descend with his works to the latest times, and will be hailed with rapturous enthusiasm by the friends of liberty and learning in every quarter of the civilized globe." It may be doubted whether even the distinguished writer who signed himself a "Friend of Science" knew how devotedly Jefferson had labored in the cause of education for nearly or quite half a century.

Jefferson realized in some degree the grandeur of the work in which the people of the United States were engaged in establishing a Republic which should illustrate to the world the blessings of liberty and of self-government. He keenly realized that if the citizens of all parts of the United States did not cherish the cause of learning, the Republic, notwithstanding its hopes of grandeur and of happiness, would be exposed to humiliation, to disgrace, and in many respects to degradation. He would sometimes forecast with sadness the future of the United States. He could almost see, at times, the horizon growing black with coming ruin and with the approach of desolating calamities. While he would indeed sometimes thank God that the evil day would not come in his generation yet he did not give way altogether to hopeless, enervating fear. On the contrary, he would rally his energies and seek to help the youth of the land to become intelligent enough to successfully cope with the dangers which he saw that they might some day have to encounter. He felt that the life or death of the Republic depended upon whether or not she cherished the interests of learning. It is told of a soldier who while the battle of Gettysburg was in progress lay wounded on a height from which he could overlook the scene of battle. As the soldiers surged backwards and forwards the scene became to him grand and overwhelming. He felt that the destiny of the great Republic of the new world, hung trembling

in the balance! It was with somewhat similar feelings that Jefferson watched the efforts of the friends of education in Virginia, and the opposition which they encountered, as they endeavored to establish a good school system in the Commonwealth. As a statesman he not only believed that "well directed education improves the morals, enlarges the minds, enlightens the councils, instructs the industry, and advances the power, the prosperity, and the happiness" of a nation,-as nothing could do better †-but that " no other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness." He believed, as has been seen, not only that the sciences, "advance the arts, and administer to the health, the subsistence, and comforts of human life," but that the most important laws which were on the statute books of Virginia were her laws having in view the instruction in useful learning of her youth, and that the money she would expend in maintaining a good school system would be money well spent. He believed, as has been seen, "That the tax which will be paid for this purpose is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests, and nobles, who will rise up among us, if we leave the people in ignorance." In short, Jefferson had noticed-and only those who have thoughtfully studied the history of nations can fully understand the force of his words,--that the history of every nation and of every age "teaches the awful lesson, that no nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity."

* Report to Legislature of Virginia Jan. 6, 1818.-See "History of the University of Virginia as Contained in Letters of Jefferson and Cabell," pp. 402. "Early History of the University of Virginia,” p. 437. Letter to George Wythe, April 13, 1786. In “Memoirs and Writings of Jefferson." By Randolph.

§ Report to Legislature of Virginia, Aug. 1st, 1818.—“Early History of the University of Virginia." J. W. Randolph, 1856, p. 435.

It was with deep feeling that the aged Jefferson wrote, under date of Jan. 31st, 1821, to Cabell, who had written to him that he thought of retiring from the Assembly of Virginia: "But the gloomiest of all prospects is the desertion of the best friends of the institution, for desertion I must call it. I know not the necessities which

may force this upon you. Gen. Coke, you say, will explain them to me; but I cannot conceive them, nor persuade myself they are uncontrollable. I have ever hoped that yourself, Gen. Breckenridge, and Mr. Johnson would stand at your posts in the Legislature until everything was effected, and the institution opened. If it is so difficult to get along with all the energy and influence of our present colleagues in the legislature, how can we expect to proceed at all, reducing our moving power? I know well your devotion to your country and your foresight of the awful scenes coming, on her, sooner or later. With this foresight, what service can we ever render her equal to this? What object of our lives can we propose so important? What interest of our own which ought not to be postponed to this? Health, time, (labor,) on what in the single life which nature has given us, can these be better bestowed than on this immortal boon to our country? The exertions and the mortifications are temporary; the benefit eternal. If any member of our college visitors could justifiably withdraw from this sacred duty, it would be myself, who quadragenis stipendiis jamdudum peractis, have neither vigor of body nor mind left to keep the field; but I will die in the last ditch, and so I hope you will, my friend, as well as our firm-breasted brothers and colleagues, Mr. Johnson and Gen. Breckenridge. Nature will not give you a second life wherein to atone for the omissions of this. Pray then, dear, and very dear Sir, do not think of deserting us, but view the

sacrifices which seem to stand in your way, as the lesser duties, and such as ought to be postponed to this, the greatest of all. Continue with us in these holy labors until, having seen their accomplishment, we may say with old Simeon, nunc dimittas, Domine."

*

This pathetic exhortation of the aged statesman of Monticello to Cabell was not without effect. Gen. Dade, in the Senate of Virginia in 1828, speaking of Joseph C. Cabell's connection with the University of Virginia, said: "In promoting that monument of wisdom and taste [he] was second only to the immortal Jefferson."

* See "Life of Thomas Jefferson," by Henry S. Randall, LL.D., p. 464.

III.

JEFFERSON'S IDEAL UNIVERSITY.

THE amount of thought and the self-sacrificing labor which Jefferson gave to the great work of breathing a noble spirit into the university which was to add new honors to the name of Virginia, was an eloquent proof of his conviction of the priceless worth of useful knowledge to citizens of a republic.

What studies will be most useful in laying the foundation of the acquirements and habits of mind which will be most valuable to American citizens is a question worthy of far greater consideration by thoughtful parents and statesmen than, it is to be feared, it in many cases receives The question becomes all the more perplexing when one bears in mind how limited is the time that youth can attend educational institutions.

When colleges and universities were first established in Europe they were adapted, as a rule, to a condition of society very different from that of the people of the United States in the nineteenth century. Jefferson lived in an age when great revolutions and changes convulsed the civilized world." He had seen empires and kingdoms rise and fall. He had seen States in the old world dismembered, overrun with armies and revolutionized in some degree, by various political causes. He had breathed an air which emboldened thoughtful men of learning to fearlessly review the errors and virtues of past gener

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