Enclosure: Invoice to Robert Cary & Company, 23 June 1766
Enclosure
Invoice to Robert Cary & Company
[Mount Vernon] 23 June 1766
Invoice of Goods to be sent by Robert Cary Esqr. & Co. for the use of George Washington—Potomk River1
4 Yds fine Humhums to suit the pattern sent 4 Yds of fine yard wide Jackeynot Muslin @8/ 3½ Yds 6/4 Do to suit Do @12/ 1 piece of Cambrick £3 1 dozn handsome silk Handkerchiefs twild 3 pieces of fine Irish Linn @5/ 5 Ells of Holland @ 7/ 3 Ells of Ditto 10/ A handsome french Necklace & Earings—not to exceed 21/ 4 Yards of Pea green Ribbon 4 Ditto blew Do 4 Ditto Crimson Do 3 Egrets—to be made of blew red & Green Ribbon 3 pair french kid Gloves col[ore]d 3 pr Do Do Do Mitts Do 1 ps. black (hair) Ribbon A black Satten Cloak with Velvet flowers—& lind with black silk Shag 4 M short Whites 1 M best London Needles sortd mostly large 4 Oz. 4d. thread 4 Oz. of 6d. Do 4 Oz. 8d. Do 4 Oz. 12d. Do 4 Oz. 8d. Cotton Do 4 Oz. Barbers Netting Silk 4 Oz. Chinese Do Do A Neat tortoise shell Comb & Case for the Pocket—small at one end & large at the other 6 pr Superfine large worstd Hose 6 pr Do thread Do Do
6 lb. best white Ginger 3 lb. fig Blew 1 lb. of best french Indigo 1 Jar fine new Raisons 10 lb. Jordon Almonds 4 lb. of Sago 5 lb. best Green Tea 5 lb. best Hyson Do—the Tea to be put into a large Tin box, or Sugar Cannister 10 Loaves dble refind Sugar 10 Do Single refd Do 1 Gallon fine Sallid Oil 2 blew & white China Sugar Dishes & Covers 2 blew & white Milk Pots 4 China Mugs—a Qt each 4 blew & white Do Slop bowls 1 large China Do to hold a Gal. 1 Do Do Do to hold a Gal. & ½
½ Rheam cheapest writing Papr folio ½ Rheam 4to post cut Do best kind ½ Rheam fine folio cut Do 3 Dozn packs—Harry Cards 1 Larboratory—or School of Arts2 Museum Rusticum—so far as they have been Publishd—& a volume every year while they continue to Publish them3 The Handmaid to the Arts & Sciences4 The Diaper Weavers director or figure Weavers Compn
2 Weavers Shuttles for Cotton 2 Do large Do for Barcelona Handkerchiefs5 1 pr Do strong yd wide Tempells for Gauze6 1 Do 3 Score yd wide Bato7 A pair of Ditto’s Pickers8 A pr of Ditto’s Shears 2 pr of Dittos Brushes for Sizing Linnen 4 lb. of Spanish Brazil for Dying 50 lb. White Bisquet
1½ dozn Table knives, and as many Forks of Staind Ivory 6 knives & 6 forks of the coursest & strongest sort 1 pair of Tayler’s Shears sml 2 pr small neat Scissars 3 pr large & strong Do 1 Butchers Steel 1 Curriers Steel 1 Small neat hand Vice—large enough to take to pieces & put together again a Gunlock 1 best 4 bladed knife (& Sheath) not to exceed ½ Guinea to be strong & midling large & well securd at the joints & Rivets
200 Sml Perch Hooks cheap k[in]d 2 Setts strong Steel Shoe & knee Buckles 6 broad Clamps for dry Rubg 50 lb. German Steel 50 lb. blisterd Do 25 lb. Glew 4 pr strong & course Wool Cards 2 pr strong & Course Tow Ditto 2 pr large & strong Stock Tow Do 2 pr Do Do Do for Wool 4 Curry combs without Brushes ½ dozn large & strong Stock Locks ½ dozn large Pad locks 2 Casks of 8d. Nails 2 Do 10 Do 1 Do 20 Do 1 twelve Inch brass Gunter, full & compleat—on one side to have Inches & 10ths—& On the other Inches & 12ths as usual9 1 brass sliding or parrallel Rule to be made very true &ca 4 Guns @10/ each or not to exceed 15/ each to be 4 feet in the Barl & not quite ⅝ of an Inch in the bore—to be of pretty good ⟨Sub[stanc]e⟩ 4 pair of Stirrup Leathers 2 Checked Saddle Cloaths 2 ps. best Dutch blanketting 4 dozn pair plaid Hose No. 3 4 dozn pair Do Do N. 4
4 Oz. Magnesa Alba10 2 Do best Rhubarb 2 Oz. Matthews’s Pills11 6 Do Hartshorne 1 pint Daffes Elixer 2 Oz. Pilexduobus12 1 Do Pilacosia13 8 Oz. Red Precipitate14 25 lb. Antimony 4 lb. flower of Brimstone 4 lb. white Arsnack or Rats b[an]e 10 Smal Barls of Lamp bla: 25 lb. Small Mould Shot 25 lb. la: Bristol Drop 25 lb. No. 1 Do 25 lb. No. 2 Do 10 Groce best Corks 1 Small Cheshire Cheese abt 25 lb. 2 Dble Gloucester Do ab. Do 1 Groce best Bottled Porter 2 dozn Course horn Combs Garden Peas of 4 kinds—a Peck of each—some of them to be of the very earliest kinds that can be got 1 Oz. of early Cabbage Seed 1 Oz. of Latter Do Do 6 Oz. of Crimson & Scarlet Radish Do 1 Do best Savoy Do 1 Oz. Lettice Do 1 Do Scarlet Onion Do 1 pr best Buckskin Breeches pr measure sent—to have broad kneebands & a pair of plain Oval Silver knee buckles for Do to have a strap at the waste band behind Shoes of Mr Didsbury pr Order 1 Sett of exceedg handsome (yellow) Philigree Shoe & knee buckles not to cost ab[ov]e 15 or 20/ & to be15
Go: Washington
ALB, DLC:GW.
1. Cary sent these goods with the invoice of 17 Nov. 1766, and GW acknowledged receipt of them on 4 April 1767. GW added several other items to his order in his letters of 28 June and 21 July 1766. GW also sent invoices dated 23 June for John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis and for Mrs. Frances Dandridge (DLC:GW).
2. GW wished to purchase Godfrey Smith’s The Laboratory, or School of Arts (London, 1838), most likely in the fourth edition of 1755.
3. Museum Rusticum et Commerciale, or Select Papers on Agriculture, Commerce, Arts, and Manufactures, six volumes, London, 1764–66. The third, corrected edition, 1766, was in GW’s library.
4. The Handmaid to the Arts and Sciences by Robert Dossie was printed in London in 1758. Cary sent GW the second corrected edition of 1764.
5. Barcelona handkerchiefs were silk and were worn around the head or neck.
6. A temple on a loom held the cloth at a proper width.
7. GW may have meant a weaver’s beater used to push a newly woven row of thread into place in the loom.
8. Weaver’s pickers, or fly shuttles, used to drive the shuttle to and fro through the warp, were invented in the mid-eighteenth century by John Kay of Lancashire.
9. The Gunter scale was much used for the solution of mathematical problems in surveying and navigation.
10. Magnes alba, a mixture of alkaline salts and cured niter, was used as an antacid dose and as a gentle purge.
11. Matthew’s pill was an opium compound used to treat hemorrhoids.
12. Pilea ex Duobus was a cathartic and a purge.
13. Pila cosia was a laxative.
14. Red precipitate of mercury was applied to mad dog bites.
15. GW may have made an attempt to erase the words “& to be.”