f government moved and the awkwardness of its forms were everywhere the prominent topics of conversation. On one occasion at which Mr. Jefferson was present, a question being started concerning the best mode of providing the executive chief, it was among other opinions gravely advanced that an hereditary determination was preferable to any elective process that could be devised. At the close of an eloquent effusion against the agitations and animosities of a popular choice and in favor of birth as, on the whole, affording a better chance for a suitable head of the government, Mr. Jefferson with a smile remarked that he had heard of a University somewhere in which the Professorship of Mathmatics was hereditary! His father, Peter Jefferson, was born February 29th, 1708, and in 1739 married Jane Randolph, of the age of 19, daughter of Isham Randolph, one of the seven sons of that name and family settled in Dungeoness in Goochland county, who trace theirpedigree far back in England and Scotland, "to which," says Mr. Jefferson, "let every one ascribe the faith and merit he chooses." He was a self-educated man, but rose steadily by his own exertions and acquired considerable distinction. He was commissioned jointly with Joshua Fry, professor of mathematics in William and Mary College, to designate the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, and was afterwards employed with the same gentleman to construct the first regular map of Virginia. He died August 17, 1757, leaving a widow with six daughters and two sons, Thomas being the elder of the sons. To both the sons he left large estates; to Thomas the Shadwell lands, where he was born, and which included Monticello; and to his brother the estate on James river, called Snowden, after the reputed birthplace of the family. The mother of Mr. Jefferson survived to the fortunate year of 1776, the most memorable epoch in the annals of her country and in the life of her son.At the age...
