[Thomas Jefferson]: Mini-Bio #8

  Mr. Jefferson's stature was commanding-
six feet two-and-one-half inches in height,
well formed, indicating strength, activity,
and robust health; his carriage erect; step
firm and elastic, which he preserved to his
death; his temper, naturally strong, under
perfect control; his courage cool and impas-
sive. No one ever knew him exhibit trepida-
tion. His moral courage of the highest order--
his will firm and inflexible--it was remarked
of him that he never abandoned a plan, a
principle, or a friend. A bold and fearless
rider, you saw at a glance, from his easy and
confident seat, that he was master of his horse,
which was usually the fine-blood-horse of
Virginia. . . . His habits were regular and sys-
tematic. He was a miser of his time, rose al-
ways at dawn, wrote and read until breakfast,
breakfasted early, and dined from three to
four; . . . . retire at nine, and to bed from ten
to eleven. He said, in his last illness, that the
sun had not caught him in bed for fifty years.
He always made his own fire. He drank water
but once a day, a single glass, when he return-
ed from his ride. He ate heartily, and much
vegetable food, preferring French cookery,
because it made the meats more tender. He
never drank ardent spirits or strong wines.
Such was his aversion to ardent spirits, that
when, in his last illness, his physician desired
him to use brandy as an astringement, he
could not induce him to take it strong enough.

--Sarah N. Randolph, 1871, The Domestic
Life of Thomas Jefferson, p. 338