asked about $10 or $12 per acre, I thought he would be mighty apt to succeed.

Perry's forty acres, at $12 per acre.

They took
It was a

poor old turned-out field, though it was finely situated. Mr. Jefferson wrote the deed himself, and I carried it to Mr. Perry, and he signed it. Afterwards Mr. Jefferson bought a large tract near it from a man named Avery. It had a great deal of fine timber and rock on it, which was used in building the University.

66

My next instruction was to get ten ablebodied hands to commence the work. I soon got them, and Mr. Jefferson started from Monticello to lay off the foundation, and see the work commenced. An Irishman named Dinsmore, and I, went along with him. As we passed through Charlottesville, I went to old Davy Isaacs' store, and got a ball of twine, and Dinsmore found some shingles and made some pegs, and we all went on to the old field together. Mr. Jefferson looked over the ground some time, and then stuck down a peg. He stuck the very first peg in that building, and then directed me where to carry the line, and I stuck the second. He carried one end of the line, and I the other, in laying off the foundation of the University. He had a little rule in his pocket that he always carried with him, and with this he measured off the ground, and laid off the

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

21

entire foundation, and then set the men at work. I have that rule now, and here it is," said Capt. Bacon, taking it from a drawer in his secretary that he unlocked, to show it to us. It was a small twelve-inch rule, so made as to be but three inches long when folded up. "Mr. Jefferson and I were once going along the bank of the canal," said he, "and in crawling through some bushes and vines, it fell out of his pocket and slid down the bank into the river. Some time after that, when the water had fallen, I went and found it, and carried it to Mr. Jefferson. He told me I had had a great deal of trouble to get it, and as he had provided himself with another, I could keep it. I intend to keep it as long as I live; and when I die, that rule can be found locked up in that drawer.

"After the foundation was nearly completed, they had a great time laying the corner-stone. The old field was covered with carriages and people. There was an immense crowd there. Mr. Monroe laid the corner-stone. He was President at that time. He held the instruments, and pronounced it square. He only made a few remarks, and Chapman Johnson and several others made speeches. Mr. Jefferson-poor old man!-I can see his white head just as he stood there and looked on.

"After this he rode there from Monticello every

day while the University was building, unless the weather was very stormy. I don't think he ever missed a day unless the weather was very bad. Company never made any difference. When he could not go on account of the weather, he would send me, if there was any thing that he wanted to know. He looked after all the materials, and would not allow any poor materials to go into the building if he could help it. He took as much pains in seeing that every thing was done right, as if it had been his own house."

After answering a great many questions in regard to Mr. Jefferson, Capt. Bacon said he had a great many of his letters, and proposed to show us a specimen of his handwriting. He unlocked a drawer, and brought us a paper, which most naturally he prizes very highly, of which the following is a copy:

'WARM SPRINGS, Aug. 18, 1818.

"The bearer, Mr. Edmund Bacon, has lived with me twelve years as manager of my farm at Monticello. He goes to the Missouri to look out for lands to which he means to remove. He is an honest, correct man in his conduct, and worthy of confidence in his engagements. Any information or instruction which any person may give him, will be worthily bestowed; and if he should apply particularly to Gov. Clarke on his way, the Gov

MR. JEFFERSON'S LETTER.

23

ernor will especially oblige me by imparting to him his information and advice.

"THOMAS JEFFERSON."

"Mr. Bacon has continued to possess the esteem, confidence, and good-will of his neighbors, and of the family in which he has lived, without any interruption to this day.

I will here add, that Capt. Bacon has now resided in Kentucky about forty years, and his neighbors, who have known him during all that time, would vouch as strongly for his character as Mr. Jefferson and his son-in-law, Gov. Randolph, have done. He is a man of wealth and character.

Our time was exhausted, and expressing our great gratification at our visit, we arose to leave; but Capt. Bacon insisted that we should go to his

stable and see his horses. He had two of them brought out and exhibited for our gratification. They were magnificent specimens of that noble animal. Their pedigrees for an indefinite period backward were at his tongue's end, and he showed a knowledge of blooded horses that I think would have astonished any old Virginia connoisseur in that line. He was certainly thoroughly Jeffersonian in his love for fine horses. He had taken the

leading stock journals of the country for more than fifty years, and seemed to know all about all the most noted horses there had been in the country in all that time. Like Mr. Jefferson, he has never patronized nor in any way encouraged horse-racing. He says, that though John Randolph had sometimes a hundred blooded horses,-the finest stable of horses in Virginia, he never trained them for the turf-never allowed them to race.

*

On leaving, I told Capt. Bacon, that if my life was spared, that would not be my last visit to him. I felt that I had found a rich historical placer, that I was determined to thoroughly work, as soon as I could find time to do so.

*

*

*

* "CHARLOTTE COUNTY, VA., May 19, 1826.

'Mr. Randolph is the Magnus Apollo of this county. Every one knows and fears him. His power of sarcasın and invective is such, that no one pretends to contradict him. IIe has three several plantations in this county, all of them extensive. His horses (I mean those which are never used) are worth, I suppose, about $8,000."

*

*

*

"CHARLOTTE, April 10, 1827.

"This part of Virginia has long been celebrated for its breed of horses. There is a scrupulous attention paid to the preservation of the immaculate English blood. Among the crowd on this day were snorting and rearing fourteen or fifteen stallions, some of which were indeed fine specimens of that noble creature. Among the rest, Mr. Randolph's celebrated English horse Roanoke, who is nine years old, and has never been 'backed."". Forty Years' Familiar Letters of James W. Alexander, D.D. New York: Chas. Scribner. 1860. Pp. 95, 101.