[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.
As the mansion progressed, so did the acquisition of furnishings suitable to its elegance. As early as 1742, doubtless in anticipation 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 Dick 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} brass knobs £2," and "1 Sett finest China 35/, 2 punch bowls ... 2.7" were purchased.