Letters and poems from "Elizabeth Jumper" and [Ferdinando] Fairfax to Dorothy Boyle (née Savile)

In this series of letters and poems to Lord and Lady Burlington two similar hands are used and the letters are signed by "Elizabeth Jumper" and F. Fairfax [Ferdinando Fairfax]. The letters are written often in a tongue-in-cheek tone and mostly from London.

In the letter signed by "Elizabeth Jumper" and not in the same hand as the rest, the author writes to Lady Burlington concerning:

seeing Lord [Burlington] at Lady Nottingham's; Lady Thanet's delivery of a boy [Sackville Tufton, future 8th Earl of Thanet] and her health; the joyfulness of Lord Thanet on the birth of his son; Duchess of Cleveland receiving visits on her [late wise] marriage; Mr Daniel Moyston [Mostyn?] being dangerously ill; two chambermaids offered to her (Mrs Price's niece and Betty Homes] who she doesn't think fit (CS1/214/0).

In the letter signed by "Elizabeth Jumper" and in the same hand as the letters signed by F[erdinando] Fairfax, the author writes to Lady Burlington concerning:

celebrating the fair at Pall Mall and drinking to Lady Burlington's health with Lady Charlotte who made the tour of France; Signor [William Kent] riding to Windsor; Lady Burlington's letter with reference to "gentleman G---"; his wishes for Lady Dorothy's health; the evening entertainment of a fiddle; Lady Townshend taking Ward's pill for her hysterics due to her Lord's death; Lady Tank---'s fine complexion matching her dress; Lord Hall leaving his successor miserable; the West country and Welsh gentry meeting Harry of Monmouth at Bath; the Duke being in town; picking up a Mrs Knowlton on his walks; not being able to recommend an old acquaintance and woman housekeeper who lived with a West Indian Mr Walters for twenty years in Surrey for fear she may corrupt the Burlingtons' dignity; laughing at the Vanderesh post; the news that Lady Finch is married to Mr Murray the lawyer at her sister Cleveland's and his supposition that "Pope will notice her"(CS1/214/4).

In the letters signed by F[erdinando] Fairfax the author writes to Lady Burlington concerning:

his eagnerness to hear of their journey to the Bath; his refrain from teasing Lady Burlington when she was "so severely attacked at your arrival"; his wish for a fuller report of Lady Burlington's health from Lord Burlington; her last letter's postcript and the use of the word "qiddy"; scandal not availing them in the gentry's absence; Lady Burlington's answer with "Lord H...penny pye house"; sending fly and packing up Lady Lecch...; great crowds for a performance; his sympathy for Lord Orkney, asking "when with S... die"; Little Rocky's fit (CS1/214/1);

his hopes that the Burlingtons will soon be able to visit after Lady Charlotte's illness; Mr Handel producing thirty-five good voices tonight; his hope that Handel does not overpower the voices with trumpets and drums; Lady Bristol being ill; card parties including the royal ones at Bath and Lady Dela... and Lady Bate....; the Norfolk House birthday being the business of the week; being an idle man and out of the public honours; Peter Wentworth's death whilst playing at whisk; Lady Katherine's transmigration being very quick according to his Lordship's account; a joke about keeping time at Lady Burlington's "musics" with a part of Lady Katherine; news from Spain of the articles being signed (CS1/214/2);

Lord Burlington's journey from Lord Abingdon's to Londesborough; Duke of Chandos putting his daughters in a year of mourning; Lord Grant[chester] happy with his grandson; Lady Nottingham leaving London to see her son; other people in town including Lady Betty, Lady Greenville (breaking up her tables) and their Highnesses for Bart Fair; rumour that her Highness is "breeding"; news that Sir James Dashwood is to marry Miss Spencer; weekly flying parties to Tunbridge; their neighbour [at Savile Row] Suff[olk] being in town to drink the waters at Islington which her friend George thinks is cheaper; Lord Pomfret taking a house near Paris; his hope that Lady Burlington has done with visits from those she does not like at Londesborough; Signor [Kent] at his palace in Windsor; his query about whether Lady Charlotte has a Yorkshire husband yet; Mr Bradshaw's quote for upholstering the chairs in the velvet; curtain lining to be made using satin from Mr Huddleston's to br put on his account or Lady Burlington's; the death of Mr Bruce; his brother's arrival (CS1/214/3).

And he writes to Lord Burlington concerning: laying the embargo on the ladies; "Blameless" bringing his poor bones back to Scarborough instead of Naples and Rome; Lord Harvey in court and the King not deserving last year's ballad from him; York races being over and Mr Wood in full business; not being well at court with his neighbours Gren--- and Win---- and therefore having no secrets to tell; Old Knight the beaux garson; not being sorry that the ladies haven't come down.

Also included in this series are two poems written in the same hand [of Ferdinando Fairfax] titled "A song" on the topic of the quarell between George I and his son and 'Inscribed to Mr Kent' on the topic of Kent's architecture (CS1/214/6 and CS1/214/7).

Ferdinando Fairfax and his brother Bryan leased and lived at number 1,Savile Row and were friends of the Burlingtons and William Kent.

Bryan Fairfax was one of the circle to be sketched by Kent, and he and his brother Ferdinando appear among the signatories of a mock petition addressed by Pope to Burlington in defence of a tree threatened by Kent's landscaping hand. In one of the Countess's letters Bryan figures settling the plates for inclusion in a book to be published under Burlington's auspices. He was evidently a man of some scholarship, a Fellow of his college at Cambridge and a Vice-President of the Society for the Encouragement of Learning. Vertue called him his 'worthy Friend.' Fairfax was himself a notable collector of coins, paintings, statuary and objets d'art. Kent in his will left him 'the two Busto's of Shakspear and Butler', (fn. 39) of Kent's own making.

Bryan's brother Ferdinando lived with him here until his own death in the later 1740's, and in 1738 Bryan had assigned the lease to him. He was, like Bryan, a bachelor place-holder, as Surveyor of the Coal Duties. 'Nando' was prominent in his brother's circle of acquaintance: he had taken Burlington's letter of dismissal to his lawyer in 1725 and later figures as an adviser of the Countess on her furnishings at Chiswick. During the anxious days of the '45 Kent dined with the brothers at No. 1, where, as he wrote, 'Nando and I was bravo'd down by Brian as two cowards that we at this time ought to have corrage and risolution & not to be lamenting about the times.' A copy of verses in Ferdinando's hand addressed to the Countess exists at Chatsworth, prefacing some verses attributed to Lord Chesterfield or Lord Hervey with others probably of his own composing, in conventional abuse of Kent's architecture.

[Source: "Cork Street and Savile Row Area: Savile Row," in Survey of London: Volumes 31 and 32, St James Westminster, Part 2, ed. F H W Sheppard (London: London County Council, 1963), 517-545. British History Online, accessed December 23, 2021, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols31-2/pt2/pp517-545].