Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

that no particular endowment appeared pre-eminent. His course was not marked by any of those eccentricities which often presage the rise of extraordinary genius; but by that constancy of pursuit, that inflexibility of purpose, that bold spirit of inquiry, and thirst for knowledge, which are the surer prognostics of future greatness. His habits were those of patience and severe application, which, aided by a quick and vigorous apprehension, a talent of close and logical combination, and a retentive memory, laid the foundation sufficiently broad and strong for those extensive acquisitions which he subsequently made. Mathematics was his favorite study, and in that science he particularly excelled; he nevertheless distinguished himself in all the branches of education embraced in the established course of his Alma Mater. To his devotion to Philosophy and Science, he united an exquisite taste for the Fine Arts. In those of Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture, he made himself such an adept as to be afterwards accounted one of the best critics of the age. For Music he had an uncommon passion; and his hours of relaxation were passed in exercising his skill upon the Violin, for which he evinced an early and extravagant predilection. His fondness for the Ancient Classics strengthened continually with his strength, insomuch that it is said he scarcely passed a day, in all after life, without reading a portion of them. The same remark is applicable, in a more emphatic sense, to his passion for the Mathematics. He became so well acquainted with both the great languages of antiquity as to read them with ease; and so far perfected himself in the French as to become familiar with it, which was of essential service to him on entering the diplomatic field, subsequently assigned to him. He could also read and speak the Italian language, and had a competent knowledge of the Spanish. Such too, was his early propensity of prying to the bottom of every thing, that he made himself master of the Anglo-Saxon, as a root of the English, and "an element in legal Philology."

But it was the acquaintances which he had the good fortune to form, while in college, which probably determined the particular cast and direction of his ambition. These were the first characters in the society of Williamsburg, and in the whole Province; among whom he has placed on record, the names of three individ-‚` uals who were particularly instrumental in fixing his future destinies, distinguishing each according to his appropriate merit in the

work: viz. Dr. Small, one of the professors in college, 'who made him his daily companion; Gov. Fauquier, 'the ablest man who had ever filled that office, to whose acquaintance and familiar table,' he was admitted; and George Wythe, his faithful and beloved Mentor in youth, and his most affectionate friend through life.' Of the kindness and beneficial services of these gentlemen, we find him, at the age of seventy-seven, retaining the most grateful recollections, and improving his last moments, as it were, in dedicating a farewell tribute of filial veneration to the memory of each.

"It was" says he "my great good fortune, and what probably fixed the destines of my life, that Dr. Wm. Small, of Scotland, was then professor of mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of communication, correct and gentlemanly manners, and an enlarged and liberal mind. He most happily for me, became soon attached to me, and made me his daily companion when not engaged in the school; and from his conversation I got my first views of the expansion of science, and of the system of things in which we are placed. Fortunately, the philosophical chair became vacant soon after my arrival at college, and he was appointed to fill it per interim; and he was the first who ever gave, in that college, regular lectures in Ethics, Rhetoric, and Belles Lettres."

To Governor Fauquier, with whom he was in habits of intimacy, is also ascribed a high character. With the exception of an extravagant passion for gaming, he was every thing that could have been wished for by Virginia, under the royal government. Generous, liberal, elegant in his manners and accomplishments, his example left an impression of refinement and erudition on the colony, which eminently contributed to advance its reputation in the Arts. "With him" continues Mr. Jefferson, "and at his table, Dr. Small and Mr. Wythe, his amici omnium horarum, and myself, formed a partie quarree, and to the habitual conversations on these occasions, I owed much instruction."

George Wythe, whose name will occur frequently in these Sketches, was emphatically a second father to the young and aspiring Jefferson. He was born about the year 1727, of respectable parentage, on the shores of the Chesapeake. His education had been neglected by his parents; and himself had led an idle and voluptuous life until the age of thirty; but by an extraordinary effort of self-recovery, at that point of time, he overcame both the want and the waste of early advantages, insomuch as to be

[ocr errors]

come the best Latin and Greek scholar in the State. He was one of the foremost of the Virginia patriots during the stormy season of the Revolution; and successively one of the highest legal, legislative, and judicial characters which that State has furnished. He was early elected to the House of Delegates, then called the House of Burgesses, and continued in it until transferred to Congress, in 1775. He was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, of which he had, in debate, been an eminent supporter. The same year, he was appointed by the Legislature of Virginia, one of the celebrated committee to Revise the Laws of the State. In 1777, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Delegates; and the same year was appointed Chancellor of the State, an office which he held until his death, in 1806, a period of thirty years. Mr. Jefferson always spoke with enthusiasm of this friend of many years; and declares it was the act of his life most gratifying to his heart, to contribute what he deemed but a compliment to his "just reputation."

"No man ever left behind him a character more venerated than George Wythe. His virtue was of the purest tint; his integrity inflexible, and his justice exact; of warm patriotism, and, devoted as he was to liberty, and the natural and equal rights of man, he might truly be called the Cato of his country, without the avarice of the Roman; for a more disinterested person never lived. Temperance and regularity in all his habits, gave him general good health, and his unaffected modesty and suavity of manners endeared him to He was of easy elocution, his language chaste, methodevery one. ical in the arrangement of his matter, learned and logical in the use of it, and of great urbanity in debate; not quick of apprehension, but, with a little time, profound in penetration, and sound in conclusion. In his philosophy he was firm, and neither troubling, nor perhaps trusting, any one with his religious creed, he left the world to the conclusion, that that religion must be good which could produce a life of exemplary virtue. His stature was of the middle size, well formed and proportioned, and the features of his face were manly, comely, and engaging. Such was George Wythe, the honor of his own, and the model of future times."

Immediately on leaving college, Mr. Jefferson engaged in the study of the Law, under the direction of Mr. Wythe. Here, it is said, fired by the example of his master, he performed the whole circuit of the Civil and Common Law; exploring every topic with precision, and fathoming every principle to the bottom. Here, also, he is said to have acquired that unrivaled facility, neatness, and or

der in business, which gave him, in effect, in every office that he filled, "the hundred hands of Briareus."//With such a guide, in a school of such exalted and searching discipline as that of the Law, all the rudiments of intellectual greatness, could not fail of being stirred into action. Aided by the propitious circumstances of the times, they exhibited a rapid and portentous developement in the man who was destined to humble the pride of hoary legitimacy, and prostrate its artificial scaffolding in the dust. The occasion was not long wanting, which was fitted to evoke the master passion of his nature in bold and prominent relief. His faculties were just fledging into manhood; they had begun to assume their distinctive flight, and to indicate a novel and illimitable range. At this decisive moment an incident occurred, which riveted them to their meditated sphere, and kindled the native ardour of his genius into a flame of fire. It was the celebrated speech of Patrick Henry, on the memorable resolutions of 1765, against the Stamp-Act. Young Jefferson was present and listened to the "bold, grand, and overwhelming eloquence" of the orator of nature; the effect of which seems never to have lost its sorcery over his mind. More than fifty years afterwards, he reverts to it with all the vividness of the first impression. "He appeared to me," says he, "to speak as Homer wrote." The resistance to the last resolution was "most bloody;" but the genius of Henry rose with the pressure of the occasion, and descended in "one incessant storm of lightning and thunder," upon his opponents. The effect was indeed tremendous; it struck even that veteran and dignified assembly aghast. The resolutions were moved by Henry, and seconded by Mr. Johnston, a member from the Northern Neck. They were resisted by the whole monarchical body of the House of Burgesses, as a matter of course; and, besides, they were deemed so ill advised in point of time, as to rally in opposition to them all the old members, including such men as Peyton Randolph, Wythe, Pendleton, Nicholas, Bland, &c. honest patriots, whose influence in the House, had till then been unbroken. "But," says Jefferson, "torrents of sublime eloquence from Henry, backed by the solid reasoning of Johnston, prevailed. The last, however, and strongest resolution, was carried but by a single vote. The debate on it was most bloody. I was then but a student, and stood at the door of communication between the house and the lobby during the whole debate and vote; and I well remember, that, after the numbers, on

the division were told and declared from the Chair, Peyton Randolph, the Attorney-General, came out at the door where I was standing, and said, as he entered the lobby, 'by G-d, I would have given 500 guineas for a single vote for one vote would have divided the House, and Robinson was in the chair, who he knew would have negatived the resolution."" It was in the midst of this magnificent appeal, so electrifying to his impassioned auditor, that Henry is said to have exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the look of a god, "Cæsar had his Brutus-Charles the First his Cromwell-and George the Third-("Treason,' cried the Speaker'treason, treason,' echoed from every part of the House. It was one of those trying moments which is decisive of character. Henry faultered not an instant; but rising to a loftier attitude, and fixing on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished his sentence with the firmest emphasis,) may profit by their example. If this be treason make the most of it."* "I well remember, says Jefferson, "the cry of treason, the pause of Henry at the name of George the Third, and the presence of mind with which he closed his sentence, and baffled the vociferated charge."

[ocr errors]

The grandeur of that scene, and the triumphant eclat of Henry, made the heart of young Jefferson ache for the propitious moment which should enrol him among the champions of persecuted humanity. Then was realized that burning vision of his fancy, which, at the age of fourteen, amidst the crowning hilarities of the chase, had pointed his aspirations to the more solid and rational exultation which awaits "the honest advocate of his country's rights." The feeling which such an exhibition would naturally produce in minds of a common mould, would be temporary, partaking more of the nature of animal excitement, and passing off with the occasion which gave it birth. Not so with Jefferson; the sensations which it excited in him were purely intellectual; it composed his reflective mind into a deep and settled reverie, which the lapse of half a century had not broken, and in which were elaborated the most momentous theories affecting the freedom and happiness of man. Already his thoughtful spirit sighed over the wronged, the degraded condition of human nature, and panted for the vindication of its long lost rights and liberties. The tone and strength of the master ·

+ Wirt's Life of Patrick Henry, page 65.

« PředchozíPokračovat »