read before the StafTord court by Peter Hedgman. 

 The reaction to it in Williamsburg, once it had 

 reached the ears of the Assembly, was immediate and 

 angry. The House of Burgesses 



Resolv'd 'Ihat the Proposition from Slajjord Count\- 

 ill relation to the Act past in the last Session of this 

 Asscmbh' for cncoma^ing Adventurers in Iron Works is 

 a scandalous and Seditious Libel Containing false and 

 scandalous Reflections upon the Legislature and the 

 Justices of the General Court and other Courts of this 

 Colony. 



Resolv'd That John Mercer the Author and Writer of 

 that paper and Peter Hedgman one of the Subscribers who 

 presented the same to the Court of Stafford County to be 

 certified to the General Assembly are guilty of a high 

 Misdemeanour. 



Ordefd That the said John Mercer and Peter Hedgman 

 be sent for in Custody of the Serjeant at Arms attending 

 this House to answer their said Offence at the Bar of 

 this House." 



Mercer and Hedgman made their apologies to the 

 House, received their reprimands, and paid their 

 fines. But this protest, so ofTensive to the dignity of 

 the lawmakers, had its efTect in forcing amendments 

 to the act, particularly in removing the requirement 

 for building public roads leading from the ironworks 

 to the ore supplies and shipping points. To those 

 living in Stafford, particularly in the neighborhood 

 of the proposed Accokeek Ironworks, near Marl- 

 borough, this concession must have elevated Mercer 

 to the lc\el of a hcro.^^ 



Mercer's frank disposition led him into other diffi- 

 culties during the first years of his practice. His 

 insistence on the prompt payirient of debts and his 

 opposition to stays of execution following suits had 

 won him enemies at Prince William court. Charges 

 of improper legal activities were brought against him; 

 these were investigated at Williamsburg, with the 

 result that on Jinie 13, 1734, he was suspended from 

 practicing law in Virginia for a period of six months.^" 



TEMPORARY RETIREMENT, THE ABRIDGMENT, 

 AND GUARDIANSHIP OF GEORGE MASON 



Deprived temporarily of his principal li\elihood, 

 Mercer set out to write an Abridgment of the Laws of 



f'irginlci. The task conipleted, he petitioned the 

 General Court on April 23, 1735, for "leave to Print 

 an Abridgment compil'd by him of all the Laws of 

 this Colony & to have the benefit of the Sale thereof." 

 On the same day he petitioned for a renewal of his 

 license, which was granted with the exception of the 

 right to practice in Prince William, where he was to 

 remain persona non grata generally thereafter."' 



Soon after these events his brother-in-law and old 

 acquaintance, George Mason, drowned. Mercer was 

 designated co-guardian of 10-year-old George Mason 

 IV, who came to live at Marlborough. Young George 

 later grew up to be the master of Gunston Hall and, 

 as the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, to stand 

 among the intellectuals whose ideas influenced the 

 Revolution and the framing of the Constitution. In 

 these formative years, young George Mason smcK- 

 must have been affected by the strong legal mind and 

 cultivated tastes of his uncle.""* 



On October 14, 1737, the Mrginia Gazette carried the 

 following advertisement: 



This Day is Publiihed 



An Exact .Abridgment of the Laws of VIRGINIA, 

 in Force and L'se, to this present time. By 



John Mercer. 



.At long last, after innumerable delays, the Abridg- 

 ment was in print. From a financial point of view it 

 was a conspicuous failure. Too few Virginians, 

 apparently, were sufliciently interested to buy it. 



DOMESTIC FURNISHINGS AND SERVANTS 



During this eventful decade of the 1 730"s Mercer 

 acquired the things needed for the proper maintenance 

 of his house and properties. One requisite was Negro 

 servants. From Pat Reyant he bought "a Girl 

 named Margaret" for 43 pounds of tobacco in 1730. 

 In 1731 he bought Deborah, Phillis, Peter, Nan, and 

 Bob. The following year he obtained Lucy, Will, and 

 George, and, in 1733, Nero. His purchases increased 

 as his landholdings increased. In 1736 he bought 

 five slaves, three of whom he aptly named Dublin, 

 Marlborough, and Stafford. 



To help feed his sla\es during this early period. 



'*JHB, 1727-1734; J736I7J0 (Richmond, 1910), p. 66. 



"^ Ibid., p. .\xi. 



*" Executive Journals of the CouncU of Colonial Virginia (Rich- 

 inomj, Virginia: D. Bottom, superintendent of public print- 

 iiir. 1 02.5), vol. 4, p. .328. 



«' Ibid., p. 348. 



"■* Katf, M.\son Rowlanu, 'I tie Life of George Mason (New 

 ^■.l.■k .Hid London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1892), vol. 1, p. 49. 



