' Besides the song given above, several others were
written on the subject. One called 'Surat Warps,' and said to be the
production of a Rossendale rhymester, (T. N., of Bacup,) appeared in
Notes and Queries of June 3, 1865, (third series, vol. vii., p.
432,) and is there stated to be a great favourite amongst the old
'Deyghn Layrocks,' (Anglice, the 'Larks of Dean,' in the forest of
Rossendale,) 'who sing it to one of the easy-going psalm-tunes with
much gusto.' One verse runs thus:-
" 'I look at th' yealds, and there they stick;
I ne'er seen the like sin' I wur wick!
What pity could befall a heart,
To think about these hard-sized warps!'
Another song, called 'The Surat Weyver,' was written by William
Billington of Blackburn. It is in the form of a lament by a body of
Lancashire weavers, who declare that they had
" 'Borne what mortal man could bear,
Affoore they'd weave Surat.'
But they had been compelled to weave it, though
" 'Stransportashun's not as ill
As weyvin rotten Su'.'
The song concludes with the emphatic execration,
" 'To hell wi' o' Surat!'"
--Note in "Lancashire Lyrics," vol.
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