Another attractive picture was given by the Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, after his visit to Monticello in 1796. He noted the fact that Jefferson owned five thousand acres, of which but eleven hundred were cultivated. "I found him in the midst of the harvest," he wrote, "from which the scorching heat of the sun does not prevent his attendance.... Every article is made on his farm: his negroes are cabinet makers, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, smiths, etc. The children he employs in a nail factory, which yields already a considerable profit.... His superior mind directs the management of his domestic concerns with the same abilities, activity and regularity which he evinced in the conduct of public affairs." Long absence from home and lavish hospitality wrecked the Jefferson fortune, and when the owner of Monticello finally returned home after his eight years as President, he was compelled to curtail his expenses. But still he made guests welcome. It is said that at times there were as many as fifty guests in the house at one time. One of those who sought the Sage of Monticello in 1817 was Lieutenant Francis Hall, who wrote of his veneration as he looked on "the man who drew up the Declaration of American Independence, who shared in the Councils by which her freedom was established, when the unbought voices of his fellow-citizens called to the exercise of a dignity from which his own moderation impelled him, when such an example was most salutary, to withdraw; and who, while he dedicates the evening of his glorious days to the pursuits of science and literature, shuns none of the humble duties of private life; but, having filled a seat higher than that of kings, succeeds with graceful dignity to that of the good neighbor, and becomes the friendly adviser, lawyer, physician, and even gardener of his vicinity." July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, was the day of Jefferson's death. The sale of his estate was sufficient to pay all his debts. To his daughter who was thus made homeless, the legislatures of South Carolina and Virginia each voted as a gift $10,000. On the stone placed over the grave of the Sage of Monticello was carved the inscription which he himself had asked for: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." [Illustration: UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. _Photo by H. P. Cook_ See page 326] LXXIV THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA AT CHARLOTTESVILLE THE CHILD OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'S OLD AGE