In 1588, the rent of a rug and frieze manufacturer's dwelling, situated in Salford, was £2  10s. yearly. The value of a large cow was £2  3s., of a small cow £l 16s., the rent of one half of a meadow, in Salford, £7  l0s., the price of a piece of broad black frieze £I  19s., a piece of black frieze £l  8s., a piece of grey frieze £l 4s., a white rug £l  3s., a black rug l7s., a frieze jerkin (short coat) 2s., a Milan fustian waistcoat 10s., a woollen cloak £l 10s., a felt hat 3s., a silk gown £l  16s. 8d., a worsted damasked gown £l  5s., a tammy mantle £l, a silk apron 6s. 8d., four silke hatts £1 2s. 8d., eleven pounds of fine white yarn, at ls. 5d. per pound, l5s. 7d., fifteen stone of woollen yarn flooks, at 2s. 6d. per stone, £l  l7s. 6d., two pair of rugg looms with their furniture 6s., a spinning wheel and truckle bed ls. 10d., a pair of sheerman's sheers 3s., a warping stock with rings and yarn in it 2s. 6d., a large Bible 6s., a picture of Jonah and the whale ls.

Hunting, and bull baiting, with rustic dancing parties and rude musical entertainments at the wakes and fairs, formed the sports and pastimes of the people. The wakes though arising from the dedication of churches, degenerated into a species of rustic fairs, often kept on the Sundays, but totally devoid of any religious character. The waits were a species of nocturnal musicians, who went through the streets at midnight, about Christmas time, playing their music, but the earlier custom of singing carols and Christmas hymns at that period, is still continued to some extent in Oldham, and through the surrounding country. Of the particular character of the sports attending the wakes I shall have occasion to speak in another place.

It will be evident from the information already afforded as to the regular progress of manufactures, that even to the much esteemed age of Queen Elizabeth the woollen manufacture had made extremely slow progress in this part of the country. This is obvious

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