of Europe. Our second, never to suffer Europe to meddle in cisatlantic affairs." The whole letter, a long one, deserves to be read as the first exposition of what has since become a famous doctrine.

But

The darling object of Mr. Jefferson's last years was the founding of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. For this purpose he gave $1000; many of his neighbors in Albemarle County joined him with gifts; and through Jefferson's influence, the legislature appropriated considerable sums. money was the least of Jefferson's endowment of the University. He gave of the maturity of his judgment and a great part of his time. He was made regent. He drew the plans for the buildings, and overlooked their construction, riding to the University grounds almost every day, a distance of four miles, and back, and watching with paternal solicitude the laying of every brick and stone. His design was the perhaps overambitious one of displaying in the University buildings the various leading styles of architecture; and certain practical inconven

iences, such as the entire absence of closets from the houses of the professors, marred the result. Some offense also was given to the more religious people of Virginia, by the selection of a Unitarian as the first professor. However, Jefferson's enthusiasm, ingenuity, and thoroughness carried the scheme through with success; and the University still stands as a monument to its founder.

It should be recorded, moreover, that under Jefferson's regency the University of Virginia adopted certain reforms, which even Harvard, the most progressive of eastern universities, did not attain till more than half a century later. These were, an elective system of studies; the abolition of rules and penalties for the preservation of order, and the abolition of compulsory attendance at religious services.

Mr. Jefferson's daily life was simple and methodical. He rose as soon as it was light enough for him to see the hands of a clock which was opposite his bed. Till breakfast time, which was about nine o'clock, he employed himself in writing. The whole

morning was devoted to an immense correspondence; the discharge of which was not only mentally, but physically distressing, inasmuch as his crippled hands, each wrist having been fractured, could not be used without pain. In a letter to his old friend, John Adams, he wrote: "I can read by candle-light only, and stealing long hours from my rest; nor would that time be indulged to me could I by that light see to write. From sunrise to one or two o'clock, and often from dinner to dark, I am drudging at the writing-table. And all this to answer letters, in which neither interest nor inclination on my part enters; and often from persons whose names I have never before heard. Yet writing civilly, it is hard to refuse them civil answers." At his death Jefferson left copies of 16,000 letters, being only a part of those written by himself, and 26,000 letters written by others to him. At one o'clock he set out upon horseback, and was gone for one or two hours, attended by a servant, even when he became old and infirm. He continued these rides

never

until he had become so feeble that he had to be lifted to the saddle; and his mount was always a fiery one. Once, in Mr. Jefferson's old age, news came that a serious accident had happened in the neighboring village to one of his grandsons. Immediately he ordered his horse to be brought round, and though it was night and very dark, he mounted, despite the protests of the household, and, at a run, dashed down the steep ascent by which Monticello is reached. The family held their breath till the tramp of his horse's feet, on the level ground below, could faintly be heard.

At half past three or four he dined; and at six he returned to the drawing-room, where coffee was served. The evening was spent in reading or conversation, and at nine he went to bed. "His diet," relates a distinguished visitor, Daniel Webster," is simple, but he seems restrained only by his taste. His breakfast is tea and coffee, bread always fresh from the oven, of which he does not seem afraid, with at times a slight accompaniment of cold meat. He enjoys

his dinner well, taking with his meat a large proportion of vegetables." The fact is that he used meat only as a sort of condiment to vegetables. "He has a strong preference for the wines of the continent, of which he has many sorts of excellent quality. Dinner is served in half Virginian, half French style, in good taste and abundance. No wine is put on the table till the cloth is removed. In conversation, Mr. Jefferson is easy and natural, and apparently not ambitious; it is not loud as challenging general attention, but usually addressed to the person next him." His health remained good till within a few months of his death, and he never lost a tooth.

Scarcely less burdensome than his correspondence was the throng of visitors at Monticello, of all nationalities, from every State in the Union, some coming from veneration, some from curiosity, some from a desire to obtain free quarters. Groups of people often stood about the house and in the halls to see Jefferson pass from his study to his diningroom. It is recorded that " a female once