Beadmore is probably the Scottish shipwright of that name.

A cotton weaver (Joan) and his wife are starving due to lack of work. Their only food is nettles in season and gruel. The bailiffs take goods in lieu of rent and bills that the weaver cannot pay. Joan weaves some cloth to get money but the master refuses to pay for it. Joan says he will take up manual labour to earn money. His wife (Margit) wants to go to London to appeal to the King for fair treatment and threatens violence if she is denied it.

A group of Cotton Spinners who have been made redundant by the introduction of mechanised spinning sell reels of cotton in order to earn money. Their song describes the plight of unemployed spinners saying that their children are starving. They appeal to the Christian sentiments of the populace when asking for money.

The narrator anticipates effects of the coming of the railway. He is expects that stage coaches will be replaced by railways. He looks forward to being able to get from Leicester to London and back in a day; that railways will improve the transport of goods including fish; that poor people will be able to travel; and that work will be created. Looks forward to the demise of the coaching trade and the financial loss that will be suffered by stage coach proprietors.