Notice of the late SheIdo7i 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, '25. 



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. 



A second reason is, that I revolt against all metaphysical reading, in 

 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 Jhe 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 speculations, I have never 

 seen one useful result. 



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, I should say more 

 on them. Persuaded that he who wrote them will perceive the reason- 

 ableness of my declining this office, I pray you to be assured of my 

 great respect. Th. Jefferson. 



His bounties to Yale College, procured for him applications 

 from other institutions, and a number of students in different col- 

 leges, and other persons, as appears by his correspondence, were 

 suitors for his largesses. As there are no records of answers, we 



* In several remarkable cases, from persons still living. 



