CHAP. I.] ADMIRES OSSIAN. 29 of his early manuscripts, but he admired the author of the Leasowes more than of the pastorals! Ossian may be thought in good company in the above list. It was, we believe, the very year that Mr. Jefferson entered college that Macpherson published his Remains of Ancient Poetry. The second or third year after, appeared Fingal, Temora, and the smaller Ossianic poems. The splendid career of this bold imposture, as well as the actual merits of these remarkable poems (Jonathan Oldbuck to the contrary notwithstanding) are well known. Productions which attracted the marked admiration of Hume, and of some other of the finest writers and scholars of England-which in Cesarotti's Italian costume, "formed almost the whole poetical library of Napoleon "were hailed with deep enthusiasm by the young Virginia student. There was something in the high-wrought objective descriptions, in the wild, grand imagery, that captivated him, and for once our practicalist and utilitarian came almost to see like his Cherokee friend, Ontassetè, the forms of heroes in clouds, and to hear their clashing shields in the elemental strife! With a characteristic disregard of labor, where a mental gratification was in view, he at once resolved to study the Gaelic or Erse, to enable him to read the originals of Macpherson's wonderful collection; and he actually wrote a relative of that gentleman in Scotland, who had formerly resided in Virginia, to procure him, if possible, a Gaelic grammar and dictionary, and to request the soi-disant translator's leave to have a manuscript copy taken of the original poems! He desired his correspondent to spare no expense, "the glow of one warm thought" being "worth more than money." "He was not ashamed to own that he thought this rude bard of the North the greatest poet that had ever existed." The reply, if any ever reached him, has not transpired. This admiration of Ossian-fairly outheroding Hector McIntyre's-was long in cooling. As late as 1781 or 1782 we shall find Mr. Jefferson and a celebrated French traveller (Major-General the Marquis de Chastellux) reciting passages from it with particular gusto, one evening round a punch-bowl at Monticello! Long enough 1 So says Sir James Mackintosh. This curious letter, dated as late as Feb. 25, 1773, will be found in the Congress edition of his Works. 30 BEGINS LAW STUDIES. [CHAP. I. before his death, however, he ceased to think it the production of "the greatest poet that ever existed "—or to often name it, or ever take it from the shelf. Soon after leaving college, Mr. Jefferson entered upon the study of the law. He says in his Memoir: "He [Dr. Small] returned to Europe in 1762, having previously filled up the measure of his goodness to me, by procuring for me, from his most intimate friend, George Wythe, a reception as a student of law, under his direction, and introduced me to the acquaintance and familiar table of Governor Fauquier, the ablest man who had ever filled that office. With him, and at his table, Dr. Small and Mr. Wythe, his amici omnium horarum, and myself, formed a partie quarrée, and to the habitual conversations on these occasions I owed much instruction." Mr. Wythe was one of the purest, ablest and most profoundly erudite lawyers ever produced by a State which has been particularly famous for good lawyers; and probably there was something in the care he manifested in his students' progress and in the general regulations of his office,' which made Mr. Jefferson esteem studying under him so desirable—while Peyton and John Randolph, the sons of his great-uncle, Sir John, were also both practising law in Williamsburg—were both of sufficient distinction in their profession to become Colonial Attorney-Generals-and were both intimate and attached friends of his own, so there could have been no doubt of their willing reception of him as a law student, had he desired it. Francis Fauquier, Governor of Virginia at this period, is thus described by the historian Burk: "With some allowance he was everything that could have been wished for by Virginia under a royal government. Generous, liberal, elegant in his manners and acquirements, his example left an impression of taste, refinement, and erudition on the character of the colony, which eminently contributed to its present high reputation in the arts."" There was something peculiar in a young law-student, not yet twenty-one years old, being made the chosen and habitual 1 Our impression is that Mr. Wythe took extraordinary pains with the few students he received, having them make careful abstracts of all they studied-practising them in mock courts-freely giving his opinions to them and otherwise instructing them. 2 Burk's Hist. of Virginia, vol. iii. p. 333. CHAP. I.] RELIGIOUS VIEWS. 31 fourth of such a "partie quarrée;" and Mr. Jefferson, in fact, understates his intimacy at "the palace," as the Governor's house was then styled. Not only was he invited to all its parties, little and large, but he belonged to a small band of musical amateurs, of which the Governor was one, who assembled weekly, to perform on their several instruments and indulge in the most familiar private intercourse. He was, therefore, the Governor's "friend of all hours"-serious and gay even more literally than Dr. Small and Mr. Wythe. This would seem to show the estimate placed on his social and intellectual qualities, and probably the expectations formed of his future career, by an able and experienced observer and a practised man of the world. Apart from the intellectual improvement derived from such an intercourse, Mr. Jefferson, it is said, owed that polish of manner which distinguished him through life, to his habitual mingling with the elegant society which Governor Fauquier collected about him: But with these good gifts, according to the late John Randolph of Roanoke, came more questionable ones. Governor Fauquier was a disciple of Shaftesbury and Bolingbroke, and he was passionately addicted to gaming.' While it is conceded that Mr. Jefferson escaped the contamination of his vices, Mr. Randolph conjectured that he did not that of his religious views. But a far more impartial and discriminating witnessone vastly better acquainted with and capable of appreciating 1 Burk, in stating the "allowance" to be made, in estimating Fauquier's high services to Virginia (see preceding page), draws the following melancholy picture: "It is stated, on evidence sufficiently authentic, that on the return of Anson, from his circumnavigation of the earth, he accidentally fell in with Fauquier, from whom, in a single night's play, he won at cards the whole of his patrimony; that afterwards, being captivated by the striking graces of this gentleman's person and conversation, he procured for him the gov ernment of Virginia. Unreclaimed by the former subversion of his fortune, he introduced the same fatal propensity to gaming into Virginia; and the example of so many virtues and accomplishments alloyed but by a single vice, was but too successful in extending the influence of this pernicious and ruinous practice. He found among the people of his new government, a character compounded of the same elements as his own; and he found little difficulty in rendering fashionable a practice which had, before his arrival, already prevailed to an alarming extent. During the recess of the courts of judicature and assemblies, he visited the most distinguished landholders in the Colonies, and the rage for playing deep, reckless of time, health, or money, spread like a contagion among a class proverbial for their hospitality, their politeness, and fondness of expense. In everything beside, Fauquier was the ornament and the delight of Virginia."—[History of Virginia, vol. iii. p. 333.] This picture of Virginia society sufficiently explains "the bad company," ""the temptations and difficulties," to which Mr. Jefferson states he was early exposed, in the letter to his grandson, already quoted. Professor Tucker mentions this as an oral statement to himself by that gentleman.-[Life of Jefferson, vol. i. p. 41.] It was made, then, long after the fountains of John Randolph's bitter heart were turned to gall against his earlier friend and kinsman. 32 INDUSTRY IN HIS STUDIES. [CHAP. L the particular structure of Mr. Jefferson's mind, as well as more familiar with his opinions-James Madison, "gave no credit to this supposed influence."1 During Mr. Jefferson's law course of five years, he usually spent the summer months at home, at Shadwell, where the rest of the family continued to reside. The systematic industry of his college life continued. Notwithstanding the time given to company, he contrived to pass nearly twice the usual number of hours of law students in his studies. He placed a clock in his bedroom, and as soon as he could distinguish its hands in the grey of the summer morning, he rose and commenced his labors. In winter, he rose punctually at five. His hour of retiring in the summer, in the country, was nine-in the winter, at ten. At Shadwell, his studies were very little interrupted by company. He usually took a gallop on horseback during the day, and at twilight walked to the top of Monticello. An hour or two given to the society of his family, and the favorite violin, completed the list of interruptions, and still left fourteen or fifteen hours for study and reading. With Mr. Jefferson, the lover succeeded the schoolboy in the due and time-honored order, as laid down by the "melancholy Jaques." The only record of this affair is to be found in a series of letters addressed by him to his friend, John Page, 1 Professor Tucker states this on the personal authority of Mr. Madison.-[Life of Jefferson, vol. i. p. 41.] The only glimpse we get of Mr. Jefferson's early religious sentiments from himself, appears during the height of his intimacy with Governor Fauquier, in a letter to John Page, July 15th, 1763. It was seriously written, and must speak for itself: "Perfect happiness, I believe, was never intended by the Deity to be the lot of one of his creatures in this world; but that he has very much put in our power the nearness of our approaches to it, is what I have steadfastly believed. The most fortunate of us, in our journey through life, frequently meet with calamities and misfortunes, which may greatly afflict us; and, to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and misfortunes, should be one of the principal studies and endeavors of our lives. The only method of doing this is to assume a perfect resignation to the Divine will, to consider whatever does happen must happen; and that by our uneasiness, we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we may add to its force after it has fallen. These considerations, and others such as these, may enable us in some measure to surmount the difficulties thrown in our way; to bear up with a tolerable degree of patience under this burthen of life; and to proceed with a pious and unshaken resignation, till we arrive at our journey's end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of him who gave it, and receive such reward as to him shall seem proportioned to our merit. Such, dear Page, will be the language of the man who considers his situation in this life, and such should be the language of every man who would wish to render that situation as easy as the nature of it will admit. Few things will disturb him at all: nothing will disturb him much. If this letter was to fall into the hands of some of our gay acquaintance, your correspondent and his solemn notions would probably be the subjects of a great deal of mirth and raillery, but to you I think I can venture to send it. It is in effect a continuation of the many conversations we have had on subjects of this kind; and I heartily wish we could continue these conversations face to face." CHAP. I.] MR. JEFFERSON AS THE LOVER. 33 commencing immediately after he left college, and extending, at intervals, through the two succeeding years. These are to be found at length in the Congress edition of his Works, and also in his Life, by Professor Tucker. They possess some interest, perhaps, in relation to their subject matter, but most, as the earliest specimens of their author's epistolary writing which have been preserved. Though they display something of that easy command of language-that "running pen"-for which he was afterwards so celebrated, they exhibit no peculiar grace of style, or maturity of thought. Perhaps, however, these would scarcely be expected in the careless, off-hand effusions of boyish intimacy. It causes a smile to see the future statesman "sighing like furnace" in a first love; concealing, after the approved fashion of student life, the name of his mistress under awkward Latin puns and Greek anagrams, to bury a secret which the world, of course, was supposed to have a vast interest in discovering; delightedly describing happy dances with his "Belinda" in the Apollo (that room of the Raleigh tavern where we shall soon find him acting so different a part); vowing the customary despairing vow, that "if Belinda will not accept his service, it never shall be offered to another;" and so on to the end of the chapter-in the well-beaten track of immemorial prescription. The object of his attachment was a Miss Rebecca Burwell (called Belinda, as a pet-name, or by way of concealment), whom tradition speaks of as more distinguished for beauty than cleverness. His proposals seem to have been clogged with the condition. that he must be absent for two or three years in foreign travel before marriage. He several times expresses this design, specifying England, Holland, France, Spain, Italy, Egypt, and a return through the northern British provinces in America, as his proposed route. Why he gave this up, does not appear. Whether for this, or because her preferences lay in a different direction, Miss Burwell somewhat abruptly married another inan, in 1764. Mr. Jefferson was generally, however, rather a favorite with the other sex, and not without reason. His appearance was engaging. His face, though angular, and far from beautiful, beamed with intelligence, with benevolence, and with the cheerful vivacity of a happy, hopeful spirit. His complexion was VOL. 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