looks a fine, manly presence. By her, Thomas, who was the third of nine
children, was in his childhood's days gently nurtured, though himself
fond of outdoor life and invigorating physical exercise. His father
died when his son was but fourteen, and to him he bequeathed the Roanoke
River estate, afterwards rebuilt and christened "Monticello." His
studies at the time were pursued under a fairly good classical scholar;
and on passing to college he there made diligent use of his time in the
study of history, literature, the sciences, and mathematics.

When he left college Jefferson took up the study of law under the
direction of George Wythe, afterwards Chancellor, then a rising
professional man of high attainments, to whom the youth seems to have
been greatly indebted as mentor and warm, abiding friend. He was also
fortunate in the acquaintance he was able to make among many of the
best people of Virginia, including some historic names, such as Patrick
Henry, Edmund Randolph, and Francis Fauquier, the lieutenant-governor of
the province, a gentleman with strong French proclivities, and a devoted
student of the destructive writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot,
that had much to do in bringing on the French Revolution. By his
father's death, he acquired a modest income, besides his little estate,
and the former he added to by his legal practice when, in 1767, he
obtained his diploma as a lawyer. In 1769, he became a member of the
House of Burgesses along with Washington and other prominent Virginians,
and with the exception of brief intervals he served with distinction
until the outbreak of the Revolution. In 1772, he married a young widow
in good circumstances, and this enabled him to add alike to his income
and to his patrimony. About the time of the meeting of the Colonial
Convention, called in 1775, to choose delegates for the Continental
Congress at Philadelphia, at which Patrick Henry was present, the
youthful Jefferson, now known as an able political writer, wrote his