Mann Page, in a letter of February 22, 1770, in- 

 structed his London agents, John Norton and Son, to 

 buy "1 large Scotch Carpet" besides other "Goods for 

 my Family, which please to send by the first safe 

 Opportunity, to be landed where I live near Freder- 

 icksburg." "' And Robert Carter, refurbishing his 

 Virginia plantation, "Nom.ini Hall," in 1772, after re- 

 siding in Williamsburg for a number of years, directed 

 James Gildart of Liverpool to ship him a number of 

 items including "2 Scotch Carpits, 1 of them 15 feet 

 square, the other 18 feet by 20." ''' 



Scotch also was the name that usually appeared 

 in the inventories and newspaper advertisements of 

 the period. In fact, it was the one name of the four 

 or five used for two-ply carpets in the 18th century 

 that was found in the in\'entories studied. Although 

 this may not seem unusual, it is surprising that the 

 inventories in which there were entries for Scotch 

 carpets numbered no more than three. In other 

 words, only three inventories listed double-woven 

 carpets by any of the recognized names. Such limited 

 ownership is difficult to explain, although some of the 

 unidentified carpets listed in the inventories, of course, 

 may have been of this type. Possibly the "2 homspn. 

 Carpets" mentioned in the Jackson inventory of 1758 

 or the "Woolen Carpet" valued at 16 shillings 8 pence 

 mentioned in the Stevenson inventory of 1776 were of 

 two-ply construction. To be sure, Mrs. Franklin had 

 found fault with the Scotch carpet in her parlor, 

 though not with the one in the small room; and Shera- 

 ton in his Cabinet Dictionary of 1803 stated: "Scots 

 carpet ... is one of the most inferior kind." In spite 

 of the poor quality implied by the dearth of inventory 

 entries, double-woven carpets were mentioned often 

 enough in the advertisements of American newspapers 

 studied to suggest that the supply was fairly adequate 

 and the demand reasonably steady during the second 

 half of the 18th century. Indeed, in 1 790 when Tobias 

 Lear was attempting to purchase floor coverings in 

 New York for President Washington, there seemed to 

 be nothing available but Scotch carpets. In a letter 

 addressed to Clement Biddle, which will be referred to 

 in connection with Wilton carpets, Lear complained : 

 "We can get no Carpet in New York to suit the Room, 



^ Letter to John Norton, Esq., London, from Mann Page, 

 Virginia, Feb. 22, 1770. In John Norton and Sons. op. cit. 

 (footnote 24), pp. 125 and 123. 



'* Louis Morton. Robert Carter of Nomini Hall, A Virginia 

 Tobacco Planter of the Eighteenth Century (Williamsburg: Colonial 

 Williamsburg, Inc., 1941). p. 208. 



nor Carpeting of the best kind. Scotch Carpeting is 

 almost the only kind to be found here." 



Nevertheless, the fact remains that the name 

 "Scotch" did not appear in any of the Suffolk County, 

 Massachusetts, inventories studied except those of 

 Mr. Robert Gould and Dr. Pemberton, both recorded 

 in 1777, and that of Joshua Winslow recorded in 

 1778. One of the Scotch carpets listed in the Gould 

 inventory has already been mentioned in reference to 

 its possible use with a floorcloth. Besides this ".Scotts 

 Carpet," valued at 16 shillings, that was located in the 

 parlor of the Boston merchant's house, there were 

 "6 yd. Scotch Carpet 6/" along with a Wilton carpet 

 and stair carpeting in the front chamber, " I large 

 Scotch Carpet 30/ 1 Small Do. /1 2 3 pr. Wilton Do. 

 9/" in the second chamber, "Scotch Carpet 12/" and 

 3 pieces of unidentified carpet in the kitchen chamber, 

 and in the chamber entry "1 Scotch Carpet 12/" as 

 well as a stair carpet and floorcloth. The total for 

 the Gould household was five Scotch carpets plus si.\ 

 yards of Scotch carpeting. In addition to the carpet 

 in the entryway, Scotch carpets appeared in four rooms 

 of the Gould house. These rooms were the parlor, and 

 the front, second, and kitchen chambers. The carpets 

 noted as Scotch in the "Inventory of Furniture etc. be- 

 longing to Dr. Pemberton's Estate" totaled four and a 

 piece. The listings were for "Scotch carpet 100 -piece 

 do. 10/" and "3 Scotch Carpets 30/" besides an uni- 

 dentified "Small Carpet 6/." '^ The Winslow inven- 

 tory of 1778 included a "Scotch Carpet 8" in the back 

 chamber over the parlor, in addition to the previously 

 mentioned canvas floorcloth and Turkey carpets. 



The newspaper references in which the name 

 "Scotch" appeared were more numerous than the 

 inventory entries. In 1 760 they included sale notices 

 in the Boston Gazette which listed on September 1 

 "Scotch Floor Carpets" and in the Boston Xews- 

 Letter which listed on December 18 "Scotch carpets" 

 along with other importations. In the same year 

 "Scot's Carpets" also were being sold by J. Alexander 

 and Company according to their advertisement in 

 the Neiv-York Gazette of June 30. The "Carpets and 

 Carpeting" that were among items to be sold such as 

 Kilmarnock and Stewarton blue caps "just imported 

 from Glasgow," mentioned in the Boston Gazette of 

 July 5, 1 762, were undoubtedly Scotch in origin and 

 presumably also in type if not in name. In New York 



"5 Inventory of Ebenezer Pemberton, Oct. 19, 1777. In 

 Suffolk Probate Book.i, vol. 76, pp. 419-23. 



PAPER 59: FLOOR COVERINGS IN 18TH-CENTURY AMERICA 



31 



