INTRODUCTORY NOTES.

"Notes on Virginia" was written by Jefferson in answer to inquiries propounded to him by the Marquis de Barbé-Marbois, then Secretary of the French Legation in Philadelphia. Jefferson had 200 copies privately printed in Paris in 1784 (dated 1782) for distribution among his friends in Europe and America. No more authentic account could be given as to the origin of the "Notes on Virginia" than the account Jefferson gives us himself in his Autobiography. This account is as follows:

"Before I had left America, that is to say, in the year of 1781, I had received a letter from M. de Marbois, of the French legation in Philadelphia, informing me that he had been instructed by his government to obtain such statistical accounts of the different States of our Union, as might be useful for their information; and addressing to me a number of queries relative to the State of Virginia. I had always made it a practice, whenever an opportunity occurred, of obtaining any information of our country which might be of use to me in any station, public or private, to commit it to writing. These memoranda, were on loose papers, bundled up without order, and difficult of recurrence, when I had occasion for a particular one. I thought this a good occasion to embody their substance, which I did in the order of M. Marbois's queries, so as to answer his wish, and to arrange them for my own use. Some friends, to whom they were occasionally communicated, wished for copies; but their volume rendering this too laborious by hand, I proposed to get a few printed for their gratification. I was asked such a price, however, as exceeded the importance of the object. On my arrival at Paris, I found it could be done for a fourth of what I had been asked here. I, therefore, corrected and enlarged them, and had two hundred copies printed, under the title of 'Notes on Virginia.' I gave a very few copies to some particular persons in Europe, and sent the rest to my friends in America. An European copy, by the death of the owner, got into the hands of a bookseller, who engaged its translation, and, when ready for the press, communicated his intentions and manuscript to me, suggesting that I should correct it without asking any other permission for the publication. I never had seen so wretched an attempt at translation. Interverted, abridged, mutilated, and often reversing the sense of the original, I found it a blotch of errors from

beginning to end. I corrected some of the most material, and, in that form, it was printed in French. A London bookseller, on seeing the translation, requested me to permit him to print the English original. I thought it best to do so, to let the world see that it was not really so bad as the French translation had made it appear. And this is the true history of that publication."

The English publisher referred to by Jefferson is John Stockdale, who published an edition of the " Notes on Virginia" in 1787. Jefferson's preface to this English edition was as follows:

"The following Notes were written in Virginia in the year 1781, and somewhat corrected and enlarged in the winter of 1782, in answer to queries proposed to the Author, by a Foreigner of Distinction, then residing among us. The subjects are all treated imperfectly; some scarcely touched on. To apologize for this by developing the circumstances of the time and place of their composition, would be to open wounds which have already bled enough. To these circumstances some of their imperfections may with truth be ascribed; the great mass to the want of information and want of talents in the writer. He had a few copies printed, which he gave among his friends; and a translation of them has been lately published in France, but with such alterations as the laws of the press in that country rendered necessary. They are now offered to the public in their original form and language.” This edition included three "appendices" that Jefferson added after the publication of the original edition, and it was the first edition to announce the name of the author. It was at once reprinted in America, and apparently without Jefferson's consent. A German translation was issued in 1789. Another American reprint of the English edition seems to have been made with Jefferson's consent in 1794. During the years of 1797 and 1798 Jefferson wrote an "Appendix" relative to the murder of Logan's family, which was added to the edition of 1800. All subsequent editions, except that of 1853, are reprints of the text of 1787, supplemented by the "Appendix" relating to Logan.

Jefferson left at his death a printed copy of his "Notes on Virginia " containing a revision of the text and many manuscript notes. This copy was transferred by Jefferson's literary executor, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, to J. W. Randolph & Co., who based their edition of 1853 on Jefferson's final revision.

In the preface of this edition the publishers, in contrast to Jefferson's low estimate of his work, declared that "the beauty of style, the accuracy of information, and the scientific research displayed in the 'Notes' have made them a permanent part of our national literature."

JEFFERSON'S WORKS.

NOTES ON VIRGINIA.

QUERY I.

An exact description of the limits and boundaries of the State of Virginia?

Virginia is bounded on the east by the Atlantic; on the north by a line of latitude crossing the eastern shore through Watkin's Point, being about 37° 57′ north latitude; from thence by a straight line to Cinquac, near the mouth of Potomac; thence by the Potomac, which is common to Virginia and Maryland, to the first fountain of its northern branch; thence by a meridian line, passing through that fountain till it intersects a line running east and west, in latitude 39° 43′ 42.4" which divides Maryland from Pennsylvania, and which was marked by Messrs. Mason and Dixon; thence by that line, and a continuation of it westwardly to the completion of five degrees of longitude from the eastern boundary of Pennsylvania, in the same latitude, and thence by a meridian line to the Ohio; on the

west by the Ohio and Mississippi, to latitude 36° 30' north, and on the south by the line of latitude last mentioned. By admeasurements through nearly the whole of this last line, and supplying the unmeasured parts from good data, the Atlantic and Mississippi are found in this latitude to be seven hundred and fifty-eight miles distant, equal to 30° 38' of longitude, reckoning fifty-five miles and three thousand one hundred and forty-four feet to the degree. This being our comprehension of longitude, that of our latitude, taken between this and Mason and Dixon's line, is 3° 13′ 42.4" equal to two hundred and twenty-three and one-third miles, supposing a degree of a great circle to be sixty-nine miles, eight hundred and sixty-four feet, as computed by Cassina. These boundaries include an area somewhat triangular of one hundred and twenty-one thousand five hundred and twenty-five square miles, whereof seventy-nine thousand six hundred and fifty lie westward of the Alleghany mountains, and fifty-seven thousand and thirtyfour westward of the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway. This State is therefore onethird larger than the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, which are reckoned at eighty-eight thousand three hundred and fifty-seven square miles.

These limits result from, 1. The ancient charters from the crown of England. 2. The grant of Maryland to the Lord Baltimore, and the subsequent determinations of the British court as to the extent

of that grant. 3. The grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn, and a compact between the general assemblies of the commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylvania as to the extent of that grant. 4. The grant of Carolina, and actual location of its northern boundary, by consent of both parties. 5. The treaty of Paris of 1763. 6. The confirmation of the charters of the neighboring States by the convention of Virginia at the time of constituting their commonwealth. 7. The cession made by Virginia to Congress of all the lands to which they had title on the north side of the Ohio.

QUERY II.

A notice of its rivers, rivulets, and how far they are navigable?

An inspection of a map of Virginia, will give a better idea of the geography of its rivers, than any description in writing. Their navigation may be imperfectly noted.

Roanoke, so far as it lies within the State, is nowhere navigable but for canoes, or light batteaux; and even for these in such detached parcels as to have prevented the inhabitants from availing themselves of it at all.

James River, and its waters, afford navigation as follows:

The whole of Elizabeth River, the lowest of those which run into James River, is a harbor, and would