of five, Thomas was placed by his father at an English school, where he continued four years, at the expiration of which he was transferred to a Latin school, where he remained five years under the tuition of Mr. Douglass, a clergyman fromScotland. With the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, he acquired at the same time a knowledge of the French. At this period, his father died, leaving him an orphan only fourteen years of age and without a relative or friend competent to direct or advise him.An interesting reminiscence of this critical period of his boyhood and of the simple moral process by which he subdued and wrought into instruments of the greatest good the perilous circumstance of his position is contained in an affectionate letter, written more than fifty years afterwards to his grandson, then in Philadelphia. It is replete with sound admonition, applicable to every condition of youth, besides affording an insight into the juvenile mind and habits of the writer.On the death of his father, Mr. Jefferson was placed under the instruction of the Rev. Mr. Maury, to contemplate the necessary preparation for college. He continued with Mr. Maury two years; and then, in 1760, at the age of seventeen, he entered the college of William and Mary, at which he was graduated, two years after, with the highest honors of the institution. While in college he was more remarkable for solidity than sprightliness of intellect. His faculties were so even and well-balanced, 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 the constancy of pursuit, thatinflexibility of purpose, that bold spirit of inquiry and thirst for knowledge which arethe surer prognostics of future greatness. His habits were those of patience and severeapplication, which, aided by a quick and vigorous apprehension, a talent of close andlog...
