View source for Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles''}}
Introduction and summary.<ref>Please footnote sources.</ref>

==Excerpt from Volume III==
===Page 124===

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His Excellency Gov. Jefferson of Virginia visited me with a Letter from Mr. Sherman<sup>1</sup> at Congress. He is appointed by Congress Ambassador from the United States or Minister plenipotentiary with D<sup>r</sup> Franklin & D<sup>r</sup> Adams, for settling Treaties of Commerce with G. Britain & other foreign Nations. He is on his way with Col. Humphrys, Sec<sup>y</sup> to the Commissioners, to Rh. Isld, B<sup>o</sup> & Piscataqua to survey these Eastern States, & take passage at B<sup>o</sup> for France. He was educated at and entered W<sup>m</sup> & Mary Coll.
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<sup>1</sup>This letter now in possession of Dr Stiles's great grandson the Rev William C Gannett is in part as follows:—
 
                                                                                                                                                                                     ANNAPOLIS,  11th May,  1784.
 SIR,
 I take the liberty to introduce to you the Honorable Thomas Jefferson Esq’r. . . .  He is a Gentleman of much Philosophical as well as political knowledge—and I doubt not you will be very agreeably entertained with his conversation You will be pleased to introduce him to such other gentlemen in the City of New Haven as you may think proper. 
    I am, Sir, with great esteem and respect, 
                                                                                                                                                      Your humble Servant 
                                                                                                                                                                     ROGER SHERMAN.
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===Page 125===

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1761 where he studied five years & left in 1766. Then became a Lawyer. He was one of the 24 Visitors of W<sup>m</sup> & Mary College. He tells me President Maddison's Sal<sup>y</sup> & Perquisites are about &pound;400 per ann. The Salaries of the other professors were &pound;80 in Tobacco, now worth &pound;150 or &pound;160 as the Price of Tobacco has doubled. The Professors besides their Sal<sup>ys</sup> have about &pound;8 in Tobacco, now &pound;12 or &pound;15 from each Scholar per ann for Instruction. There are Eighty Undergraduate Students at present ; and they study under such Professor or Professors as they chuse. The Professor of Law is the Att<sup>o</sup> Gen of the State and he makes more by his Professorship than as Attorney. The Presid<sup>t</sup> as Professor of Math. & Phil. has about 20 students at a time under his Tuition. A Majority of the Visitors petitioned the Assembly of Virginia about 1777 to alter the Constitution of the College ;  & it was proposed to appoint a Chancellor & three of the first Literary Characters at the Supremacy in the Institution. But the other Visitors opposed it, & nothing has been done by the Assembly. The Visitors themselves however then made great Alter<sup>a</sup>. They abolished the Professorship of Div<sup>y</sup>—Commons—they separated the Bracton Grammar School from the College (and the College consisted of but sixteen Undergrad. Scholars besides Grammar Scholars), which almost broke up the apparent ostensible College, for these Grammar Scholars lived & dieted in the College House—they made it unnecessary to learn any Latin or Greek in order to admission into the College.
 
President Maddison was born in Virginia, educated in W<sup>m</sup> & Mary College 3 or 4 years after Gov. Jefferson, went to Engl<sup>d</sup> & received Episc<sup>o</sup> Ordination and is now aet 37.
 
Gov. Jeff says the Tot. Inhab. in the State of Virginia is nearly 380 Thous<sup>d</sup> souls Whites & 250 Th. Blacks, Total about six hundred Thousd:—that property is so diffused thro’ the State that five sixths of the Whites possess 100 acres Land & upw<sup>ds</sup> to large Landholders, & that the plebeian Interest will prevail over the old aristocratical Interest in that State .

The Gov. is a most ingenous Naturalist & Philosopher—a truly scientific & learned Man—& every way excellent. He visited the College Lib<sup>y</sup> & our Apparatus. He told us of a new simple apparatus for Electricity left by a British Officer in Philad<sup>a</sup>. It consisted of a Plate or Discus of phps. 15 Inc. Diam. & 2 Inc. thro made of an unknown Composition or Cement being an Electric per se, yet 
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===Page 126===
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not so hard as Glass, but of more easy Attrition : another plate of Metal. The electric plate must be gently rubbed with a Catskin or Leather—then the metal plate is to be put flat upon it,  & instantly taken off & the phial applied, & readily filled. One pson in Philad<sup>a</sup> had the secret, & sells the cake or Amber-like plate at Eight Dollars. Gov. Jefferson has seen many of the great Bones dug up on the Ohio. He has a thigh-bone ''Three Feet long''—& a Tooth weighing ''sixteen Pounds''. —Blacston the Basis of Law Lect. in W<sup>m</sup> & Mary Coll. ''Philosophy, Medicine & Law'' seem to be their Object.
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==See also==
*Other Related Wythepedia Pages

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*Read this book in [https://books.google.com/books?id=U1xHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22the+professor+of+law+is+the+att+gen+of+the+state%22&source=bl&ots=iIGnAuNOgr&sig=QvTB0FzT1yQJOiy0CgdHEGc4LSc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7vMy1t-_dAhWud98KHdxnCNUQ6AEwAHoECAEQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20professor%20of%20law%20is%20the%20att%20gen%20of%20the%20state%22&f=false Google Books.]

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