a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should I question it?  His error does me no injury, and shall I become a Don Quixote, to bring all men by force of argument to one opinion?  If a fact be misstated, it is probable he is gratified by a belief of it, and I have no right to deprive him of the gratification.  If he wants information, he will ask it, and then I will give it in measured terms; but if he still believes his own story, and shows a desire to dispute the fact with me, I hear him, and say nothing.  It is his affair, not mine, if he prefers error.  There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met with among us.  The first is of young students, just entered the threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet filled up with the details and modifications which a further progress would bring to their knowledge.  The other consists of the ill-tempered and rude men in society, who have taken up a passion for politics. (Good humor and politeness never introduce into mixed society a question on which they foresee there will be a difference of opinion.) From both of those classes of disputants, my dear Jefferson, keep aloof, as you would from the infected subjects of yellow fever or pestilence.  Consider yourself, when with them, as among the patients of Bedlam, needing medical more than moral counsel.  Be a listener only, keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself the habit of silence, especially on politics.  In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle.  They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act.  Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull:  it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal.  You will be more exposed than others to have these animals shaking their horns at you, because of the relation in which you stand with me.  Full of political venom, and willing to see me and to hate me as a chief in the antagonist party, your presence will be to them what the vomit-grass is to the sick dog, a nostrum for producing ejaculation.  Look upon them exactly with that eye, and pity them as objects to whom you can administer only occasional ease.  My character is not within their power.  It is in the hands of my fellow-citizens at large, and will be consigned to honor or infamy by the verdict of the republican mass of our country, according to what themselves will have seen, not what their enemies and mine shall have said.  Never, therefore, consider these puppies in politics as requiring any notice from you, and always show, that you are not afraid to leave my character to the umpirage of public opinion.  Look steadily to the pursuits which have carried you to Philadelphia, be very select in the society you attach yourself to, avoid taverns, drinkers, smokers, idlers, and dissipated persons generally; for it is with such that broils and contentions arise; and you will find your path more easy and tranquil.  The limits of my paper warn me that it is time for me to close with my affectionate adieu.