individuals like Dr. James Lloyd (1728-1810). There are also accounts of expenses related to his passage to England, which included stops in Cork, Ireland, and Liverpool, before he reached London in May 1779. Entries show payment for domestic services to women, clothing, lodging, food, and books for Amory, as well as items he sent home to his family like children’s shoes, tooth brushes, and reference books. One entry records his payment for a monument for his wife, Catherine, in St. Lawrence Church. There additionally are accounts for goods shipped from Amsterdam by Amory to John & Thomas Amory, and to Jonathan Amory, who was operating the business in his brother’s absence. In January 1782, Amory departed for Brussels; while there, he imported goods from Nantes, France-based Watson & Cassoul, which were then shipped to Providence to John & Thomas Amory and to Jonathan Amory in Boston. Amory returned to London in June 1782, and accounts thereafter show Amory brokered bills of exchange and received commissions or fees. He arrived back in Providence in July 1783 and continued to do business with Watson & Cassoul. Loose papers laid in to the volume include an account of payments Amory made after arriving in England, and goods he shipped to Providence including works by Voltaire, Horace, and Tacitus, a Latin Bible, and linens. There are also invoices of sugar and tea shipped by M.M. Joy, accounts of sugar and tea sold in Philadelphia, and a memorandum of bills received from Jonathan Amory.

The journal begins with a poem by Voltaire.

A page from the journal of Ann Walker. After visitng his château at Ferney, she questions ‘if Voltaire was in reality what the world represents him (an Infidel,) is it not singular that he should have built a Church for the worship of God?’

D’Argenson writes that after the death of Louis XV, the Grand Officers of the Crown went to pay their respects to Louis XVI who had left that day at 5:30pm with the Queen to go to Choisy-le-Roi. He notes that the king and queen will stay there for some time with the Comte d’Artois de Provence. They are joined by Madame la Comtesse de Provence, M. le Comte d’Artois, Madame la Comtesse d’Artois, and Madame and Mesdames Victoite and Sophie who tended to the late king. Other topics discussed by d’Argentla include the theatre. He writes that they will give the théâtre françois the Sophonisbe de Mairet, something he claims is extremely pathetic. He adds that Voltaire retouched it, putting more nobility into the language and more decency into the manners. He concludes that the denouement is above all sublime and the greatnes of the soul of Massinissa must make a lively impression on the hearts of the helpers.