could the dead feel any interest in Monu. -ments or other remembrances of them, when, as Anacreon says Oreyn de rusoμesta Κόνις, ός των λυθέντων The following would be to On the grape a plain die or cube of 3.4 without any mouldings, surmounted by an Obelisk of 6.4. height, each of a single stone: on the faces of the Obelish the following inscription, & not a word more "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independance of the Statute of Virginis for religious freedom & Father of the University of Virginia? because by these, as testimonials that I have lived, I wish most to be remembered. to be of the coarse stone of which my columns are made, that no one my * be tempted hireafter to destroy it for the value of the materials. my bust by Cracche, with the pedestal and truncated column on chich it stands, might be given to the University if they would place it in the Dome room of the Rotunda. on the Die might be. engraved Born Apr. 2.1743. 0.5. Died FAC-SIMILE OF JEFFERSON'S INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING HIS MONUMENT IV AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FEW men write their own epitaphs, but it was like Thomas Jefferson to do so, and from the long inventory of his honors and achievements he selected three items by which he wished to be judged by his Maker and his fellow-men. He discarded all the honors that had been conferred upon him, ignored all the offices he had filled, and simply inscribed upon his tomb the fact that he had written. the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Liberty, and had founded the University of Virginia. In making this selection Jefferson showed remarkable insight into his own character and estimated with remarkable accuracy the verdict of posterity upon his public services. No one ever questioned the purity of his patriotism in the important part he played during the period of history that preceded the Revolution; and in the century of controversy over his acts and utterances his unselfishness and nobility of purpose in securing religious freedom and in founding an educational institution for his State have never been doubted. No other incidents in his career are so free from criticism and so untainted by political partisanship. No doubt the Declaration of Independence would be torn to tatters by the critics if it were presented to Congress as an original document to-day. Its literary style would be condemned, the accuracy of its statements would be disputed, and it would never be adopted or endorsed by either house of Congress without thorough revision; for there has been a decided change in literary taste and style since Jefferson's day. Fashions in literature change almost as rapidly as in clothing. The Declaration of Independence as a literary production was quite as perfect and appropriate for its time as the garments worn by the members of the Continental Congress. It was severely handled when it was submitted, and during the three subsequent days of debate Jefferson was mortified almost beyond endurance at the savage manner in which his fine phrases and lofty ideas were assailed. It has been criticised as a mass of platitudes, plagiarized from various authors;" but the stately simplicity of the Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount are open to similar criticisms. Thomas Jefferson honored Virginia more than any other of her sons except George Washington, but Virginia, one of the greatest and most ungrateful of States, has not honored Thomas Jefferson. His neighbors, to whose welfare he devoted so much time and labor, and to whom his achievements brought so much glory and honor, permitted him to die destitute, and his family to be driven by poverty from their home. They permitted his estates to pass into the hands of aliens who now stand in his footprints and measure the value of his greatest gift to the people of his State, -the University of Virginia, which they have never fully appreciated. They allowed his grave to be trampled upon and his tomb to be desecrated, and the General Government to restore the monument that was erected to his memory; and a citizen of New York to preserve and occupy the mansion in which he spent the best years of his life. But Virginia also allowed the home of Washington to pass out of her hands, the home of Madison to be sold under the hammer, and the ruins of Jamestown, the first civilized settlement on the continent of North America, to be bought at auction by a lady from Ohio who had the generosity to present it to a patriotic society of women. No State in the Union has furnished more great men than Virginia; none has done so little to honor them. Citizens of other States have been generous to the institution Thomas Jefferson founded, but the Legislature of Virginia has ever shown a penurious policy towards it. Down in Powhatan County there is a little post-office that bears the name of Jefferson, but it appears nowhere else upon the map of Virginia. Twenty-three other States have counties named Jefferson; forty-five other States have christened cities and towns in his name. Thirty-seven counties in the United States are called Washington, twenty-four are called Franklin, and twenty-two Jackson. In other States there are universities and other institutions of learning, hospitals, libraries, and monuments erected in his honor, but Virginia is without them, and within the limits of the State nothing bears his name except a hotel (lately burned) whose ornate architecture and decoration would have offended his sensitive, classical taste. Of all the great mountains and rivers and other great objects which he added to the national domain none have been called Jefferson. The germ of patriotism was dropped into Jefferson's soul by Patrick Henry. About the time Jefferson entered college at Williamsburg he made the acquaintance of a hilarious, impecunious, irresponsible, reckless young lawyer, full of music and |