reading Greek authors in the original, with a specific reference to Homer: “ . . . to all this I add that to read the Latin & Greek authors in their original is a sublime luxury; and I deem luxury in science to be at least as justifiable as in architecture, painting, gardening or the other arts. I enjoy Homer in his own language infinitely beyond Pope’s translation of him, & both beyond the dull narrative of the same events by Dares Phrygius, & it is an innocent enjoyment. I thank on my knees him who directed my early education for having put into my possession this rich source of delight: and I would not exchange it for any thing which I could then have acquired & have not since acquired . . . ”

On August 16, 1813, in writing from Monticello to John Waldo to thank him for his Rudiments of English Grammar , Jefferson discussed the advantages to a language of dialects, and wrote: “ . . . did the Athenians consider the Doric, the Ionian, the Aeolic & other dialects, as disfiguring or as beautifying their language? did they fastidiously disavow Herodotus, Pindar, Theocritus, Sappho, Alcaeus as Grecian writers? on the contrary they were sensible that the variety of dialects, still infinitely varied by poetical license, constituted the riches of their language, and made the Grecian Homer the first of poets, as he must ever remain, until a language equally ductile & copious shall again be spoken . . . ”

Two years after acquiring these volumes, Jefferson set out to make a collection of the classics. In a letter to Thomas Mann Randolph, dated from Paris, February 28, 1788, Jefferson wrote: “ . . . I must take the liberty of troubling you with the execution of a commission for me. I am making a collection of all the Greek authors, and of those editions of them which do not exceed the octavo size. I know that many of them have been printed at the Oxford press, and by the Foulis’ in Glasgow, and probably at other presses also of Great Britain. I wish to have a catalogue of all the 8 ^vo and smaller editions of them which have been printed in Great Britain, specifying whether they have translations or not, what is their price, and what works of the author they contain if they contain not the whole. I presume that any well informed bookseller can readily make out a catalogue of these editions. Will you be so good as to get some one to do this, and to undertake yourself the trouble of forwarding it to me? . . . ”

Entered by Jefferson in his undated manuscript catalogue, with the price, 30.10.

Samuel Clarke, 1675-1729, English divine. The first volume of this work was originally published in 1729, and dedicated to the Duke of Cumberland. The first edition of the second volume was published by Clarke’s son in 1732, the first three books having been prepared by his father. For other works by Samuel Clarke, see the Index.