ve
been published, throw no light upon his domestic relations. We have
complained of the prolixity of Mr. Randall's book, but we do not wish to
be understood as complaining of the number of family letters it
contains. They form its most pleasing and novel feature. They show us
that the placid philosopher had a nature which was ardent, tender, and
constant. His wife died after but ten years of married life. She was the
mother of six children, of whom two, Martha and Maria, reached maturity.
Though still young, Mr. Jefferson never married again, finding
sufficient opportunity for the indulgence of his domestic tastes in the
society of his daughters. Martha, whom he nicknamed Patsey, was plain,
resembling her father in features, and having some of his mental
characteristics. Maria, the youngest, inherited the charms of her
mother, and is described as one of the most beautiful women of her time.
Her natural courtesy procured for her, while yet a child, from her
French attendants, the _sobriquet_ of Polie, a name which clung to her
through life.

Charged with the care of these children, Jefferson made their education
one of his regular occupations, as systematically performed as his
public duties. He planned their studies, and descended to the minutest
directions as to dress and deportment. While they were young, he himself
selected every article of clothing for them, and even after they were
married, continued their constant and confidential adviser. When they
were absent, he insisted that they should inform him how they occupied
themselves, what books they read, what tunes they played, dwelling on
these details with the fond particularity of a lover. Association with
his daughters seemed to awaken his noblest and most refined impulses,
and to reveal the choicest fruit of his reading and experience. His
letters to them are models of their kind. They contain not only those
general precepts which an affectionate parent and wise man would
naturally desire to impress upon the mind of a child, but they also show
a perception of the most subtile feminine traits and a sympathy with the
most delicate feminine tastes, seldom seen in our sex, and which
exhibits the breadth and symmetry of Jefferson's organization. One of
the most characteristic of these letters is in the possession of the
Queen of England, to whom it was sent by his family, in answer to a
request for an autograph.

His daughters were in France with him, and were pl