The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia Part 9

Expensive stone was imported for the house by Captain Roger Lyndon, master of the _Marigold_, whose account occurs in the ledger:

s. d.

1749 April By 630 Bricks at 20/ p^r m. 10

Dec^r By Gen'l Charges for hewn Stone from M^r Nicholson[98] 65 16 4

1750 June By Gen'l Charges for sundrys by the Marigold

By Do for freight of Stones to my House 5

It is interesting to note that bricks, probably carried from England as ballast, were brought by Captain Lyndon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 11.--FIREPLACE MANTELS ill.u.s.trated in William Salmon's _Palladio Londonensis_.

(_Courtesy of the Library of Congress._)]

Not all the hewn stone was fashioned in England. William Copein, a Prince William County mason, and Job Wigley were employed together in 1749 to the amount of 2 8s. In 1750 Copein was paid by Mercer for 64 days of work at 3s. 1d. per day, totaling 9 17s. 4d. Copein was another accomplished craftsman, the marks of whose skill still are to be seen in the carved stone doorways of Aquia Church in Stafford County and in the baptismal font at Pohick Church in Fairfax.

The design of the house will be considered in more detail later in the light of both archeological and doc.u.mentary evidence. It is already quite clear, however, that the new mansion was remarkably elaborate, reflecting the workmanship of some of Virginia's best craftsmen. The most significant clues to its inspiration are found in the t.i.tles of four books which Mercer purchased in 1747. These are listed in the inventory of his books in Ledger G as follows:

"Hoppne's Architecture." This was probably _The Gentlemans and Builders Repository on Architecture Displayed. Designs Regulated and Drawn by E. Hoppus, and engraved by B. Cole. Containing useful and requisite problems in geometry ... etc_, (1738). Edward Hoppus was "Surveyor to the Corporation of the London a.s.surance." He also edited Salmon's _Palladio Londonensis_. We find no writer on architecture named Hoppne and a.s.sume this was a mistake.

"Salmon's Palladio Londonensis." _Palladio Londonensis: or the London Art of Building_, by William Salmon, which appeared in at least two editions, in 1734 and in 1738, had a profound influence on the formal architecture of the colonies during the mid-century.

"Palladio's Architecture." The Italian Andrea Palladio was the underlying source of English architectural thought from Christopher Wren down to Robert Adam. Under the patronage of Lord Burlington, this book was brought out in London in an English translation by Giacomo Leoni under the t.i.tle _The Architecture of A. Palladio; in Four Books_. It had appeared in three editions prior to this inventory, in 1715, 1721, and 1742, according to Fiske Kimball (_Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic_; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1924, p. 58). Mercer probably owned one of these.

"Langley's City & Country Builder." _City and Country Builder's and Workman's Treasury of Design_ by Battey Langley, 1740, 1745. This was another copybook much used by builders and provincial architects.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 12.--DOORWAYS ILl.u.s.tRATED IN WILLIAM SALMON'S _Palladio Londonensis_ (the London Art of Building), one of the books used by William Bromley, the chief joiner who worked on Mercer's mansion. (_Courtesy of the Library of Congress._)]

All four of these books were listed in succession in the ledger and bracketed together. Next to the bracket are the initials "WB," to indicate that the books had been lent to someone who bore those initials. In this case it is virtually certain that the initials are those of William Bromley, to whom the books would have been of utmost importance in designing the woodwork of the house.

Door hardware was purchased from William Jordan in June 1749, according to an item for "Locks & Hinges" that amounted to the large sum of 13 8s. 8d.

FOOTNOTES:

[93] Probably the same Thomas Anderson whose appointment as tobacco inspector at Page's warehouse, Hanover County, was unsuccessfully protested on the basis that the job required "a person skilled in writing and expert in accounts"

(_Calendar of Virginia State Papers_, op. cit. (footnote 18), vol. 1, pp. 233-234). A letter to Thomas Anderson of Hanover County was listed as uncalled for at the Williamsburg Post Office in August, 1752 (_Virginia Gazette_; all references to the _Gazettes_ result from use of LESTER J. CAPPON and STELLA F. DUFF, _Virginia Gazette Index 1736-1780_ [Williamsburg, 1950], and microfilm published by The Inst.i.tute of Early American History and Culture [Williamsburg, 1950]).

[94] See THOMAS TILESTON WATERMAN, _The Mansions of Virginia, 1706-1776_ (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1946), pp. 183-184, and MARCUS WHIFFEN, _The Public Buildings of Williamsburg_ (Williamsburg, Virginia: Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., 1958), pp. 84, 133, 218.

[95] WHIFFEN, ibid., pp. 134-137, 217; _JHB, 1742-1747; 1748-1749_ op. cit. (footnote 6), p. 312; _JHB, 1752-1755; 1756-1758_ (Richmond, 1909), p. 28.

[96] Purdie & Dixon's _Virginia Gazette_, September 26, 1766.

Mercer spelled the name _Brownley_ in Ledger G, but in the _Gazette_ article it is printed consistently as _Bromley_. As published in the _George Mercer Papers_ it is spelled, and perhaps miscopied, _Bramley_. We have chosen _Bromley_ as the most likely spelling, in the absence of other references to him.

[97] _George Mercer Papers_, op. cit. (footnote 51), p. 204.

[98] Captain Timothy Nicholson was a London merchant and shipmaster engaged in the Virginia trade with whom Mercer arranged several transactions.

DOMESTIC FURNISHINGS

As the mansion progressed, so did the acquisition of furnishings suitable to its elegance. As early as 1742, doubtless in antic.i.p.ation of the new house, Mercer had bought from Hunter a "lanthorn," three porringers, two cotton counterpanes at 27s., a plate warmer for 7s. 6d., a half-dozen plates for 3s. 6d., a half-dozen deep plates for 6s., a dozen "Stone Coffee cups" for 18d., a dozen knives and forks for 3s., two tin saucepans at 4d. each, and "4 Dishes, 19-1/2 lib." (obviously large pewter chargers). In 1743 he bought "5 gallon Basons 4/7" and "2 pottle Basons at 2/4" (for toilet use), "1 Soop Spoon 1/," and "1 Copper Chocolate pot 7/6 & mull Stick 6^d," "2 blew & W^t Jugs 2/" (probably Westerwald stoneware), and "1 Flanders Bed Bunt, 25" (colored cotton or linen used for bedcovers).

In 1744 Mercer acquired from Charles d.i.c.k 4 candlesticks for a penny each, 2 pairs of large hinges, a "hair sifter," "2 kitchen buck hand knives," 12 cups and saucers for 2s., "1 milkmaid 2^d" (probably a shoulder yoke), and "1 bucket 1/2^d." In 1745 a 5-gallon "Stone bottle"

for 3s. 6d., "1 doz. butcher knives," a hearthbroom, six spoons for a shilling, a pair of scissors, "8 Chamberdoor Locks w^{th} bra.s.s k.n.o.bs 2," and "1 Sett finest China 35/, 2 punch bowls ... 2.7" were purchased.

The following year Mercer paid a total of 23 for a silver sugar dish, weighing 8 oz., 5 dwt.; one dozen teaspoons and tray, 8 oz., 7 dwt.; a teapot and frame, 26 oz., 8 dwt. This lot of silver probably was bought at second hand, having been referred to as "Pugh's Plate p^d Edw^d Wright as by Rec^t." He paid John c.o.ke, a Williamsburg silversmith, 1 6s. for engraving and cleaning it. In the meanwhile, in 1745, he had sold c.o.ke 6 worth of old silver. He also sold a quant.i.ty of "old Plate"

for 15 17s. 3d. to Richard Langton in England through Sydenham & Hodgson. In 1747 he made a large purchase of silver from the silversmith William King[99] of Williamsburg:

oz. dwt. s. d.

May 1747 By Bernard Moore for 1 Cup 51 1 30 8 3

By James Power for 1 Waiter 8 7-1/2 4 14 2-1/2

By a pair of Sauceboats 25 8

By a large Waiter 29 3 48 11 3-1/2

By a smaller D^o 23 8

By a small D^o 8 8 -------------------------------- 148 15-1/2 @ 11/3 84 13 9

In March 1748, Mercer settled with Captain Lyndon for the following:

s. d.

1 superfine large gilt Sconce gla.s.s 6 16 1 D^o 5 5 1 Walnut & gold D^o 2 10 1 Marble Sideboard 32/6 Bragolo [sic] 32/6 3 5

The following June he bought a marble table from William Jordan and in October "4 looking Gla.s.ses," which Jordan obtained from Sydenham & Hodgson.

Meanwhile, William Walker's brother Robert made 14 chairs for Mercer, on which William's carver spent 54 days. The total cost was 30 8s. The quality of Mercer's furniture is ill.u.s.trated further by a purchase in 1750 from Lyonel Lyde,[100] a London merchant, of 43 13s. worth of "Cabinet Ware from Belchier." Belchier was a leading London furniture maker, whose shop in 1750 was located on the "south side of St. Paul's, right against the clock." Sir Ambrose Heal, in _The London Furniture Makers_, ill.u.s.trates a superb j.a.panned writing cabinet in green and gold chinoiserie made by Belchier in 1730.[101] Belchier also supplied Shalstone Manor, the Buckinghamshire estate of Henry Purefoy, with a table-desk in 1749 (fig. 13).[102]

The ledger notes other occasional purchases of furniture during this period. In 1746 Mercer paid cash "for oysters & a bedsteed," in the amount of 10s. 6d. In September 1748, he bought "an Escritoire" from tutor John Phipps, for which he paid 5.

FOOTNOTES:

[99] Probably William King, who married Elizabeth Edwards in Stafford in 1738. He was the son of Alfred King, whose parents were William King (d. 1702) and Judith Brent of Stafford. His account with Mercer seems to indicate that he was a silversmith. "Notes and Queries," _The King Family, VHM_ (Richmond, 1916), vol. 24, p. 203.

[100] The _Virginia Gazette_ on January 27, 1738, announced that Major Cornelius Lyde, "Son of Mr. _Lionel Lyde_, an eminent merchant in Bristol, died at his House in _King William_ County." Later it referred to "Capt. Lyonel Lyde of Bristol, [master of] the _Gooch_." Mercer's account with Lyde in Ledger G is headed "M^r Lyonel Lyde, Merch^t in London."

Lyde died in 1749 before Mercer settled his account.

Elsewhere in the ledger is an account with "Mess^{rs} Cooper, Macartney, Powel, & Lyde. E^{xrs} of Lyonel Lyde." Another Lyonel Lyde, who became "Sir Lyonel" by 1773, was evidently heir to the business.

[101] SIR AMBROSE HEAL, _The London Furniture Makers from the Restoration to the Victorian Era, 1660-1840_ (London: Batsford, 1953), pp. 6, 13, 236, 237.