e obtained considerable reputation
for learning throughout the rude region where he lived. This huge
man, with gigantic strength and fierce passions, is said to have
been endowed with tender sympathies, and to have had a scholar's love
for Shakspeare and Addison.

Social distinctions were strictly observed at that day, but Peter
Jefferson broke through them and married a daughter of the Randolph
family.

Thomas, the third child and oldest son of this marriage, was born at
Shadwell, his father's estate, on the 2d of April, 1743. The
characteristics of the sire descended to the son, the physical
attributes in milder, and the intellectual in more active forms.
Like many men of his class, Peter Jefferson had perhaps an undue
sense of the obstacles he had encountered through lack of education,
and was careful to provide for that of his children. As soon as
possible, Thomas was sent to school, and when nine years old, under
the tuition of a Scottish clergyman, he was introduced to the study
of Latin, Greek, and French. His father died when he was fourteen
years old, leaving a considerable estate, and particular directions
that Thomas should receive a thorough classical training. The
executor had some doubt as to whether it would be prudent to send
the lad to college in obedience to the paternal request; whereupon
Thomas addressed him in a little argument, which is a curious
exhibition of the proclivities of his mind. In the mathematical
manner which afterwards became common with him, he urged that at
home he would lose one fourth of his time on account of the company
which was attracted by his presence, and that entertaining so many
guests would be a heavier charge upon the estate than the expense of
his residence at Williamsburg.

The young disputant prevailed, and, in 1760, he was sent to William
and Mary College. He remained there two years. His acquirements,
during this time, though probably not so great as Mr. Randall would
have us believe, must have been large. He had equal aptitude for the
classics and mathematics. In the latter his proficiency was
remarkable, and he always retained his taste for it. Though never a
critical classical scholar, he could read Latin with ease. He was
conversant with French, and had some familiarity with Greek. In
later life he studied Anglo-Saxon and Italian. But Jefferson
terminated his collegiate course with a possession far more valuable
than all the learning he could gather in the