which can well be conceived. I think I never shall forget the half hour I spent in contemplating this scene; first, gilded by the rays of a glowing sun, "going down" to the inhabitants of the valley" while it was yet day," and then losing every feature of sublimity and beauty in the indistinctness and obscurity of night. I thought of you all; of our summer evenings, and our mountain views; and rode to a quiet inn, at the foot of the Blue ridge, the retirement of which allowed me to indulge my home recollections till I retired to rest.

Letter XEX.

Richmond, 21st June, 1820.

I FEAR, however, that I am leaving no room for an account of my very interesting visit to Monticello. I went nearly 25 miles out of my way to obtain a letter of introduction to Mr. Jefferson, from his friend, Judge of Staunton, to whom I was recommended by the late amiable and very popular Governor of the State of Mississippi.

On the 18th instant, I left Hayes's tavern, at the foot of the Blue ridge, (to which my last letter brought me,) and proceeded to Gooch's, an excellent inn, to breakfast, where I saw the arrival of the Albion, at New York, with newspapers to the 30th April, and the sentence pronounced on Thistlewood and his associates. We shortly afterwards passed through Charlottesville, where General Tarleton was near capturing Mr. Jefferson and the State Legislature, being prevented only by a private intimation, sent by a female relation of one of

of the officers, a few miles distant, at whose house the General and his suite had invited themselves to breakfast. Here we saw an extensive university, which the State is erecting under Mr. Jefferson's auspices, and to which it is intended to invite the ablest Professors which Europe can supply.

I

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. sent in my letter to Mr. Jefferson, who soon afterwards came out and gave me a polite reception, leading me through the hall, hung with mammoth bones and Indian curiosities, to a room, ornamented with fine paintings. A young lady was playing on a piano-forte, but retired when we entered. Our conversation turned principally on the Indians, and the fine timber of the United States. With respect to the former, he considers them quite on a level, as respects intellectual character, with the Whites, and attributes the rapid civilization of the Choctaws, compared with that of the Creeks, on whom, perhaps, greater efforts have been bestowed, to the advantages possessed by the former for the growth of cotton, which had gradually induced them to spin and weave.

He observed, that notwithstanding the fine specimens which have been preserved of Indian eloquence, the Indians appear to have no poetic genius; and that he had never known an Indian discover a musical taste; that, on the contrary, the Africans almost universally possess fine voices and an excellent ear, and a passionate fondness for music. With this I have often been struck, as I passed through the Southern States, especially when I have seen them assembled at public worship, or packing cotton at New Orleans. Mr. Jefferson said that he never knew a person who had resided long among the Indians, return and settle among the Whites; and I understood him to say also, that he never knew a person who left the coast for the western country, or his descendants, return to the Atlantic States. After sitting about an hour, I rose to take leave, when Mr. J. pressed me to stay to dinner, to which I assented, on condition that he would not allow me to be any restraint upon him. He said he must leave me for an hour to ride, as his health had a few months since begun to fail, for the first time. I found no difficulty, however, in amusing myself in the museum and the grounds and garden. In the former, was the only upper jaw ever yet discovered, as

I was told, of a large animal now extinct, and some maps traced by the Indians on leather. The view on every side of the house, except one, where a small arc of the horizon is intercepted by a hill, is very extensive and beautiful. The Blue ridge affords an interesting variety of romantic scenery in a broken curve, extending, I believe, above 100 miles; one peak at the distance, I understood, of more than 120 miles, being sometimes visible. The horizon, on the Atlantic side, is about 40 miles distant; and bounds a flat well-wooded country, which appeared tame, when contrasted with the sublimity of the mountains. These, and especially a hill of the shape and dimensions of the largest pyramid in Egypt, which gives Mr. Jefferson a meridian line of 40 miles, frequently exhibit the phenomenon of looming.

On Mr. Jefferson's return from his ride, we had some interesting conversation respecting the university, and a favourite plan of his of dividing every county into districts, in which there should be schools, and a humble sort of college at convenient distances, a superior college, with every possible advantage, being established in the State. After dinner, when the ladies had retired, and we were quite alone, he expressed his sentiments very freely on the present