In considering the development which took place from the middle of the seventeenth century to the last quarter of the eighteenth as regards other textile commodities produced in the Manchester district, a useful starting-point is given by a writer about 1650, who described the trade of the town as “not inferior to that of many cities in the kingdom, chiefly consisting in woollen frizes, fustians, sack-cloths, mingled stuffs, caps, inkles, tapes, points, etc., whereby not only the better sort of men are employed, but also the very children by their own labour can maintain themselves.”[94] [Footnote 94: Quoted from Aikin’s _A Description of the Country from Thirty to Forty Miles round Manchester_ (1795), p. 154. The description originally appeared with “A Plan of Manchester and Salford taken about 1650.” This plan was inserted in the sheet of another “Plan of the towns of Manchester and Salford,” first published in 1741, and republished with small alterations in 1746 and 1751. The 1751 plan has been reissued with Procter’s _Memorials of Bygone Manchester_ (1880). These plans are important for our purpose as the letterpress accompanying them contains a description of Manchester and Salford from which the second quotation in the text is taken. The whole of the letterpress is given by Procter, _ibid._, pp. 350-356.] The enumeration of commodities in this account, which is very similar to that given by Fuller in 1662, may be compared with another contained in an account of Manchester and its trade in 1751, which may be regarded as holding good in the main for a considerable time later: “Ye present Inhabitants ... are in particular known to be an Industrious people; the Reason of their being so numerous is y^e flourishing trade follow’d here for a long time known by y^e name of Manchester Trade w^{ch} not only makes y^e town but y^e Country round about for several miles populous, industrious & wealthy. The trade consists chiefly of three general branches, viz. The Fustian or Cotton Manufacturs, y^e Check Trade & Small Wares. The Fustian Manufacture call’d Manchester Cottons, has been long in y^e place & neighbourhood, & is of late much improv’d by several modern Inventions in dying and printing. The Check Trade includes several Articles, as Stuffs for Aprons, Gowns, Shirts, Ticking, Bolstering, &c. But y^e Small Ware Business comprehends most as Inckle, Lace of many sorts, Tapes, Filleting, &c. All these Trades employ both a great number & almost all sorts of Hands not only of Men both Rich & Poor but of Women & Children, even of 5 or 6 years old, who by Spinning, Winding, or Weaving, may earn more here than in any other part of y^e Kingdom.... There is not any Town in y^e nation excepting our Sea Ports y^t may be compared to it in Trade as appears from y^e number of Packs of Goods w^{ch} go weekly out of y^e Town, w^{ch} amount in a moderate Computation to 500.” [Illustration: