Meanwhile, Mercer had announced his intention to publish a new edition
of the _Abridgment_. In doing so, he adopted a hostile, testy approach
that was unusual even in 18th-century advertising. Implying that he was
doing a favor to an ungrateful populace, he stated in the Virginia
_Gazette_ on August 16, 1751, "I have been prevail'd upon to print it,
if I have a prospect of saving myself, though the Treatment I met from
the Subscribers to the last had determined me never to be again
concerned in an Undertaking of this Kind." On the following February 20,
he announced in the _Gazette_ that if there were 600 subscribers by the
last of the next General Court he would send the copy to press. If not,
he would return the money to those who had subscribed, "which I should
not have troubled myself with, if I could have thought of any other
Expedient to secure myself against the base Usage I met with from the
Subscribers to my former _Abridgment_, who left above 1200 of them on my
Hands." This kind of advertising had its predictable response:
publication of the new _Abridgment_ was postponed indefinitely.
The first suggestion that all was not well in Mercer's financial affairs
was given in an advertisement in the _Gazette_ on April 10, 1752. In
this he noted that he had agreed to pay the debts of one Francis
Wroughton, a London merchant, out of Wroughton's effects. However,
although Wroughton's effects had not materialized, he promised to make
payment anyway, "notwithstanding a large Ballance due to myself." He
concluded, "Besides Mr. _Wroughton's_ Debts, I have some of my own (and
not inconsiderable) to pay, therefore I hope that such Gentlemen as are
indebted to me will, without putting me to the Blush which a Dunn will
occasion, discharge their Debts...."
Perhaps to alleviate these difficulties, he had advertised in the
Gazette on the previous March 15 that he would lease "3,000 Acres of
extraordinary good fresh Land, in Fairfax and Prince William," but there
is no evidence that he was successful.
Signs of irritability became increasingly noticeable. In 1753 he
outraged his fellow justices at Stafford court--so much so that they
brought charges against him before the Executive Council "for
misbehavior as a Justice."[123] It was decided that, although "his
Conduct had been in some Respects blameable, particularly by his
Intemperance, opprobrious Language on the Bench, and indecent Treatment
of the other Justices, ... that in Consideration of his having been a
principal Instrument in a due Administration of Justice, and expediting
the Business of the County, it has been thought proper to continue him
Judge of the Court."[124]
A growing burden of debt, in contrast to the prosperity of the preceding
decade, clearly affected Mercer's attitude, as we can see in a Gazette
advertisement on November 7, 1754: "I will not undertake any new, or
finish any old Cause, 'til I receive my Fee, or Security for it to my
liking: And I hope such Gentlemen as for above these seven years past
have put me off with Promises every succeeding General Court will think
it reasonable now to discharge their accounts." Concurrent with
indebtedness was an almost annual increase in the size of his family. In
1752 Grace Fenton Mercer was born, the next year Mungo Roy, and in 1754
Elinor.
At the same time, he still pursued the restless activity that
characterized his earlier years. On July 24, 1753, Mercer went "to
Balthrop's, Smith's Ordin^{ry} & Vaulx's,"[125] a distance of 27 miles,
during which he "Overset." On the 25th he went on eight miles farther
"to Col^o Phil Lee's"[126] for a three-day meeting of the Ohio Company,
then went the whole 35 miles home on the 28th. On September 6 he was
called eight miles away "to Boyd's hole on Inquest as Coroner & home by
4 in the morn^g," while the next day he was "at home. Son Mungo Roy born
ab^t 2 in the morning." On the 19th Mungo Roy was christened. Four days
later he went 15 miles to Fredericksburg for the christening of William
Dick's son Alexander, returning home the next day. The following day
Mercer journeyed 14 miles and back to "Holdbrook's Survey" by way of
Mountjoy's, and repeated the trip the next day, stopping at Major
Hedgman's[127] coming and going. On October 5 he made a three-day trip
to Williamsburg, covering the distance in stretches of 16, 52, and 42
miles per day, respectively. He went by way of Port Royal, where he "Met
M^r Wroughton," presumably the London merchant whose creditors he had
agreed to pay. The second day took him by way of King William
courthouse. On the return on November 4-6, he came via Chiswell's
Ordinary[128] and New Kent courthouse (which he noted had "Burnt"),
covering a total of 110 miles.
On June 3, 1754, his clerk reported to duty, according to a journal
entry: "Rogers came here at £50 p^r annum." Rogers remained in Mercer's
employ until 1768.
Mercer seems to have been driving himself to the limit, not to achieve
success as in the prior decades, but rather to hold secure what he
already had. The specter of debt now hung over him, as it did over
nearly every planter, under the increasing burdens of the French and
Indian War. The 17th-century wisdom of William Fitzhugh and Robert
Beverley in seeking to lead the colony away from complete dependence
upon tobacco was apparent to those who would remember. Marlborough,
although still technically a town, was now in reality a tobacco
plantation, and Mercer, despite his status as a lawyer, was as
irretrievably committed to the success or failure of tobacco as was
Fitzhugh 70 years earlier. The hard years were now upon all, and, like
his equally hard-pressed debtors, Mercer was suffering from them.