PART19.TXT

        FEMALE EDUCATION









        _To Nathaniel Burwell_



        _Monticello, March 14, 1818_









        DEAR SIR, -- Your letter of February 17th found me suffering



under an attack of rheumatism, which has but now left me at



sufficient ease to attend to the letters I have received.  A plan of



female education has never been a subject of systematic contemplation



with me.  It has occupied my attention so far only as the education



of my own daughters occasionally required.  Considering that they



would be placed in a country situation, where little aid could be



obtained from abroad, I thought it essential to give them a solid



education, which might enable them, when become mothers, to educate



their own daughters, and even to direct the course for sons, should



their fathers be lost, or incapable, or inattentive.  My surviving



daughter accordingly, the mother of many daughters as well as sons,



has made their education the object of her life, and being a better



judge of the practical part than myself, it is with her aid and that



of one of her eleves that I shall subjoin a catalogue of the books



for such a course of reading as we have practiced.









        A great obstacle to good education is the inordinate passion



prevalent for novels, and the time lost in that reading which should



be instructively employed.  When this poison infects the mind, it



destroys its tone and revolts it against wholesome reading.  Reason



and fact, plain and unadorned, are rejected.  Nothing can engage



attention unless dressed in all the figments of fancy, and nothing so



bedecked comes amiss.  The result is a bloated imagination, sickly



judgment, and disgust towards all the real businesses of life.  This



mass of trash, however, is not without some distinction; some few



modelling their narratives, although fictitious, on the incidents of



real life, have been able to make them interesting and useful



vehicles of sound morality.  Such, I think, are Marmontel's new moral



tales, but not his old ones, which are really immoral.  Such are the



writings of Miss Edgeworth, and some of those of Madame Genlis.  For



a like reason, too, much poetry should not be indulged.  Some is



useful for forming style and taste.  Pope, Dryden, Thompson,



Shakspeare, and of the French, Moliere, Racine, the Corneilles, may



be read with pleasure and improvement.









        The French language, become that of the general intercourse of



nations, and from their extraordinary advances, now the depository of



all science, is an indispensable part of education for both sexes.



In the subjoined catalogue, therefore, I have placed the books of



both languages indifferently, according as the one or the other



offers what is best.









        The ornaments too, and the amusements of life, are entitled to



their portion of attention.  These, for a female, are dancing,



drawing, and music.  The first is a healthy exercise, elegant and



very attractive for young people.  Every affectionate parent would be



pleased to see his daughter qualified to participate with her



companions, and without awkwardness at least, in the circles of



festivity, of which she occasionally becomes a part.  It is a



necessary accomplishment, therefore, although of short use, for the



French rule is wise, that no lady dances after marriage.  This is



founded in solid physical reasons, gestation and nursing leaving



little time to a married lady when this exercise can be either safe



or innocent.  Drawing is thought less of in this country than in



Europe.  It is an innocent and engaging amusement, often useful, and



a qualification not to be neglected in one who is to become a mother



and an instructor.  Music is invaluable where a person has an ear.



Where they have not, it should not be attempted.  It furnishes a



delightful recreation for the hours of respite from the cares of the



day, and lasts us through life.  The taste of this country, too,



calls for this accomplishment more strongly than for either of the



others.









        I need say nothing of household economy, in which the mothers



of our country are generally skilled, and generally careful to



instruct their daughters.  We all know its value, and that diligence



and dexterity in all its processes are inestimable treasures.  The



order and economy of a house are as honorable to the mistress as



those of the farm to the master, and if either be neglected, ruin



follows, and children destitute of the means of living.









        This, Sir, is offered as a summary sketch on a subject on which



I have not thought much.  It probably contains nothing but what has



already occurred to yourself, and claims your acceptance on no other



ground than as a testimony of my respect for your wishes, and of my



great esteem and respect.















        THE CLASSICAL PRESS









        _To Wells and Lilly_



        _Monticello, April 1, 1818_









        You must have thought me very tardy in acknoleging the receipt



of your letter of Jan. 13. and in returning my thanks, which I now



do, for the very handsome copy of Cicero's works from your press,



which you have been so kind as to present me.  I waited first the



receipt of that and the books accompanying it, but I happened at the



time of their arrival to be reading the 5th book of Cicero's



Tusculans, which I followed by that of his Offices, and concluded to



lay aside the variorum edition, and to use yours, after which I might



write more understandingly on the subject.  having been extremely



disgusted with the Philadelphia and New York Delphin editions, some



of which I had read, and altho executed with a good type on good



paper, yet so full of errors of the press as not to be worth the



paper they were printed on, I wished to see the state of the



classical press with you.  their editions had on an average about one



error for every page.  I read therefore the portions of your's above



mentioned with a pretty sharp eye, and in something upwards of 200.



pages I found the errors noted on the paper inclosed, being an



average of one for every 13. pages.  this is a good advance on the



presses of N.Y. and Philada., and gives hopes of rapid improvements.



the errors in the Variorum editions however are fewer than these, the



Elzevirs still fewer: but the perfection of accuracy is to be found



in the folio edition of Homer by the Foulis of Glasgow.  I have



understood they offered 1000 guineas for the discovery of any error



in it, even of an accent, and that the reward was never claimed.  I



am glad to find you are thinking of printing Livy.  there should be



no hesitation between that and Quinctilian.  this last is little



wanting.  we have Blair's and Adams's books which give us the



rhetoric of our own language and that of a foreign and a dead one



will interest few readers.  but of Livy there is not, nor ever has



been an edition meriting the name of an editio optima.  the Delphin



edition might have been, but for it's numerous errors of the press,



and unmanageable size in 4to.  it's notes are valuable, and it has



the whole of Freinsheim's supplement with the marginal references to



his authorities.  Clerk's edition is of a handy size, has the whole



of Freinsheim, but without the references, which we often wish to



turn to, and it is without notes.  the late Paris edition of La Malle



has only the supplement of the 2d decad and no notes.  I possess



these two last mentioned editions, but would gladly become a



subscriber to such a one as I describe, that is to say, an 8vo



edition with the Delphin notes and all Freinsheim's supplements and



references.  if correctly executed it would be the editio optima, be



called for in Europe and do us honor there.  since consigning my



library to Congress I have supplied myself from Europe with most of



the classics, and of the best editions, in which I have been much



aided by mr. Ticknor, your most learned and valuable countryman.









        I make you my acknolegement for the sermon on the Unity of God,



and am glad to see our countrymen looking that question in the face.



it must end in a return to primitive christianity, and the



disbandment of the unintelligible Athanasian jargon of 3. being 1.



and 1. being 3.  this sermon is one of the strongest pieces against



it.  I observe you are about printing a work of Belsham's on the same



subject, for which I wish to be a subscriber, and inclose you a 5 D.



bill, there being none of fractional denominations.  the surplus



therefore may stand as I shall be calling for other things.  Accept



the assurance of my great respect.















        INFLATION AND DEMORALIZATION









        _To Nathaniel Macon_



        _Monticello, January 12, 1819_









        DEAR SIR, -- The problem you had wished to propose to me was



one which I could not have solved; for I knew nothing of the facts.



I read no newspaper now but Ritchie's, and in that chiefly the



advertisements, for they contain the only truths to be relied on in a



newspaper.  I feel a much greater interest in knowing what has passed



two or three thousand years ago, than in what is now passing.  I read



nothing, therefore, but of the heroes of Troy, of the wars of



Lacedaemon and Athens, of Pompey and Caesar, and of Augustus too, the



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