Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-11-14
St1istellaueuns &eading.
For the Yorkvillc Enquirer.
A VISIT TO ssMONTIOELLO."

with emotions of pride at the mention of old
Virginia. Around her name cluster unfad.
ing halos of both martial and civic glory.
Her record of great men equals that OF any
State, either in ancient or modern history.
To her may be aptly applied the poets lam
guage-
"Land of the beautiful and brave,
The freeman's home, the martyrs grave;
The nursery of great men
Whose deeds have linked with every glen
The magic of patriots name"
The world delights to honor the memory OF
q Washington, a Lee, Henry, Madison, a
Marshall and host of other worthless, among
whom We find the name of Thomas Jefferson,
that great man who drew up the text book OF
freedom and placed it before the world to
teach it liberty. His name is indissolubly
associated with the American "Declaration OF
Independence" that palladium of liberty
which has taken its place beside the "Magna
Cbarta," the "Bill of Rights" and the "Ha-
beas Corpus Act" as one of the priceless leg
acies of humanity, one of the boasted jewels
of civilization. He was an ornament to his
country and benefactor to his race.
But the purpose of the present communica'
ton is not to extol the virtues of Jefferson,
but to tell you of recent delightful visit
made to his home 1t is situated in the coun.
ty of Albemarle, Virginia, two miles from
Charlottesville, the county seat, on the apex
of mountain FIVE hundred and eighty feet
high. The top of the mountain, under the
supervision of Mr.. Jefferson, was leveled for
the space of six hundred by two hundred feet,
and made circular at each end. Here, in
ITO, he caused structure to be erected,
which was designed by his own fastidious
taste, and which, to the modern observer, pre-
sents quite an antique appearance. With its
massive balustrades and heavy cornice, it is,
externally, of the Doric order of Grecian
architecture, and internally, its public rooms
are ornately and elaborately finished after the
Ionic style. 1t contains thirty.six rooms and
is one story, except the parlor or central
room, which is surnounted by an octagonal
story with dome or spherical roof. The
house has two porticoes fronting nearly east
and west. There are also subterranean pas
sages, ten feet wide, leading from the house
to the stables, to the kitchen, and to his Of
fees, whose floors are level with the cellars
and whose fiat roofs, or terraces, are nearly
level with the first floor of the building. He
called his residence "Monticello," a sweet
euphonious name, which, in Italian, means
Little Mountain" This may be considered
by the casual reader modest title to be Civ.
en- mansion situated on so lofty mountain
as is the home of Jefferson. But it is as
suredly indicative of the fact that this great
man was devotedly attached to the language
of Italy, and especially to the fine arts Of
which that country was the cradle. He be.
ing fond admirer of Nature, selected this
elevated spot as most desirable one for
studying her in all her native simplicity and
grandeur. He, doubtless, never had reason to
regret his selection. For from this exalted
height what wizard landscape beauty, what
enchanting mountain scenery, pass in a series
of successive views, like an overpowering
panorama, before the mental vision.
Our standpoint for observation was the
lawn, which is beautiful one, in the shape
of an ellipse, shaded here and there by the
linden, which is so much admired
by all lovers of rural scenery. From this
point, looking eastward, our eager gaze rested
upon the placid waters Of the smoothly dow
ing Rivanna, which, after peacefully running
for while, meets with ledges of rock, and
dashing itself into foamy spray and whirling
eddies, forms hundreds of small waterfalls,
which, catching the rays of the setting sun,
appear as 80 many white crested-billows Of
the sea after storm. Who can see the tiny
rainbows enameling the brows of those min
iature cataracts, and as the bubbles fall see
the pearls and jewels reflected in prismatic
colors in the foam, without ardently longing
for the genius of an artist or the pen of a
Wordsworth? Nature here presents her love-
liest, sublimest aspects, and in truth shows
"the last ascending footsteps of the God"
No dull uniformity prevails. In a north
easterly direction, the smiling valleys, with
their variegated beauty, yelled in a shroud
like mist, repose on the broad bosom of moth.
er Earth. Just beyond, flushed in the glory
of Soils departing rays, the mountains stand,
and down the forest aisle
"a birds sweet voice let float upon the air
An evening melody of peace and prayer"
Yonder, the beautiful Blue Ridge is lifting
up its peaks, as if attempting to kiss the
azure dome of Heaven; and now, the blue
haze is half concealing, yet half revealing,
the grandeur of scenery and the vastness of
extent, of that pyramid shaped mountain,
"whose distance lends enchantment to the
view" And now, standing in the eastern
portico of Monticello and looking through
its portals, upon the clear blue sky, with its
thousands of celestial gems decking the ebon
brow of Night
'Forever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine,''
limiting to my restless spirit of the peace and
lustre of the heavenly world, completely lost
in reverie, my mind on the verge of ephemer-
al fancy, SCARED to an imaginative realm. I
will not say that the scenery, as viewed by an
observer from "Monticello," has sublimer &C.
and nobler inspirations than
ever rose upon the eye of gazer from the
summit of the Alps or the Apprentices but
do think that for poetic beauty, for delicate
inspiration, the scene is as sweet as ever wooed
the eye of Grecian minstrel on the slopes of
Parnassus or around the fountains of Corta-