Francis Fauquier, who succeeded Dinwiddie as Lieutenant Governor, is described as "a gentleman of most amiable disposition, generous, just, and mild, and possessed in an eminent degree of all the social virtues." When Thomas Jefferson was a student at the College of William and Mary, he, together with Professor William Small and George Wythe, dined with him frequently. "At these dinners I have heard more good sense, more rational and philosophical conversations than in all my life besides," Jefferson said many years later.[1] Fauquier, who was an accomplished musician, delighted in joining with Jefferson and several others in weekly concerts in the lovely ballroom of the Palace. He was a member of the Royal Society, and, if we may judge from the presence in his library of a set of Palladio, a student of architecture. When Fauquier arrived, on June 5, 1758, he found the colonists absorbed in preparations to send strong forces to join General Forbes in his expedition against Fort Duquesne. Ever since the French had established themselves there it had been a nest from which swarms of Indians had made raids on the frontier. "I found this colony zealous in his Majesty's service, and very strenuous to support the common cause," Fauquier wrote the Lords of Trade.[2] Secretary Pitt and General Abercrombie had written urging the Virginians to exert themselves to the utmost. John Blair, President of the Council and Acting Governor pending Fauquier's arrival, had called the Assembly together and asked them to vote funds for a new regiment. The vote was unanimous. They were eager to help in any attack on their "cruel neighbors of Fort Duquesne." So now the colony resounded to the beat of drums as officers brought in the recruits. Some ensigns raised ten, some lieutenants twenty, some captains seventy. To supply the men with arms, Blair stripped the magazine at Williamsburg and even took the muskets from the Governor's Palace. Tents and kettles he ordered from Philadelphia, pledging the credit of the colony to pay for them.[3]