a young King, as the present, I think good may be made of it.  I would have the deputies, then, by all means, so conduct themselves as to encourage him to repeat the calls of this Assembly.  Their first step should be to get themselves divided into two chambers instead of seven; the Noblesse and the Commons separately.  The second, to persuade the King, instead of choosing the deputies of the Commons himself, to summon those chosen by the people for the Provincial administrations.  The third, as the Noblesse is too numerous to be all of the Assemblee, to obtain permission for that body to choose its own deputies.  Two Houses, so elected, would contain a mass of wisdom, which would make the people happy, and the King great; would place him in history where no other act can possibly place him.  They would thus put themselves in the track of the best guide they can follow, they would soon overtake it, become its guide in turn, and lead to the wholesome modifications wanting in that model, and necessary to constitute a rational government.  Should they attempt more than the established habits of the people are ripe for, they must lose all, and retard indefinitely the ultimate object of their aim.  These, Madam, are my opinions; but I wish to know yours, which I am sure will be better.

From a correspondent at Nismes you will not expect news.  Were I to attempt to give you news, I should tell you stories one thousand years old.  I should detail to you the intrigues of the courts of the Caesars, how they affect us here, the oppressions of their praetors, prefects, &c.  I am immersed in antiquities from morning to night.  For me the city of Rome is actually existing in all the splendor of its empire.  I am filled with alarms for the event of the irruptions daily making on us by the Goths, the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Vandals, lest they should re-conquer us to our original barbarism.  If I am sometimes induced to look forward to the eighteenth century, it is only when recalled to it by the recollection of your goodness and friendship, and by those sentiments of sincere esteem and respect, with which I have the honor to be,

Madam, your most obedient

and most humble servant,

Th:  Jefferson.

LETTER LIV.—­TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE, April 11, 1787

TO THE MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE.

Nice, April 11, 1787.

Your head, my dear friend, is full of Notable things; and being better employed, therefore, I do not expect letters from you.  I am constantly roving about to see what I have never seen before, and shall never see again.  In the great cities, I go to see what travellers think alone worthy of being seen; but I make a job of it, and generally gulp it all down in a day.  On the other hand, I am never satiated with rambling through the fields and farms, examining the culture and cultivators with a degree of curiosity, which makes some take me to