y days most weavers
owned their looms, the great part of which they had frequently
constructed themselves: later, however, a large number hired looms, and
it was as usual in certain quarters for lodgings to be let with a loom
as it is to-day for them to be provided with a piano. When it became
customary for weavers to undertake a variety of work, the masters
usually provided reeds (which had to vary in fineness with the fineness
of the warp), healds, and other changeable parts, and sometimes they
employed the gaiters to fit the new work in the looms.

Until the success of the water-frame, cotton could not be spun
economically of sufficient strength and fineness for warps, and the
warps were therefore invariably made of either linen or wool. Some were
manufactured locally, others were imported from Germany, Ireland and
Scotland. The weaver prepared them for his loom by the system of
peg-warping,[19] but after the introduction of the warping-mill he
received them as a rule all ready for insertion into the loom from the
Manchester merchant or local fustian master.

"It did not pay the individual weaver to keep a warping-mill for
occasional use only, and frequently the contracted space of his
workroom precluded even the possibility of his doing so. The invention
of the warping-mill necessitated specialism in warping, and it was
essential that warping should be done to order, since at that time,
the state of the industrial world being what it was, no person could
ordinarily have been found to adventure capital in producing warps
ready made in anticipation of demand for the great variety of fabrics
which was even then produced. Moreover, had the weaver himself placed
the orders for his warps, any occasional delay in the execution of his
commissions might have stopped his work entirely until the warps were
ready; for warps cannot be delivered partially, like weft, in
quantities sufficient for each day's work. To ensure continuous
working in the industry, therefore, it was almost inevitable that the
merchant should himself prepare the warps for such fabrics as he
required, or possibly have them prepared. To the system of the
merchant delegating the preparation of warps there was less objection
than to the system of the weaver doing so, since the merchant, dealing
in large quantities, was more likely to get pressing orders completed
to time. Further, the merchant knew first what kind of w