230 Notice of the late Sheldon Clark. 
to have been his favorite field of speculation. His writings are 
often vigorous and acute, and his reasoning ingenious, but not 
always conclusive. Some of his speculations were printed, and 
transmitted by himself to eminent men. Among his letters are 
many replies, some of them of considerable curiosity on account 
of both the authors* and the sentiments; we shall venture:to 
cite only one, and that from a man well known to fame. 
To Mr. Sheldon Clark. ) 
« Monticello, Dec. 5, *29. ; 
Sir—I thank you for the pamphlets you have been so kind as to send 
me; but I cannot comply with your request to give my opinion of them; 
against this, I have been obliged to protest in every case. I should 
otherwise, for the last twenty years, have been constantly employed in 
the trade of a reviewer of books, for which I have neither taste, talent, 
nor time; and instead of reading according to. my own choice, my 
course of reading would have been wholly under the direction of wri- 
ters and printers, on all sorts of subjects. No mail.comes without bring- 
ing me more than I could review before the arrival of the next. i 
A second reason is, that I revolt against all metaphysical reading, 2 
which class your ‘new pamphlet, must at least be placed. Some ac- 
quaintance with the operations of the mind is worth acquiring, but any 
one of the writers suffices for that. Locke, Kames, Hartley, ‘Reid, 
Stewart, Brown, Tracy, &c., these dreams of the day, like those of the 
night, vanish in vapor, leaving not a wreck behind. The business of 
life is with matter, that gives us tangible results; handling that, we ar 
rive at the knowledge of the axe, the plough, the steamboat, and every 
thing useful in life; but, from metaphysical spéculations, I have never 
seen one useful result. psi 
Your ‘second pamphlet, entitled ‘ Essays, is certainly on important 
subjects, moral or physical, according to our individual creed. ‘I dipped 
into them in several places, and found in them views both profound and 
instructive, and, but for my first reason above stated, | should say more 
on them. Persuaded that he who wrote them will perceive the reason 
ableness of my declining this office, | pray you to be assured of my 
great respect. __ Lon ee Tu. JEFFERSON- © 
‘His bounties to Yale College, procured for him applications 
from other institutions, and a number of students in different cok 
leges, and other persons, as appears by his correspondence, wer? 
suitors for his largesses. As there are no records of answers, W° 
- “ 
ae ay Pa ewe ie cao | 
i +ill living. 
© cases, trom pers ) ving: 
