In conversation, he is free and communicative. All topics that fall under discussion are treated by him with equal unreservedness. He seems, indeed, to have no thought or opinion to conceal, and his stores of knowledge are unlocked and laid open with the same freedom in which nature unfolds her...
Mr. Jefferson entered; and if I was astonished to find Mr. Madison short and somewhat awkward, I was doubly astonished to find Mr. Jefferson, whom I had always supposed to be a small man, more than six feet high, with dignity in his appearance, and ease and graciousness in his manners ... ... To...
The evening passed away pleasantly in general conversation, of which Mr. Jefferson was necessarily the leader ... He has the same discursive manner and love of paradox, with the same appearance of sobriety and cool reason. He seems equally fond of American antiquities, and especially the...
Perhaps the most curious single specimen—or, at least, the most characteristic of the man and expressive of his hatred of royalty—was a collection which he had bound up in six volumes, and lettered “The Book of Kings,” consisting of the “Memoires de la Princesse de Bareith,” two volumes; “Les...
The evening passed away pleasantly in general conversation, of which Mr. Jefferson was necessarily the leader. I shall probably surprise you by saying that, in conversation, he reminded me of Dr. Freeman. He has the same discursive manner and love of paradox, with the same appearance of sobriety...
We left Charlottesville on Saturday morning, the 4th of February, for Mr. Jefferson’s. He lives, you know, on a mountain, which he has named Monticello ... The ascent of this steep, savage hill, was as pensive and slow as Satan’s ascent to Paradise. We were obliged to wind two thirds round its...
Monticello is a curiosity! artifical to a high degree; in many respects superb. If it had not been called Monticello, I would call it Olympus, and Jove its occupant.
I found Mr. Jefferson tall in person, but stooping and lean with old age, thus exhibiting that fortunate mode of bodily decay, which strips the frame of its most cumbersome parts, leaving it still strength of muscle and activity of limb. His deportment was exactly such as the Marquis de...
of all the persons I have known, Mr. Jefferson appears to owe most to the manner of his intercourse with mankind, there is nothing more fascinating about him than the appearance of perfect candour. He is much more of a courtier than I can ever be, with every aspect of the most unconcerned...
That arch-demagogue Jefferson once preached with exquisite emotion and effect against “domiciliary taxation,” and now under his pious successors, we have it with a vengeance. Villiany & hypocrisy thy name is
patriotism and Economy!
P. S. I have just copied the your manuscript on meteorological subjects, in which you have condensed a vast variety of most instructive & amusing information. It is astonishing how you could find time, in the midst of your other engagements to make such a prodigious number of observations. I...
... such is the testimony given me by Mr. Hale, the author of a History of the United States, who numbered among the most fortunate incidents of his life that he made a visit to Monticello. Mr. Jefferson welcomed him, scarcely noticing his letters of introduction, and at once made his...
what would you say to edifying the world by a chaste, elegant, and philosophical life of Citn Thomas your Uncle? He is in my judgement the best subject for biography after Gen: Washington which our country has afforded. This is a question worthy of consideration. It would be a great thing for a...
I am very happy in being able, at last, to congratulate you on the success of the Bill for the establishment of an University at the Central college. It was carried, on yesterday, by in the House of Delegates by the overwhelming & unexpected majority of 141 to 28 ... Among the many sources of...
Mr Jeffersons when I last saw him a bout ten days since look’d as well as he did 10 years ago, and to day tho the wind is blowing a perfect Herricane he rode through Charlottesville to visit the College to morrow he purposes to set out for Poplar Forest to spend a month.
these hard times require the Bounty of nature to be profusely scatterd to make up for the losses sustaind by letting Money on interest to those who are become Bankrupts Mr Wilson Nicholas has faild for three hundred thousand Dollars. Mr Jeffersons indors’d for him to the amount of twenty...
Our return to Oak Ridge, and thence to Castle Hill, brought us again among our new and old friends. Among these we were honored by a visit from Mr Jefferson ... It was the first time I had ever seen the sage of Monticello, though I had heard of him often through friends and foes, through good...
The mansion-house of Mr Jefferson occupies the summit of an eminence, constituting a part of the South west mountain of Virginia, elevated about 600 feet above an arm of the James River, which meanders at its base. This ascent eminence, the ascent of which following the flexures of the road, is...
We arrived at Monticello, three miles farther, about eleven o’clock, ascending the South West Mountain, on which the house is situated, by a winding carriage-road through the wood. I sent in my letter to Mr. Jefferson, who soon afterwards came out and gave me a polite reception, leading me...
Mr. Jefferson’s appearance is rather prepossessing. He is tall and very thin, a little bent with age, with an intelligent and sprightly countenance. His manners are dignified, but courteous and gentlemanly; and he enters into conversation with great ease and animation.
But one of the greatest curiosities I met with was Thomas Jefferson. Whether you will call this a natural or an artificial curiosity, I am puzzled to know. At all events, I went to see him at the exhibition-house at Monticello, up a long hill, which is almost daily trod by many a weary pilgrim’s...