time and cognizance, written by a man of genius and taste, of point, an acquaintance, the measure and traverses of whose mind I know, could not fail to turn the scale in favour of life during their perusal. I must write to Ticknor to add it to my catalogue and hold on till it comes." By this time he was again bubbling over with optimism about his own country: "We are destined to be a barrier against the returns of ignorance and barbarism. Old Europe will have to lean on our shoulders, and to hobble along by our side, under the monkish trammels of priests and kings as she can. What a Colossus shall we be when the Southern continent comes up to our mark. . . . I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past so good night! I will dream on, always fancying that Mrs. Adams and yourself are by my side marking the progress and the obliquities of ages and countries."

A few days afterwards to a lady who had heard a rumour of his conversion he wrote: "My opinion is that there would never have been an infidel if there had never been a priest."

The style and vigour of these letters leave no doubt that, whatever he may have said about decay in passing moods, Jefferson's mind was in perfect vigour; indeed he never wrote better.

Just before the end of Madison's administration his successor, James Monroe, the last of the Virginian Dynasty, then Secretary of State, asked advice about an inscription on the restored Capitol at Washington. Two were proposed. Jefferson said they were too long. If any were needed, it should be: "Founded 1791, burnt by a British army 1814, restored by Congress 1817." But he questioned whether there should be one at all. With the prospects now opening of peace in the republic of nations,

should they do anything to perpetuate hatred against England? "Should we not on the contrary begin to open ourselves to other and more rational dispositions?" Wise men in England and America would begin to think of the interests of both countries, and Jefferson thought it would be better "to prepare the minds of our citizens for a corresponding change of dispositions by acts of comity towards England rather than by commemoration of hatred." He felt sure too that the British government and constitution would soon be reformed. "Were they once under a government," so he wrote to Adams, "which should treat us with justice and equity I should myself feel with great strength the ties which bind us together of origin, language, laws, and manners; and I am persuaded the two peoples would become in future, as it was with the ancient Greeks, among whom it was reproachful for Greek to be found fighting against Greek in a foreign army."

With these noble sentiments, prophetic of the future, we may fitly pass to the era of good will, as Monroe's administration has been called. But first let us pause to take a look at Monticello, its gardens and its library.

CHAPTER II

MONTICELLO AND ITS LIBRARY

"And our own dear Monticello: where has nature spread so rich a mantle under the eye? Mountains, forests, rocks, rivers. With what majesty do we there ride above the storms! How sublime to look down into the workhouse of nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder, all fabricated at our feet! And the glorious sun when rising, as if out of a distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains, and giving life to all nature." To MRS. COSWAY, 1786

"All my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello. Too many scenes of happiness mingle themselves with all the recollections of my native woods and fields, to suffer them to be supplanted in my affection by any other." TO GEORGE GILMER, 1787

I

T is fashionable nowadays to affix tablets to houses where famous men are known, or supposed, to have lived, and even to convert them into shrines where their memories may be cherished and relics of their deeds preserved. The instinct is natural and laudable. We are grateful for the patriotism which has saved the house of Shakespeare, of Sir Walter Scott, of George Washington. If a hero deserves to be worshipped, his home deserves to be maintained. And there are some houses so interwoven with a noble life, so beautiful in themselves, so laden with history, that it were a national crime to let them perish in decay. America has just become aware that Monticello is one of her national treasures. Mount Vernon does not tell us more of Washington than Monticello of Jefferson.