Extract from Francis Hall’s Account of a Visit to Monticello
| [7–8 Jan. 1817] |
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 Chastellux describes it, above thirty years ago: “At first serious, nay even cold,” but in a very short time relaxing into a most agreeable amenity; with an unabated flow of conversation on the most interesting topics, discussed in the most gentlemanly, and philosophical manner.
Published in Francis Hall, Travels in Canada, and the United States, in 1816 and 1817 (London, 1818), 374-86; date supplied from an itinerary on p. 340. Published in PTJRS, 10:644.
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January 7, 1817 to January 8, 1817
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