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is never a hero to his valet," and the proverb has been considered undeniable; but this volume shows that Jefferson, if not exactly the "hero" to whom a little obscurity is so essential, was at least warmly loved and enthusiastically esteemed and admired by those who knew him best. The letters in this volume are full of interest, for they are chiefly published for the first time now. They show a conscientious gentleman, not at all given to personal indulgences, quick in both anger and forgiveness, the greatest American student of his time, excepting the cold-blooded Hamilton, absolutely without formality, but particular and exacting in the extreme--just the man who carried his wife to the White House on the pillion of his gray mare, and showed a British embassador the door for an offense against good-breeding. --Chicago Evening Post.
The reader will recognize the calm and philosophic yet earnest spirit of the thinker, with the tenderness and playful amiability of the father and friend. The letters can not but shed a favorable light on the character of perhaps the best-abused man of his time. --N. Y. Evening Post.
No attempt is made in this volume to present its subject as a public man or as a statesman. It is simply sought to picture him as living in the midst of his domestic circle. And this it is which will invest the book with interest for all classes of readers, for all who, whatever their politics, can appreciate the beauty of a pure, loving life. * * * It is written in an easy, agreeable style, by a most loving hand, and, perhaps, better than any other biography extant, makes the reader acquainted with the real character of a man whose public career has furnished material for so much book-making. --Philadelphia Inquirer.
The perusal of this interesting volume confirms the impression that whatever criticisms may be brought to bear upon the official career of Mr. Jefferson, or his influence upon the politics of this country, there was a peculiar charm in all the relations of his personal and social life. In spite of the strength of his convictions, which he certainly often expressed with an energy amounting to vehemence, he was a man of rare sunniness of temperament and sweetness of disposition. He had qualities which called forth the love of his friends no less than the hatred of his opponents. His most familiar acquaintance cherished the most ardent admiration of his character. His virtues in the circle of home won the applause even of his public adversaries. --N. Y. Tribune.
It lifts up the curtain of his private life, and by numerous letters to his family allows us to catch a glimpse of his real nature and character. Many interesting reminiscences have been collected by the author and are presented to the reader. --Boston Commercial Bulletin.
These letters show him to have been a loving husband, a tender father, and a hospitable gentleman. --Presbyterian.
Jefferson was not only eloquent in state papers, but he was full of point and clearness amounting to wit in his minor correspondence. --Albany Argus.
It is the record of the life of one of the most extraordinary men of any age or country. --Richmond Inquirer.
With the public life of Thomas Jefferson the public is familiar, as without it no adequate knowledge is possible of the history of Virginia or of the United States. Its guiding principles and great events, as likewise its smallest details, have long been before the world in the "Jefferson Papers," and in the laborious history of Randall. But to a full appreciation of the politician, the statesman, the publicist, and the thinker, there was still wanting some complete and correct knowledge of the man and his daily life amidst his family. This want Miss Randolph has endeavored most successfully to supply. As scarcely one of the founders of the republic had warmer friends, or exerted a deeper and a wider influence upon the country, so scarcely one encountered more bitter animosity or had to live down slander more envenomed. Truth conquered in the end, and the foul rumors, engendered in partisan conflicts, against the private life of Jefferson have long shrunk into silence in the light of his fame. Nevertheless, it is well done of his descendant thus to place before the world his life as in his letters and his conversation it appeared from day to day to those nearest and dearest to him. Nor is it a matter of small value to bring to our sight the interior life of our ancestors as it is delineated in the letters of Jefferson, touching incidently on all the subjects of dress, food, manners, amusements, expenditures, occupations--in brief, neglecting nothing of what the men of those days were and thought and did. It is of such materials that consist