were also at times causes of much dissatisfaction, and these grounds for occasional discontent partially explain the number of English merchants with whom the Virginian dealt when he was in the habit of exporting tobacco to England on his own account. The reasons for dissatisfaction, however, were not all on the side of the planter; there were cases in which the English trader had occasion to regret that he had advanced supplies beyond the value of the consignment which he had received. In 1688, a petition was brought before the Privy Council, in which it was affirmed that Edmund Scarborough was indebted to the petitioners to an extent exceeding seven hundred pounds sterling, the consideration being large quantities of goods shipped from time to time to Scarborough’s plantation, which still remained unpaid for. This sum amounted in our modern currency perhaps to sixteen or seventeen thousand dollars.[1]
The articles ordered by the planters of their English merchants represented a great variety in kind and quality. Striking instances of this fact are scattered throughout the letter books of Fitzhugh and Byrd. On one occasion Fitzhugh instructs his English merchant to send to him five dozen gallon stone jugs;[2] on another, a new featherbed with curtains and valance, and also an old featherbed, as he had been informed that one which had never been used was apt to be full of dust. On still another occasion he wrote for two quilts, a side-saddle, a large silver salt-cellar, a pair of woman’s gallooned shoes, a table, a case of drawers and a looking-glass, two leather carpets, several gallons of oil, and a box of glass with white lead and colors.[3] Many of the orders given by Fitzhugh
