Both
Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson had the pleasure of knowing that the respect
which they so largely received was not paid to their official stations.
They were not men made great by office; but great men, on whom the
country for its own benefit had conferred office. There was that in them
which office did not give, and which the relinquishment of office did
not, and could not, take away. In their retirement, in the midst of
their fellow-citizens, themselves private citizens, they enjoyed as high
regard and esteem as when filling the most important places of public
trust.
There remained to Mr. Jefferson yet one other work of patriotism and
beneficence, the establishment of a university in his native state. To
this object he devoted years of incessant and anxious attention, and
by the enlightened liberality of the legislature of Virginia, and
the cooperation of other able and zealous friends, he lived to see it
accomplished. May all success attend this infant seminary; and may
those who enjoy its advantages, as often as their eyes shall rest on the
neighboring height, recollect what they owe to their disinterested and
indefatigable benefactor; and may letters honor him who thus labored in
the cause of letters!
Thus useful, and thus respected, passed the old age of Thomas Jefferson.
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