[58] CHARLES F. INNOCENT, _The Development of English Building Construction_ (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1916), pp. 23-61. FURNISHING THE HOUSE Other than a child's chair and a bedstead costing 10 shillings, purchased from Enoch Innes in 1729, little furniture was acquired before 1730. Listed in "Domestick Expenses" for 1729-1730 are minor accessories for the new house, such as HL hinges, closet locks, a "scimmer," a pair of brass candlesticks, milk pans, pestle and mortar, "1/2 doz plates," a "Cullender," a candlebox, earthenware, and a pepperbox, together with several handtools. MERCER'S VARIED ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS The agricultural aspects of a plantation were increasingly in evidence. In 1729 Rawleigh Chinn was paid for "helping to kill the Hogs," "pasturage of my cattle," and "making a gate." Edward Floyd was credited with £4 6s. 7-1/2d. for "Wintering Cattle, taking care of my horse & Sheep to Aug. 1729." John Chinn seems to have been Mercer's jockey, for as early as 1729 he was entering the races which abounded in Virginia, and "went on y^e race w^{th} Colt 1729." In this early period we find considerable evidence of a typical young Virginian's fondness for gaming and sport. One finds scattered through Mercer's account with Robert Spotswood such items as "To won at the Race ... 8.9" and "To won at Liew at Col^o Mason's ... 7.3." (Loo was an elegant 18th-century game played with Chinese-carved mother-of-pearl counters.) Mercer participated in several sporting events at Stafford courthouse, for court sessions continued, as in the previous century, to be social as well as legal and political occasions. This is illustrated in a credit to Joseph Waugh: "By won at a horse race at Stafford Court and Attorney's fee ... £1."; on the debit side of Enoch Innes's account: "To won at Quoits & running with you ... 1/3"; and in Thomas Hudson's account, where four shillings were marked up "To won pitching at Stafford Court." Mercer's diversions were few enough, nevertheless, and it is apparent that he devoted more time to reading than to gaming. In 1726 he borrowed from John Graham (or Graeme) a library of 56 volumes belonging to the "Hon^{ble} Col^o Spotswood"[59] (Appendix E). Ranging from the Greek classics to English history, and including Milton, Congreve, Dryden, Cole's Dictionary, "Williams' Mathematical Works," and "Present State of Russia," they were the basis for a solid education. That they included no lawbooks at a time when Mercer was preparing for the law is an indication of his broad taste for literature and learning. Marlborough, we can see, was occupied by a young man of talent, energy, and creativity. He alone, of the many men who had envisioned a center of enterprise on Potomac Neck, was possessed of the drive and the simple directness to make it succeed. For George Mason and the Waughs, Mercer was the ideal solution for their Marlborough difficulties. FOOTNOTES: