of my Overseer & says that he is obliged to wait 

 for barle\', coals & other things that arc wanted which, 

 if tiiaeU supplied with he could with six men & a 

 boy manufacture 250 bushels a week which would 

 clear £200 .... My Overseer is a very good one & 

 I believe as a planter equal to any in Virginia but you 

 are sensible few planters are good farmers and barley 

 is a farmer's article," Mercer wrote to George. 

 Besides the overhead of slaves and nonproductive 

 brewers, the establishment rcquiied the services of 

 two coopers at £20 per year. 



I'urdie & Di.xon's I'irginid Gcizftli' (or Apiil 10, 1766, 

 carried the advertisement of Mercer's brewers': 



To be SOLD, at the 

 MARLBOROUGH BREWERY 



STRONG BEER AND PORTER at 18d. and ALE at 

 Is. the gallon, Virginia currency, in cask, equal in good- 

 ness to any that can be imported from any part of the 

 world, as nothing but the genuine best MALT and 

 HOPS will be used, without any mixture or substitute 

 whatsoever: which, if the many treaties of brewing 

 published in Great Britain did not mention to be fre- 

 quently used there, the experience of those who have 

 drunk those liquors imported from tlience would point 

 out to be the case, from their pernicious effects. 



The severe treatment we have lately received from our 

 Mother Country, would, I should think, be sufficient to 

 recommend my under-taking (though I should not be 

 able to come up to the English standard, which I do not 

 question constantly to do) yet, as I am satisfied that the 

 goodness of every commodity is its best recommendation, 

 I principally rely upon that for my success; and my own 

 interest, having expended near 8000 1. to bring my 

 brewery to its present state, is the best security I can give 

 the publick to assure them of the best usage, without 

 which such an undertaking cannot be supported with 

 credit. 



The casks to be paid for at the rate of 4s. for barrels, 

 5s. for those between 40 and 50 gallons, and a penny the 

 gallon for all above 50 gallons; but if they are returned in 

 good order, and sweet, by having been well scalded as 

 soon as emptied, the price of them shall be returned or 

 discounted. 



Any person who sends bottles and corks may have them 

 carefully filled and corked with beer or porter at 6s. or 

 with ale at 4s. the dozen. I expect, in a little time, to 

 have constant supply of bottles and corks; and if I meet 

 the encouragement I hope for, propose setting up a 

 glasshouse for making bottles, and to provide proper 

 \esscls to deliver to such customers as favour me with 

 ilieir orders such liquors as they direct, at the several 



landings they desire, being determined to give all the 

 satisfaction in the power of 



Their most humble servant, 

 JOHN MERCER 



Foolhardy though the brewery was, a glass factorv 

 would have been the pinnacle of folly. Yet it was 

 seriously on Mercer's mind. In his letter to George 

 he wrote: 



A Glass house to be built here must I am satisfied turn 

 to great profit, they have some in New England & New 

 York or the Jerseys & find by some resolves the New- 

 England men are determined to inciease their number. 



Despite his nranifest failure, Mercer confidently 

 attempted to persuade George of the possibilities of 

 the brewery and even the glasshouse. Shifting froni 

 one proposal to another, he suggested that he could 

 "rent out all my houses and conveniences at a reason- 

 able rate," or take in a partner, although "I have so 

 great a dislike for all partnerships, nothing but my 

 inability to carry it on my self could induce me to 

 enter into one." 



In spite of these desperate thrashings about in a 

 struggle to survive, Mercer's empire was collapsing. 

 When Monroe arrived as overseer, he 



found [according to Mercer] but 8 barrels of corn upon 

 my plantation, not enough at any of my quarters to 

 maintain my people, a great part of my Stock dead 

 (among them some of my English colts cSc horses in the 

 2 last years to the am' of £ 375. 10. -) & the rest of 

 them dying, which would have infallibly have been their 

 fate if it had not been for the straw of 1000 bushels of 

 barley & the grains from the brewhouse .... Con- 

 vinced of his [Monroe's] integrity, I have been forced 

 to submit the entire management ol' ;ill the plantation 

 to him. 



The following passage from the letter summarizes 

 Mercer's financial predicament: 



"I reced in 1764 £1548 . . 4 . . 3'., & in 1765 

 £961 . . 5 . . 4'i but since I quitted my practice I 

 reced in 1766 no more than £108 . . 16 . . 1 of which 

 I borrowed £24.10. — & 7 . . I . . 6 was re'ced for the 

 Governor's fees. £20 . . 8 . . 4 I got for Opinions &c 

 and from the brewery £28 . . 3 . . the remaining 

 £28 . . 16 is all I received out of several thousands 

 due for all my old & new debts. In 1 767 I reced 

 £159 . . 9 . . 3 of which borrowed £5 . . 15 . . — 

 the governor's fees £10 . . 7 . . 6 reced for opinions 

 &c £49 . . 6 . . — from the brewhouse £66 . . 14 . . 

 of which £94 . . 14 . . 3 was from the brewery & 9 in 

 1 766 I gave a collector £20 besides his board ferrage & 



