[66] _Executive Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia_ (Richmond, Virginia: D. Bottom, superintendent of public printing, 1925), vol. 4, p. 328. TEMPORARY RETIREMENT, THE ABRIDGMENT, AND GUARDIANSHIP OF GEORGE MASON Deprived temporarily of his principal livelihood, Mercer set out to write an _Abridgment of the Laws of Virginia_. The task completed, he petitioned the General Court on April 23, 1735, for "leave to Print an Abridgment compil'd by him of all the Laws of this Colony & to have the benefit of the Sale thereof." On the same day he petitioned for a renewal of his license, which was granted with the exception of the right to practice in Prince William, where he was to remain _persona non grata_ generally thereafter.[67] Soon after these events his brother-in-law and old acquaintance, George Mason, drowned. Mercer was designated co-guardian of 10-year-old George Mason IV, who came to live at Marlborough. Young George later grew up to be the master of Gunston Hall and, as the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, to stand among the intellectuals whose ideas influenced the Revolution and the framing of the Constitution. In these formative years, young George Mason surely must have been affected by the strong legal mind and cultivated tastes of his uncle.[68] On October 14, 1737, the _Virginia Gazette_ carried the following advertisement: _This Day is Published_ An Exact Abridgment of the Laws of VIRGINIA, in Force and Use, to this present time. By John Mercer. At long last, after innumerable delays, the _Abridgment_ was in print. From a financial point of view it was a conspicuous failure. Too few Virginians, apparently, were sufficiently interested to buy it. FOOTNOTES: [67] Ibid., p. 348. [68] KATE MASON ROWLAND, _The Life of George Mason_ (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1892), vol. 1, p. 49. DOMESTIC FURNISHINGS AND SERVANTS During this eventful decade of the 1730's Mercer acquired the things needed for the proper maintenance of his house and properties. One requisite was Negro servants. From Pat Reyant he bought "a Girl named Margaret" for 43 pounds of tobacco in 1730. In 1731 he bought Deborah, Phillis, Peter, Nan, and Bob. The following year he obtained Lucy, Will, and George, and, in 1733, Nero. His purchases increased as his landholdings increased. In 1736 he bought five slaves, three of whom he aptly named Dublin, Marlborough, and Stafford.