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.
[59] Col. Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Virginia and a resident of Spotsylvania County, was at this time living in London. He authorized John Graham (or Graeme) of St. James, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, to "take possession of his iron works in Virginia, with plantations, negroes, stocks, and manage the same." By 1732 Spotswood regretted that he had "committed his affairs to the care of a mathematician, whose thoughts were always among the stars." In 1737 Graham became professor of natural philosophy and mathematics in the College of William and Mary. See "Historical & Genealogical Notes," WMQ [1] (Richmond, 1909), vol. 17, p. 301 (quoting Basset, _Writings of William Byrd_, p. 378).
_Mercer's Consolidation of Marlborough, 1730-1740_
The 1730's opened a golden age in the Virginia colony. There was an interval of peace in which trade might flourish; there were new laws which favored the tobacco planter and led to the building of resplendent mansions along Virginia's shores. John Mercer wasted no time in grasping the opportunities that lay about him. With shrewd foresight he made law his major objective, thus raising himself above most of his contemporaries. At the same time he began an extensive purchasing of property, so that within a decade he was to become one of the major landed proprietors in the colony. Planting and legal practice each augmented the other in Mercer's prosperity, which was assured by a classic combination of energy, ability, and outgoing personality. As with many successful men, Mercer had an eye for meticulous detail; the documents he left behind were a treasury of methodically kept records.