dancins; four children £16," while in the following 

 year nincpcncc was paid William Allan "for his 

 Fidler." In 1 747 "Fiddle strings" were bought from 

 Fielding Lewis in Fredericksburg for 2s. 4).>d. 



From the ledger we also learn much about the 

 children's clothing: child's mittens and child's shoes, 

 boy's pumps, boy's shoes, girl's shoes, boy's collared 

 lamb gloves, two pairs of "girl's clock'd Stocking," 

 "2 p' large boys Shoes 6' 2 p'' smaller 5/ . . . 1 p' 

 girls 22", 1 p'" smaller 20"," boy's gloves, and "Making 

 a vest and breeches for George" in October 1745. 

 In 1748 Captain Wil.son brought hom England "a 

 Wig for George," worth 12 shillings. George then 

 had reached the age of 15 and young manhood. 

 Hugh MacLane, the Stafford tailor, was employed to 

 make clothes for the three boys — a suit for George, 

 and a suit, vest, coat, and breeches each for James and 

 John. 



That the children were educated according to time- 

 honored methods is revealed in the "General E.x- 

 penses" account for May 1743, w'hcre "1 hornbook 

 3"" is entered. The hornbook was an ancient instruc- 

 tional device consisting of a paddle-shaped piece of 

 wood witii the al[)hai.)et and the Lord's Prayer printed 

 or otherwi.se lettered on paper that was glued to the 

 wood and covered for protection with thin sheets of 

 transpaieiit horn. Elaborate examples sometimes 

 were covered with tooled leather, or were made of 

 ivory, silver, or pewter. The mention of hornbooks 

 in colonial records is a great rarity, although they 

 were conunonplace in England until about 1800. 



The Mercer children were taught by private tutors. 

 One, evidently engaged in England, was the Rev- 

 erend John Phipps, who was paid a salary of £100 

 annually and, presumaiily, his board and lodging. 

 Mercer noted in his journal on November 18, 1746, 

 that "Mr Phipps came to Virginia." That Mr. 

 Phipps left something to be desired was revealed 

 years later in the letter written in 1768 by John to 

 George Mercer, who was then in England, asking 

 him to find a tutor for his younger children: ". . . 

 the person you engage may not pretend, as M"^ 

 Phipps did that tho' he undertook to instruct my 

 children he intended boys only, & I or my wife 

 might teach the girls. As I have mentioned M"' 

 Phipps, it must remind you that a tutor's good nature 

 & agreeable temper arc absolutely necessary both 

 for his own ease & that of the whole family.'"'^ 



■ C- 



■nr^r Mercer Papers, op. cit. (footnote 51), p. 202. 



In 1750 George entered the College of William 

 and Mary. He had a room at William Dering's 

 house, and liu- accoimt of "Son's Maintenance at 

 Williamsburg" provides an interesting picture of a 

 well-to-do college-boy's expen.ses, chargeable to his 

 father. Such items as "To Cash p" for Lottery 

 Tickets'' (£7 10s. 6d.), "To Covington the Dancing 

 Master . . . 2.3," "To W™ Thomson for Taylor's 

 work" (£1 9s. 6d.), "To p" for Washing" (£1 ' Is.), 

 and "To Books for sundrys" (£22 4s. 7;^d.) show a 

 variety of obligations comparable to those sometimes 

 encountered on a modern campus. The entire 

 account appears in Appendix J. 



BUILDING THE MANOR HOUSE 



As early as 1 742 the ledger shows that Mercer 

 was building steadily, although the nature of what 

 he built is rarely indicated. Hunter's account for 

 1742 lists 2500 tenpenny nails and 1000 twenty- 

 penny nails, while in the following year the same ac- 

 count shows a total of 4200 eightpenny nails, 5000 ten- 

 penny, 2000 fourpcnny, and 1000 threepenny nails. 

 The following tools were bought from Hunter in 

 1744: paring chisel, l)4-inch auger, f^-inch auger, 

 socket gouge, broad axe, adze, drawing knife, mortice 

 chisel, a "square Rabbit plane," and "plough 

 Iron & plains." In Charles Dick's account we find 

 purchases in 1745 of 16,000 flooring brads, 4000 

 twenty-penny nails, 2000 each of fourpenny, sixpenny, 

 eightpenny, and tenpenny brads, and 60,000 four- 

 penny nails. 



Beginning in 1 744 Mercer made great purcha.ses of 

 lumber. Thomas Tylei- of the Eastern Shore .sold him 

 2463 feet of plank in that year, and in 1 745 made 

 several transactions totaling 5598 feet of 1-, 1)2-, 

 and 2-inch plank, as well as 23,170 shingles. In 1746 

 Charles Waller of Stafford sold Mercer 5193 feet of 

 1-, 1)4-, and IJo-inch plank. In the same year James 

 Waughhop of Maryland provided "4000 foot of Plank 

 of different thicknesses for £12," and in May 1749, 

 "2300 foot of 1 'o Inch Plank at 7 ." Mercer made 

 several similar purchases, including 14,700 shingles, 

 from Robert Taylor of the Eastern Shore. 



Where all these materials were used is a matter for 

 conjecture. We know that Mercer made "Improve- 

 ments" to the extent of "saving" 40 lots under the 

 terms of the .^ct for Ports and Towns, and that a 

 great deal of construction work, therefore, was going 

 on. One building was probably a replacement for a 

 warehouse, for a laconic enti"y in his journal on New 

 'Vear's day of 1 746 notes that "My warehouses burnt." 



