The judge’s charge was intended, no doubt, to be of general application, but it appears that it had particular reference to the check-weavers. The story of their combination can be gathered from the pages of _The Manchester Mercury_, supplemented by _A Letter to a Friend: occasioned by the late Disputes betwixt the Check-makers of Manchester and their Weavers_, written by Thomas Percival[158] in 1759. Mr. Percival had been mentioned to the judge as one who had assisted the weavers in their efforts to combine,[159] and his letter was a pungent reply to the charges. It appears that originally there were two main points of dispute between the check manufacturers and the weavers: first, the question of a standard length of cloth for weaving, and second, the question of “unfair weavers.”[160] Ultimately these questions led to a combination and a turn-out of several weeks in which the weavers in Manchester and for many miles around were involved. [Footnote 158: Mr. Thomas Percival (1719-1762) must not be confused with Dr. Thomas Percival who, later in the century, became prominent in his endeavours to improve the conditions in the cotton factories particularly as regards children. The Thomas Percival referred to in the text lived at Royton, near Oldham. The check manufacturers spoke of him as “a landed proprietor” and as one who was “known to be an enemy of oppression of all kinds.” He was a Justice of Peace, a Whig in politics, and wrote in opposition to the High Church clergy and the non-jurors in Manchester. In his day he was well known as an antiquarian and was elected F.R.S. in 1756 and F.S.A. in 1760 (_Dict. of Nat. Biog._, xliv., p. 383).] [Footnote 159: _Letter to a Friend_, p. 5.] [Footnote 160: _Ibid._, App. I.] According to Mr. Percival’s account, he was approached by some of his neighbours, check-weavers, about a year before he wrote his letter, when they informed him that they had been solicited to enter a Box to oppose the unlawful practices of their masters. At the time he advised them not to do so, but some of them became members and later the dispute became an open breach.[161] [Footnote 161: _Ibid._, p. 10.] In April, 1758, a notice was issued in _The Manchester Mercury_ drawing attention to the fact that “Weavers employed in manufactures carried on in Manchester and neighbouring towns, had formed themselves into unlawful clubs and societies, and had entered into combinations and subscriptions,” and that anyone who would not enter, or would withdraw, would be protected and employed.[162] This notice had not the desired effect, and it seems probable that the turn-out began in May or at the beginning of June. Early in July the situation had become acute and the weavers of Ashton sent to ask Mr. Percival whether they were doing right, to which he replied that “if they were doing what the world said, they were doing excessive wrong.”[163] [Footnote 162: 25th April 1758.] [Footnote 163: _Letter to a Friend_, p. 12.]