CHAPTER VIII....

PERSONAL ASPECT AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

LITTLE has been said hitherto of Monroe's domestic and personal characteristics, but I cannot close the narrative without some reference to them, - beginning with a mention of his happy marriage and his family ties. While attending Congress in New York, he became engaged to Miss Eliza Kortwright, daughter of Lawrence Kortwright of that city, a lady of high social standing and of great beauty. He consulted his relative and life-long friend, Judge Jones, on this important matter, and received from him this counsel, which, however admirable for its discretion and caution, was certainly not likely to influence a man of twenty-eight who was ardently in love.

JUDGE JONES TO JAMES MONROE.

"You will act prudently (so soon as you determine to fix yourself to business) to form the connection you propose with the person you mention or some other, as your inclination and convenience shall dictate. Sensibility and kindness of heart, good

nature without levity, a moderate share of good sense, with some portion of domestic experience and economy, will generally, if united in the female character, produce that happiness and benefit which results from the married state, and is the highest human felicity a man can enjoy, and he cannot fail to enjoy it when he is blessed with a companion of such a disposition and behavior, unless he is so weak and imprudent as to be his own tormentor. You have reached that period of life to be capable of thinking and acting for yourself in this delicate and interesting business, and I can only assure you that any accommodation I shall be able to afford you, to render yours and her situation agreeable and easy, will be cheerfully afforded, which, should fortune be wanting, will be more embarrassing in the commencement than any after period."

It does not appear how carefully the lover weighed these words of wisdom, but the result of his own reflections appears in a letter to Madison, in which he announces his intended marriage.

"If you visit this place shortly I will present you to a young lady who will be adopted a citizen of Virginia in the course of this week.”

Three months later he writes to Jefferson :

"You will be surprised to hear that I have formed the most interesting connection in human life with a young lady in this town, as you know my plan was

to visit you before I settled myself; but having formed an attachment to this young lady -a Miss Kortwright, the daughter of a gentleman of respectable character and connections in this state, though injured in his fortunes by the late war I have found that I must relinquish all other objects not connected with her. We were married about three months since. I remain here until the fall, at which time we remove to Fredericksburg in Virginia, where I shall settle for the present in a house prepared for me by Mr. Jones, to enter into the practice of the law."

The young lawyer had doubted where to make his permanent home, and his friendly relative went over the field carefully, and pointed out to him the comparative advantages of Fredericksburg and Richmond, with particular reference to his profession. The former is at length determined on, and the choice is thus announced to Jefferson, August 19, 1786:

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"I shall leave this about the 1st of October for Virginia, Fredericksburg. Believe me, I have not relinquished the prospect of being your neighbor. The house for which I have requested a plan may possibly be erected near Monticello; to fix there, and to have yourself in particular, with what friends we may collect around, for society is my chief object; or rather, the only one which promises to me, with the connection I have formed, real and substantial

pleasure; if, indeed, by the name of pleasure it may be called."

There were two children of this marriage, Eliza, who married Judge George Hay of Virginia; and Maria, who married Samuel L. Gouverneur of New York. When Monroe was in Paris his elder daughter was at school with Hortense Beauharnais, who became Queen of Holland, and their teacher was the celebrated Madame Campan. The acquaintance thus formed became a warm friendship. The child of Monroe's daughter was named Hortense or Hortensia, after Queen Hortense, who retained a warm interest in her namesake through her life. In a Baltimore family interesting mementos of this intimacy are carefully preserved. Portraits in oil of Hortense and Eugene Beauharnais and of Madame Campan were sent to Hortensia Hay by the former queen, with an affectionate letter, and there are reasons to think that she remembered in her last will her American namesake.1

Monroe's interest in the various members of his family connection is marked by more than ordinary affection. He took great pains to further their material welfare, and make them

1 The gentleman, Charles Wilmer, Esq., who owns these valuable pictures, has also a charming miniature of Mrs. Monroe, painted when she resided in Paris.

comfortable in their outward affairs, but he was always on his guard against using his official station for the benefit of any relative. Just as he was about to sail for Europe he gave the following advice to a nephew (June 1794).1 It indicates, more accurately than any other letter which I recall, Monroe's moral principles.

"You may by your industry, prudence, and studious attention to your business, as well as to your books, make such exertions as will advance your fortune and reputation in the world, whereby alone your happiness or even tranquillity can be secured. Not only the reality of these virtues must be possessed, but such an external must be observed as to satisfy the world you do possess them, otherwise you will not enjoy their confidence. You will recollect, likewise, that heretofore your youth and inexperience were an excuse for any apparent levity or irregularity, but now that you are advancing in life, have a family and children, the case is altered. Solid merit and virtue alone will support and carry you with credit through the world.

"The principal danger to which a young man commencing under limited resources is exposed, and in which, if he errs, he inflicts the most incurable wound on his reputation, is the abuse of pecuniary confidence. Let me, therefore, warn you never to use your client's money. No temptation is greater to a person possessed of it than that which daily arises

1 Gouverneur MSS.