From the painting by Henry Ulke, in the
Treasury Department at Washington.

Autograph from the Chamberlain collection,
Boston Public Library.

Stratford Canning 149

After a drawing (1853) by George Richmond.
Autograph from "Life of Stratford Canning."

Henry A. Wise 291

From a photograph by Brady, in the Library
of the State Department at Washington.

Autograph from the Chamberlain collection,
Boston Public Library.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (p. 001)

CHAPTER I

YOUTH AND DIPLOMACY

On July 11, 1767, in the North Parish of Braintree, since set off as
the town of Quincy, in Massachusetts, was born John Quincy Adams. Two
streams of as good blood as flowed in the colony mingled in the veins
of the infant. If heredity counts for anything he began life with an
excellent chance of becoming famous--_non sine dis animosus infans_.
He was called after his great-grandfather on the mother's side, John
Quincy, a man of local note who had borne in his day a distinguished
part in provincial affairs. Such a naming was a simple and natural
occurrence enough, but Mr. Adams afterward moralized upon it in his
characteristic way:--

"The incident which gave rise to this circumstance is not without
its moral to my heart. He was dying when I was baptized; and his
daughter, my grandmother, present at my birth, requested that I
might receive his name. The fact, recorded by my father at (p. 002)
the time, has connected with that portion of my name a charm
of mingled sensibility and devotion. It was filial tenderness
that gave the name. It was the name of one passing from earth to
immortality. These have been among the strongest links of my
attachment to the name of Quincy, and have been to me through
life a perpetual admonition to do nothing unworthy of it."

Fate, which had made such good preparation for him before his birth, was
not less kind in arranging the circumstances of his early training and
development. His father was deeply engaged in the patriot cause, and
the first matters borne in upon his opening intelligence concerned the
public discontent and resistance to tyranny. He was but seven years
old when he clambered with his mother to the top of one of the high
hills in the neighbor