[85] Petition of “Several weavers of Woollen Broadcloth on behalf of themselves and several thousands of the Fraternity of Woollen Broadcloth Weavers” (House of Commons Journals, vol. xxvii. p. 503; see also pp. 730-2). [86] 22 Geo. II. c. 27. [87] 29 Geo. II. c. 33. [88] _Report of Committee on Petitions of West of England Clothiers_, House of Commons Journals, vol. xxvii. pp. 730-2. [89] For all these proceedings, see House of Commons Journals, vol. xxvii. [90] House of Commons Journals, vol. xxxvi. p. 7 (November 1, 1776). [91] House of Commons Journals, April 13 and 19, 1753, vol. xxvi. pp. 764, 779; Felkin’s _History of the Machine-wrought Hosiery and Lace Manufacture_, p. 80; Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times_, 1903, vol. i. p. 663. [92] _Gilds and Trade Unions_, pp. 115-21. [93] House of Commons Journals, vols. xxxvi. and xxxvii. [94] House of Commons Journals, vol. xxxvi. pp. 192, 240, 268, 287, 1777; Act 17 Geo. III. c. 55, repealing 8 Eliz. c. 11, and 1 Jac. 1. [95] 5 Geo. III. c. 48; see _Annual Register_, 1765, p. 41; Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern Times_, 1903, pp. 519, 796. [96] Act 13 Geo. III. c. 68; see _A Short Historical Account of the Silk Manufacture in England_, by Samuel Sholl, 1811. [97] _Ibid._ p. 4. [98] _Reports on Petitions of Cotton Weavers, 1809 and 1811._ [99] “The period between 1795 and 1815 was characterised by dearths which on several occasions became well-nigh famines” (Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, vol. i. p. 692). [100] _Minutes of Evidence and Report of the Committee on the Petition of the Journeymen Calico-printers_, July 4, 1804, July 17, 1806. See also Sheridan’s speech reported in Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, vol. ix. pp. 534-8. [101] 43 Geo. III. c. 136, continued in successive years until the definite repeal, in 1809, of most of the laws regulating the woollen manufacture by 49 Geo. III. c. 109; see Cunningham, 1903, vol. ii. p. 659. [102] It was reprinted in the 121st Quarterly Report of the Amalgamated Society of Boot and Shoemakers. The proceedings were taken by the Friendly Society of Cordwainers of England, “instituted the 15th of November 1784.” Particulars of the London Bootmakers’ Society, which was in correspondence with seventy or eighty provincial societies, are given in _A Digest of the Evidence before the Committee on Artizans and Machinery_, by George White, 1824, p. 97. [103] Professor Foxwell kindly placed at our disposal a unique series of pamphlets relating to these proceedings, which are now in the Goldsmiths Company’s Library at the University of London, including the _Memorials_ of the journeymen and the employers, the _Report in the Process_ by Robert Bell, and the _Scale of Prices_ as settled by the Court. A full account of the proceedings is given in the _Scottish Typographical Circular_, June 1858.