VOL XV.
No. 4.
BOSTON.
APRIL, 1903.
THOMAS JEFFERSON AS A LAWYER. BY EUGENE L. DIDIER. THE splendid fame which Thomas Jeffer son acquired as a statesman has dimmed, if not destroyed, his earlier reputa tion as a lawyer. He came to the bar of Vir ginia well equipped for a distinguished pro fessional career, both by education and fam ily connection, the latter being a very import ant consideration in the colonial days. At the age of seventeen, he entered William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia. He was very fortunate in having for his professor in mathematics and philosophy a Scotch physician, William Small. He afterwards said that he was in debted to this learned man for shaping the destinies of his life. Jefferson was a very enthusiastic student, and devoted fifteen hours a day to his books, resembling, in this respect, his future political rival, Aaron Burr. His love of books, which was the chief solace of his later life, began while he was at college, and he became well acquainted with the literature of Greece, Rome, France and England. His college days ended in December, 1762, and the young student put Coke upon Lyttleton in his trunk, and left the gay little capital of Virginia to return to his home, at Shadwell, on the then western border of the Old Do minion. He journeyed leisurely, as was his wont, spending two or three days at one friend's house, a week at another, Christmas at a third. Meanwhile, Coke lay in his trunk untouched, but his silk stockings, his silk garters and silk-lined coat were in constant
use, for Jefferson in his youth was devoted to the courtly minuet; and not only danced himself, but, upon occasion, played the fiddle for others to trip the "light fantastic toe." Between dancing, fiddling and love-making, the young gentleman found little time for the grave study of the law. When, at last, he reached Shadwell, the old place seemed extremely dull, after Wil liamsburg and the recent festivities in which he had been indulging. That winter of 1763 was a "winter of discontent" to the future statesman and President, distracted as he was between love and law. The following winter he travelled to Williamsburg to at tend the General Court and to consult Chan cellor Wythe on some points of law which sorely perplexed his love-distracted mind. During this visit his love affair came to a dispstrous conclusion, and Rebecca Bunvell, having declined a conditional engagement, based upon a future contingency, lost the opportunity of becoming the wife of the au thor of the Declaration of Independence. After his disappointment in love, Jefferson turned to his law books as a solace and dis traction. He became a close, steady and diKgent student, keeping a clock on a shelf in his bedroom, and his rule was to arise as soon as he could see the time of the day, and to begin work at once. He led a systematic and laborious life, with his law books, his Latin, 'Greek, French and general literature; his farm, and regular exercise on foot and horseback. As an evidence of the social
