It will be noticed throughout this book that the author has deviated from the dictionary methods of spelling words illustrative of the action of plait.

The Oxford Dictionary reads—

“Plait (pleit, ploet, plit) ... see also plat.”

“Plat. To form hats, etc., is now a less usual spelling than plait.”

“Plat-ting, the action of plat.”

Nuttall gives the pronunciation of plait as plate, and that of the action word plaited as plated.

In the district where the manufacture is sufficiently ancient to have established a claim to its regular pronunciation, plait, as it is invariably spelt, has always been pronounced plat, and the action words plat-ter, plat-ted, and plat-ting.

That this is not a local solecism of pronunciation is proved by the renderings given under the headings plat and platting in the Oxford Dictionary, and further, a literary and ancient example can be found in “A Lover’s Complaint,” where Shakespeare speaks of “a plat-ted hive.”

The author thinks it is time some definite method, in proper accord with the custom of the industry, should be adopted, and he proposes a precedent, which he claims to be well founded and sensible, viz., to continue to use the word plait (pronounced plat) as the substantive, and to establish the spelling plait-ter, plait-ted and plait-ting as designations of the action words properly interpreting the universal pronunciation.

I should like to express grateful thanks for assistance and information given me in the course of my work, to Messrs. Murry Barford (Mayor of Luton), of Barford & Sons, Luton; Percy Currant, of Currant & Creak, Luton; Henry George Draper, of Walsh & Sons, Luton; George Field, of Luton; Henry Gregory, of Gregory & Sons, Barbican, London, E.C.; Charles Hubbard, of Luton; Thomas Mann, of Vyse Sons & Co., Luton; James Saunders, F.L.S., of Saunders & Son, Luton; Frank E. Shoosmith, of Luton; John Irving Wright, J.P., of Luton; all of whom have intimate knowledge of the straw trade and its machinery; and to Mr. T. Maw, Librarian Luton Public Library.

The help of these gentlemen has materially added to the correctness of many details, of which my knowledge was uncertain.