Artificial lighting for the manor house receives sparse mention. The
four candlesticks bought in 1744 for a penny each were probably of iron
or tin for kitchen use. Candlesticks purchased earlier probably remained
in use, sufficing for most illumination. It is a modern misconception
that colonial houses were ablaze at night with lamplight and
candlelight. Candles were expensive to buy and time-consuming to make,
while lamps rarely were used before the end of the century in the more
refined areas of households. The principal use of candles was in guiding
one's way to bed or in providing the minimum necessary light to carry on
an evening's conversation. During cold weather, fireplaces were a
satisfactory supplement. In general, early to bed and early to rise was
the rule, as William Byrd has shown us, and artificial light was only a
minor necessity.
[Illustration: Figure 13.--TABLE-DESK made in 1749 for Henry Purefoy of
Shalstone Manor in Buckinghamshire by John Belchier of London. In the
following year, John Mercer received £43 13s. worth of "Cabinet Ware"
from that noted cabinetmaker. (_Reproduced from_ Purefoy Letters,
1735-1753, _G. Bland, ed., Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd., London, 1931, by
courteous permission of the publisher_.)]
Nevertheless, some illumination was needed in the halls and great rooms
of colonial plantation houses, especially when guests were present--as
they usually were. The three sconce glasses which Captain Lyndon
delivered to Mercer in 1748 were doubtless elegant answers to this
requirement. These glasses were mirrors with one or more candle
branches, arranged so that the light would be reflected and multiplied.
On special occasions, these, and perhaps some candelabra and a
scattering of candlesticks to supplement them, provided concentrations
of light; for such affairs the use of ordinary tallow candles, with
their drippings and smoke, was out of the question. A pleasant
alternative is indicated by the purchase in April 1749 of "11-1/2 lib.
Myrtle Wax att 5d ... 14.4-1/2" and "4 lib Beeswax 6/" from Thomas Jones
of the Eastern Shore. Similar purchases also are recorded. Myrtle wax
came from what the Virginians called the myrtle bush, better known today
as the bayberry bush. Its gray berries yielded a fragrant aromatic wax
much favored in the colonies. In making candles it was usually mixed
with beeswax, as was evidently the case here. A clean-burning, superior
light source, it was nonetheless an expensive one. Burning in the
brackets of the sconce glasses at Marlborough, heightening the shadows
of the Palladian woodwork and, when snuffed, emitting its faint but
delicious fragrance, it must have been a delight to the eyes and the
nostrils alike.