[Boston—Sunday, 1 January 1871]
Sunday, Jany 1st Dined with Tom Appleton. Mr Gay the artist was there. He showed us sketches by a French artists [sic] intended to be amusing in 1866 of the King of Prussia as Jack in the Box. It is now only too terrible. There were others also of the same dramatic and almost prophetic character. Mr. Appleton’s talk is always brilliant and entertaining but with so little consecutiveness, and what is far more important, so little of the terrible fire of action behind it, (none at all, I should say) that it palls even as you listen, after a while, and makes it impossible to remember. Still, we had an interesting two hours and I am only ashamed to have retained none of the talk.
