———. I fear, however, that I am leaving no room for an account of my very interesting visit to Monticello. I went nearly 25 miles out of my way to obtain a letter of introduction to Mr. Jefferson, from his friend, Judge ——, of Staunton, to whom I was recommended by the late amiable and very popular Governor of the State of Mississippi.

On the 18th instant, I left Hayes’s tavern, at the foot of the Blue ridge … We shortly afterwards passed through Charlottesville, where General Tarleton was near capturing Mr. Jefferson and the State Legislature, being prevented only by a private intimation, sent by a female relation of one of1 the officers, a few miles distant, at whose house the General and his suite had invited themselves to breakfast. Here we saw an extensive university, which the State is erecting under Mr. Jefferson’s auspices, and to which it is intended to invite the ablest Professors which Europe can supply.

We arrived at Monticello, three miles farther, about eleven o’clock, ascending the South West Mountain, on which the house is situated, by a winding carriage-road through the wood. I sent in my letter to Mr. Jefferson, who soon afterwards came out and gave me a polite reception, leading me through the hall, hung with mammoth bones and Indian curiosities, to a room, ornamented with fine paintings. A young lady was playing on a piano-forte, but retired when we entered. Our conversation turned principally on the Indians, and the fine timber of the United States. With respect to the former, he considers them quite on a level, as respects intellectual character, with the Whites, and attributes the rapid civilization of the Choctaws, compared with that of the Creeks, on whom, perhaps, greater efforts have been bestowed, to the advantages possessed by the former for the growth of cotton, which had gradually induced them to spin and weave. He observed, that notwithstanding the fine specimens which have been preserved of Indian eloquence, the Indians appear to have no poetic genius; and that he had never known an Indian discover a musical taste; that, on the contrary, the Africans almost universally possess fine voices and an excellent ear, and a passionate fondness for music. With this I have often been struck, as I passed through the Southern States, especially when I have seen them assembled at public worship, or packing cotton at New Orleans. Mr. Jefferson said that he never knew a person who had resided long among the Indians, return and settle among the Whites; and I understood him to say also, that he never knew a person who left the coast for the western country, or his descendants, return to the Atlantic States. After sitting about an hour, I rose to take leave, when Mr. J. pressed me to stay to dinner, to which I assented, on condition that he would not allow me to be any restraint upon him. He said he must leave me for an hour to ride, as his health had a few months since begun to fail, for the first time. I found no difficulty, however, in amusing myself in the museum and the grounds and garden. In the former, was the only upper jaw ever yet discovered, as I was told, of a large animal now extinct, and some maps traced by the Indians on leather. The view on every side of the house, except one, where a small arc of the horizon is intercepted by a hill, is very extensive and beautiful. The Blue ridge affords an interesting variety of romantic scenery in a broken curve, extending, I believe, above 100 miles; one peak at the distance, I understood, of more than 120 miles, being sometimes visible. The horizon, on the Atlantic side, is about 40 miles distant; and bounds a flat well-wooded country, which appeared tame, when contrasted with the sublimity of the mountains. These, and especially a hill of the shape and dimensions of the largest pyramid in Egypt, which gives Mr. Jefferson a meridian line of 40 miles, frequently exhibit the phenomenon of looming.

On Mr. Jefferson’s return from his ride, we had some interesting conversation respecting the university, and a favourite plan of his of dividing every county into districts, in which there should be schools, and a humble sort of college at convenient distances, a superior college, with every possible advantage, being established in the State. After dinner, when the ladies had retired, and we were quite alone, he expressed his sentiments very freely on the present situation of England, and the character of many of her public men. He then stated the views and feelings which he had entertained with respect to her while President, as well as those which had been generally entertained by the American Government; the various causes which had contributed to the unhappy misunderstanding between the two countries, and the grounds for believing that many of them were of a nature which rendered their recurrence improbable. He then described, with a good deal of spirit and minuteness, the character of the different ministers we have sent to Washington, and concluded with an earnest hope, that as the two Governments at length understood each other perfectly, the people might gradually be soothed into better humour with one another. The particulars of this very interesting conversation, which lasted two hours, and of which I have preserved a memorandum, I will give you when we meet.*

Mr. Jefferson’s appearance is rather prepossessing. He is tall and very thin, a little bent with age, with an intelligent and sprightly countenance. His manners are dignified, but courteous and gentlemanly; and he enters into conversation with great ease and animation.

After two hours téte-à-téte, I rose about six o’clock to take my leave. He invited me to stay all night; but I thought I had already encroached sufficiently on his time, and I was not sure that we should withdraw to the ladies, of whom I had just seen enough to feel persuaded that I should have passed a very agreeable evening with them. While sitting with this philosophical legislator and his polished family,2 in a handsome saloon, surrounded by instruments of science, valuable specimens of the fine arts, and literary treasures of every nation, and every age, I could not help contrasting my situation with some of those which I had occupied during the preceding month, when sleeping on a bear-skin, on the floor of an Indian hut, listening to the traditions of my Chickasaw or Choctaw host, or dandling on my knee a young Indian warrior, with his miniature belt and mocassins, his necklaces and feathers, and his little bow and arrow, doomed to provoke nothing but a smile. In the course of a few weeks, I had passed from deep forests, whose silence had never been broken by the woodman’s axe, to a thickly settled country, where cattle were grazing in extensive meadows, and corn fields waving in the wind; where commerce was planting her towns, science founding her universities, and religion rearing her heaven-directed spires. In the same period, I had traced man through every successive stage of civilization, from the roaming savage, whose ideas scarcely extend beyond the narrow circle of his daily wants, to the statesman who has learnt to grasp the complicated interests of society, and the philosopher, to contemplate the system of the universe.

Crossing the Rivannah, at the bottom of Mr. Jefferson’s grounds, the water up to our saddle-skirts, we proceeded to Mr. Boyd’s tavern, about eight miles distant. On Monday, the 19th, we resumed our journey . . .

I forgot to say, that at Mr. Jefferson’s, I saw the belt and shot pouch of the famous Tecumseh …