“ by letter, & assuring you of the esteem & respect with which I have the honour to be Sir your most obedient & most humble servant. ”

On November 10, John Paradise wrote to Jefferson: “Doctor Burney has just this moment been with me to acquaint me, that the harpsicord that was bespoken for you, has been finished by Kirkman a considerable time, and is now in the hands of M ^r. Walker, who is affixing to it his Celestini stop, upon a new construction, according to your Excellency’s wish and idea. The Doctor has been in daily expectation ever since his arrival in town, of hearing from M ^r. Walker that the instrument was ready for trial, with his new machine for the celestini stop. He has postponed writing to you till he could speak to all the particulars belonging to this harpsicord, which he is ambitious should be as complete as possible. He intends calling again to-morrow upon M ^r. Walker in order to see what forwardness it is in, and if finished, will give you an account of it by the next post . . .”

On January 20, 1787, Burney answered Jefferson in a long letter beginning: “Few things have given me more concern than the not being able sooner to give you a satisfactory acc ^t. of the Harp ^d. & its Machinery, w ^ch. I had the honour to bespeak for you, last summer. I visited Kirkman from time to time whenever I came to town, & saw the Instrum ^t. in every stage of its construction. The wood was chosen with great care; the Lid is solid as you desired, & no part has been veneered or inlaid that c ^d. possibly be avoided, or w ^ch. c ^d. receive the least injury from vicisside [sic] of climate. I got the Instrum ^t. out of Kirkman’s hands being completely finished, as far as concerned his part of the business, in Autumn; & by a little management prevailed on him to send it to Walker, with tolerable good-humour . . .”

The account presented by W. S. Smith to Jefferson for purchases made for him during the years 1786 and 1787 included the entry “ to Kirkman for Harpsicord” £71.18.6.

Jefferson replied to Burney’s letter on February 12: “ I have been honoured with your favor of the 20 ^th. of January, and am now to return you my sincere thanks for your very kind attention to the instrument I had desired. your goodness has induced you to give yourself a great deal more trouble about it than I would have presumed to propose to you. I only meant to intrude on your time so far as to give a general instruction to the workmen. besides the value of the thing therefore, it will have an additional one with me, of the nature of that which a good catholic affixes to the relick of a saint. as I shall set out within three or four days on a journey of two or three months I shall propose to Col ^o. Smith, if the instrument is not already embarked, not to send it till about the 1 ^st. of April when it will be less liable to be injured by bad weather. a friend of mine in America (the same who improved the quilling of the harpsichord) writes me word he is succeeding in some improvements he had proposed for the Harmonica. however imperfect this instrument is for the general mass of musical compositions, yet for those of a certain character it is delicious . . . ”

For Jefferson and the harpsichord, see no. 4257.