Thomas Randolph

“ He has a compass to steer by, and a port to sail to, instead of being afloat on the waste of waters, the sport of every breeze that blows. It is touching to observe that this unhappy, sick, and sometimes mad John Randolph, amid all the vagaries of his later life, had always a vein of soundness in him, derived from his early connection with the enlightened men who acted in politics with Thomas Jefferson. ”

“ I have elsewhere noticed the noble qualities both of head and heart which were possessed by Martha Jefferson. It was the growth and development of these which years afterwards made John Randolph, of Roanoke—though he had quarrelled with her father—pronounce her the "noblest woman in Virginia." [40] Thomas Mann Randolph was intellectually not less highly gifted. He was a constant student, and for his genius and acquirements ranked among the first students at the University of Edinburgh. ”

“ My principal objection remains. Thomas Randolph was far too popular a poet to have been contemptuously alluded to by Wotton or any one else in that age, and, making all due allowance for laudation and compliment, Wotton does disparage the poems to which Milton's Masque was appended.
I think that quaint old Winstanley gives the general opinion of Randolph. He says:
"He was one of such a pregnant wit that the Muses may seem not only to have smiled, but to have been tickled at his nativity, such the festivity of his poems of all sorts."—Lives of English Poets, p. ”

“ To few men ruin, but to all men fear.
—Thomas Randolph.
Thomas Randolph, a noted English poet and dramatist, was born near Daventry in Northamptonshire, and was baptized June 15, 1605, and died in 1635. Among his plays are: “The Jealous Lovers,” “The Muses’ Looking-Glasse,” etc.
Smiling always with a never fading serenity of countenance, and flourishing in an immortal youth.
“Duty of Thanksgiving,” “Works,” Vol. I, p. 66,—Isaac Barrow.
Isaac Barrow, a distinguished English theologian, classical scholar and mathematician, was born at London, June 16, 1630, and died at London, April, 1677. ”

“ Gallatin clung to Randolph as the only member of the House competent to conduct the public business; and no small part of Randolph's arrogance toward his own followers was due to his sense of intellectual superiority, and to the constant proof that they could do no business without his aid. Randolph was rarely arrogant in the face of men whose abilities were superior to his own, or whose will was stronger; he domineered over those whom he thought his inferiors, but he liked no contest in which he saw an uncertain hope of victory. In the Ninth Congress he met no rival in his own party. ”

“ To Martha Jefferson Randolph.
Philadelphia, March 22d, 1792.
My dear Martha—Yours of February 20th came to me with that welcome which every thing brings from you. It is a relief to be withdrawn from the torment of the scenes amidst which we are. Spectators of the heats and tumults of conflicting parties, we can not help participating of their feelings. I should envy you the tranquil occupations of your situation, were it not that I value your happiness more than my own, but I too shall have my turn. The ensuing year will be the longest of my life, and the last of such hateful labors ”

“ Randolph was the author of numerous charges, sermons on episcopal consecrations and on public occasions, a Latin address to Canterbury convocation, 26 Nov. 1790, and a Greek lecture given at Oxford in December 1782. The ‘heads’ of his divinity lectures were printed in 1784, and again in 1790, and the whole ‘course of lectures to candidates for holy orders,’ together with three ‘Lectures on the Book of Common Prayer’ (which were also issued separately in 1869) , were published by his son Thomas in three volumes, 1869–70. ”

“ He was as gentle as a child, but conversed with such vigor and animation that they would have often cheated themselves with the belief that months, if not years, of life were in store for him, and that he himself was in no expectation of speedy death, had they not witnessed the infant-like debility of his powerful frame, and had they not occasionally, when they looked suddenly at him, caught resting on themselves that riveted and intensely-loving gaze which showed but too plainly that his thoughts were on a rapidly-approaching parting. ”

“ Randolph and his lady (if he is to have one) , in proportion as the difficulties increase. He is an excellent, good man, to whose temper nothing can be objected, but too much facility, too much milk. Avail yourself of this softness, then, to obtain his attachment.
If the lady has any thing difficult in her disposition, avoid what is rough, and attach her good qualities to you. Consider [188] what are otherwise as a bad stop in your harpsichord, and do not touch on it, but make yourself happy with the good ones. Every human being, my dear, must thus be viewed, according to what it is good for ”

“ If ever you find yourself in difficulty, and doubt how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and you will find it the easiest way of getting out of the difficulty. Do it for the additional incitement of increasing the happiness of him who loves you infinitely, and who is, my dear Patsy, yours affectionately,
TH. JEFFERSON.
Martha Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson.
My dear Papa—I was very sorry to see, by your letter to Mr. Short, that your return would be put off. However, I hope not much, as you must be here for the arrival of my sister. I wish I was myself all that you tell me to make her ”

“ You say, indeed, that you are coming to America, but I know that means New York. In the mean time, I am going to Virginia. I have at length been able to fix that to the beginning of the new year. I am then to be liberated from the hated occupations of politics, and to remain in the bosom of my family, my farm, and my books. I have my house to build, my fields to farm, and to watch for the happiness of those who labor for mine. I have one daughter married to a man of science, sense, virtue, and competence ”

“ Mrs. Randolph has made them cease to be novelties—she has four children. We shall teach them all to grow up in esteem for yourself and Catherine. Whether they or we may have opportunities of testifying it personally must depend on the chapter of events. I am in the habit of turning over its next leaf with hope, and though it often fails me, there is still another and another behind. In the mean time, I cherish with [261] fondness those affectionate sentiments of esteem and respect with which I am, my dear Madam, your sincere and humble servant,
TH. JEFFERSON.
To Catherine Church. ”

“ Eppes does not have inquiries made at the post-office there.... I will inclose this to the care of Mr. Jefferson....
I fully propose, if nothing intervenes to prevent it, to take Chesterfield in my way home. I am not without hopes you will be ready to go on with me; but at any rate that you will soon follow. I know no happiness but when we are all together. You have, perhaps, heard of the loss of Jupiter. With all his defects, he leaves a void in my domestic arrangements which can not be filled. Mr. Eppes's last letter informed me how much you had suffered from your breasts ”

“ Randolph are quite large enough, and also have fur enough in them. I inclose some papers for Anne; and must continue in debt to Jefferson a letter for a while longer. Take care of yourself, [295] my dearest Maria, have good spirits, and know that courage is as essential to triumph in your case as in that of a soldier. Keep us all, therefore, in heart of being so yourself. Give my tender affections to your sister, and receive them for yourself also, with assurances that I live in your love only and in that of your sister. Adieu, my dear daughter. ”

“ Randolph returned to his charges, attacking Granger bitterly, but not yet venturing to take the single step that remained to create a Virginia feud; he left Jackson and Madison alone. He bore with something like patience the retorts which his violence drew upon him, and his self-esteem made him proof to the insults of democrats like Matthew Lyon, who thanked his Creator "that he gave me the face of a man, not that of an ape or a monkey, and that he gave me the heart of a man also." ”

“ Randolph and Miss Maria, who are handsome, modest, and amiable women. They have been educated in France....
Mr. Randolph is proprietor of a considerable plantation, contiguous to that of Mr. Jefferson's. He constantly spends the summer with him, and, from the affection he bears him, he seems to be his son rather than his son-in-law. Miss Maria constantly resides with her father; but as she is [239] seventeen years old, and is remarkably handsome, she will, doubtless, soon find that there are duties which it is still sweeter to perform than those of a daughter. ”

“ Randolph to live and build on a farm of their own, adjoining me; but I still count on their passing the greater part of their time at Monticello. Why should we forbid ourselves to believe that some day or other some circumstance may bring you also to our little society, and renew the recollections of former scenes very dear to our memory. Hope is so much more charming than disappointments and forebodings, that we will not set it down among impossible things. ”

“ The opportunity to declare the negroes of Hayti enemies of the human race was too tempting to be rejected; and not only did the Southern Republicans eagerly seize it, but they persuaded their Northern allies to support them. John Randolph himself, though then wearying the House day after day with cries that Madison had sold the honor of the United States to France, never alluded to this act of subservience, which would have made any other Administration infamous, and quietly absented himself at the vote, that he might seem neither to obey Bonaparte's mandate nor to oppose the Bill. ”

“ The amount of all the speeches of John Randolph in the House, for two or three years is, that himself and myself are the only two honest and consistent men in the United States. Himself eternally in opposition to government, and myself as constantly in favor of it. He is now in correspondence with his friend Quincy. What will come of it, let Virginia and Massachusetts judge. ”

“ Unable to converse with my friends in person, I am happy when I do it in black and white. The true cause of the delay has been an unlucky dislocation of my wrist, which has disabled [84] me from writing three months. I only begin to write a little now, but with pain. I wish, while in Virginia, your curiosity had led you on to James River. At Richmond you would have seen your old friends, Mr. and Mrs. Randolph, and a little farther you would have become acquainted with my friend, Mrs. Eppes, whom you would have found among the most amiable women on earth. ”

“ His mother, from whom he inherited his cheerful and hopeful temper and disposition, was a woman of a clear and strong understanding, [22] and, in every respect, worthy of the love of such a man as Peter Jefferson.
Isham Randolph's nephew, Colonel William Randolph, of Tuckahoe, was Peter Jefferson's most intimate friend. A pleasing incident preserved in the family records proves how warm and generous their friendship was. Two or three days before Jefferson took out a patent for a thousand acres of land on the Rivanna River, Randolph had taken out one for twenty-four hundred acres adjoining. ”

“ And to trace it through all the disastrous chapters of Robespierre, Barras, Bonaparte, and the Bourbons! These things, however, are for our meeting. You mention the return of Miss Wright to America, accompanied by her sister; but do not say what her stay is to be, nor what her course. Should it lead her to a visit of our University, which in its architecture [390] only is as yet an object, herself and her companion will nowhere find a welcome more hearty than with Mrs. Randolph, and all the inhabitants of Monticello. This Athenæum of our country, in embryo, is as yet but promise ”

“ R. or Mr. H. for a farm for Mr. Randolph. Mr. H. has a good tract of land on the other side of Edgehill, and it may not be unadvisable to begin by buying out a dangerous neighbor. I wish Mr. Randolph could have him sounded to see if he will sell, and at what price; but sounded through such a channel as would excite no suspicion that it comes from Mr. Randolph or myself. Col. Monroe would be a good and unsuspected hand, as he once thought of buying the same lands. Adieu, my dear child. Present my warm attachment to Mr. Randolph.
Yours affectionately,
TH. JEFFERSON. ”

“ John Randolph, a cousin of John Randolph of Roanoke, ran away from home at sixteen, settling in Augusta. He was a merchant and became wealthy. Letitia, a daugter m. Wm. F. Smith, of Greenville, parent of J. Ran, Mrs. Anna Lilly, Mrs. Wilson Brown, Mrs. Mary Randolph, Mrs. Lee Christian and Prof. W. Ballard Smith of McDonough, Md. His son, John T. Randolph, m. Anne Farish, lived and died Charlottesville, Va., leaving four sons, viz., William who m. his first cousin, Mary Smith, parents of Edmund and Bruce Randolph of Augusta Co., Thomas F., Dr. John, and Walter Randolph. ”

“ This letter, as a matter of curiosity probably, was written in a book of the bark of the paper birch, having leaves seven inches long by four wide. (Note from Randall's Jefferson.)
[44] This servant had made himself invaluable to Mr. Jefferson; and in a previous letter he wrote to Mrs. Randolph, "I have been made happy by Petit's determination to come to me. I did not look out for another, because I still hoped he would come. In fact, he retired to Champaigne to live with his mother, and after a short time wrote to Mr. Short 'qu'il mourait d'ennui,' and was willing to come." ”