CHAP. I.]

MR. JEFFERSON AS THE LOVER.

383

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 man, 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. I.-3

34

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

[CHAP. I. ruddy, and delicately fair;' his reddish chestnut hair luxuriant and silken. His full, deep-set eyes, the prevailing color of which was a light hazel (or flecks of hazel on a groundwork of grey), were peculiarly expressive, and mirrored, as the clear lake mirrors the cloud, every emotion which was passing through his mind. He stood six feet two and a half inches in height, and though very slim at this period, his form was erect and sinewy, and his movements displayed elasticity and vigor. He was an expert musician, a fine dancer, a dashing rider, and there was no manly exercise in which he could not play well his part. His manners were unusually graceful, but simple and cordial. His conversation already possessed no inconsiderable share of that charm which, in after years, was so much extolled by friends, and to which enemies attributed so seductive an influence in moulding the young and the wavering to his political views. There was a frankness, earnestness, and cordiality in its tone-a deep sympathy with humanity-a confidence in man, and a sanguine hopefulness in his destiny, which irresistibly won upon the feelings not only of the ordinary hearer, but of those grave men whose commerce with the world had perhaps led them to form less glowing estimates of it-of such men as the scholarlike Small, the sagacious Wythe, the courtly and gifted Fauquier. Mr. Jefferson's temper was gentle, kindly, and forgiving. If it naturally had anything of that warmth which is the usual concomitant of affections and sympathies so ardent, and it no doubt had, it had been subjugated by habitual control. Yet, under its even placidity, there were not wanting those indications of calm self-reliance and courage which all instinctively recognize and respect. There is not an instance on record of his having been engaged in a personal rencontre, or his having suffered a personal indignity. Possessing the accomplishments, he avoided the vices, of the young Virginia gentry of the day, and a class of habits, which, if not vices themselves, were too

1 It had that peculiar ruddiness produced by a very thin skin filled with minute exposed veins. The cuticle was so thin and fragile that it peeled off after the slightest exposure to sun or wind.

It has been generally mentioned as red. It was not so-at least in the sense in which that designation is ordinarily understood-though it had a decidedly reddish or "sandy" tinge. Hair of its color is often denominated "auburn." In France, a few rare white hairs intermixed with it; during his presidency, these became abundant enough to considerably modify the original hue; at the time of his death, it was much whitened, but retained the sandy tinge very perceptibly. A locket, containing his hair at all these periods, lies under our eye as we write. These are but minutiæ, but whatever is worth telling is worth telling accurately.

CHAP. I.]

HABITS AND MANNERS.

35

often made the preludes to them. He never gambled. To avoid importunities to games which were generally accompanied with betting, he never learned to distinguish one card from another; he was moderate in the enjoyments of the table; to strong drinks he had an aversion which rarely yielded to any circumstances; his mouth was unpolluted by oaths or tobacco! Though he speaks of enjoying "the victory of a favorite horse," and the "death of the fox," he never put but one horse in training to run-never run but a single race, and he very rarely joined in the pleasant excitement-he knew it to be too pleasant for the aspiring student-of the chase. With such qualities of mind and character, with the favor of powerful friends and relatives, and even of vice-royalty to urge him onward, Mr. Jefferson was not a young man to be lightly regarded by the young or old of either sex.

He became of age in 1764.

His grandson, Col. Thomas J. Randolph, informs us that cards were never played in his house.

CHAPTER II.

1764-1773.

Mr. Jefferson's Earliest Political Opinions Opposition to the Views of his RelativesThe Declaratory and Stamp Acts-Patrick Henry's Resolutions against the Stamp Act -Jefferson present at the "Bloody Debate"-His Description of it-Mr. Trist's Memoranda Death of Jefferson's Sister-Family Details-His Garden, Farm, and Pocket Account-Books, etc.-His Precision and Fondness for Details-ExamplesMental Characteristics indicated-A Peculiar Habit in Conversation-Journey NorthMeets Gerry-Admitted to Practice Law in the General Court-His Taste for his Profession-Extent, Character, and Profits of his Practice-Declines Colonel Nicholas's Business-His Erudition and Ability as a Lawyer-His Adaptation to the ProfessionHis Qualifications for an Advocate-His Zeal in collecting Ancient Statutes-Letter giving a Course of Reading and Study for a Lawyer-Appointed a Justice-Elected to the House of Burgesses-Session of 1769-Dissolved by Lord Botetourt-Association of the Members-Shadwell burnt-Jefferson takes up his Residence at MonticelloBritish Imposts of 1767 repealed-Tea Tax retained-Virginia Politics from 1770 to 1773--Jefferson's Plans for embellishing his Estate-Extracts from his Early Writings -His Marriage-Family, Character, and Appearance of his Wife-Anecdote of Rivals -Annoying Adventures-Death of Jefferson's Father-in-law-His and his Wife's Patrimony-Losses on British Debts-His Providence in Money Matters-His Establishment-Taste for Horses-His Horsemanship-Old Wormley's RecollectionsSpecimens of the Garden-Book.

THE misunderstandings with the parent country, which led to the Revolutionary struggle, though long accumulating, first began to wear an immediately menacing aspect at about the close of Mr. Jefferson's minority. Mr. Jefferson himself was a Whig both by inheritance and by the natural constitution of his mind. And when that transient gleam of joy which broke over the Colonies at the conclusion of the Peace of Paris (1763) faded into gloom; when the Colonists found that British triumphs were not their triumphs; when they found that new exactions. were their only requital for bearing so much more than their proportionate share of the burthens of the late war, and contributing so essentially to its success; and when a few of their

CHAP. II.]

JEFFERSON TAKES HIS GROUND.

37

bolder spirits determined to resolutely oppose those exactions by every constitutional method-their number did not include one whose views were more decisive and uncompromising than the young Williamsburg law student, whose biography we are writing. In this, he went counter to the feelings of some of his most influential relatives and friends, and far ahead of those of them even who professed Whig principles. Wealth and rank are usually conservative and slow to embark in violent opposition to constituted authority. The political chasm between Mr. Jefferson and a portion of his kinsmen was destined to widen until it became one of total and permanent separation; but with another portion, it was destined to be obliterated-and though more cautious at the outset, those kinsmen were to nobly vindicate the fidelity of their patriotism at the councilboard and in the battle-field.

When the news of the Declaratory Act-declaratory of the power of the British Parliament to tax the American Coloniesreached Virginia, in the spring of 1764, it called forth a remonstrance from the House of Burgesses in the form of an address to the King and a memorial to Parliament, in which the asserted right was denied, and its exercise deprecated in earnest though perhaps rather supplicatory terms. The famous Stamp Act was advanced on its passage through Parliament, when these papers, and similar ones from several other Colonies, reached England; and they were not sufficient to prevent its consummation. It became a law in January, 1765, to take effect the ensuing November. The news of this, when it reached Virginia, produced a pause among the old Whig leaders. There was a wide difference between remonstrating against an obnoxious proposition, or even taking theoretical grounds against its constitutionality, and making a factions opposition to law. The spring session of the Burgesses was therefore within three days of its close, before the Stamp Act was mentioned on its floors!

The broken merchant whose acquaintance we have made at Colonel Dandridge's, was in the body, a representative from Louisa. His appearance and manners were as rustic as ever.

"The forest-born Demosthenes,1

Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas,"

1 Lord Byron so termed Henry, though the resemblance between the latter and the