Moxon's mechanick exercises, volume 1 (of 2)

¶. 3. Of Botching-Matrices, to make them serve the better.

Matrices are sometimes either through a careless, or sometimes through an unlucky stroak or two of the File made too thin. And sometimes the Foot of the Matrice is too much taken away, and the Letter by that means stands too high in Line: And sometimes the Face of the Matrices is too much taken away; So that the Letter will not stand High enough against Paper.

To remedy all or any part of these inconveniencies, Founders are forced to make Botches on the Matrice: As first, If the Matrice be too thin on the right or left-ide, or both; They prick up that side, by laying the Matrice flat on the Work-Bench, with the thin side upwards, and holding the point of a Punch-Graver aslope upon the thin side, with an Hammer drive the point into the thin side of the Matrice, and so raise a Bur upon that side; which Bur (though it thicken not the Matrice, yet it) makes the side of the Matrice stand off the Register, and consequently is equevalent to thickning it.

The higher this Bur is raised, the better is the Matrice Botcht; because the thin fine points thus raised (if not pretty well flatted into the Substance of the Bur) will quickly either wear off by the pressure of the Register against them, or else flatten into the Body of the Bur, and both ways makes the Matrice again too thin.

Sometimes they do not Botch the Matrice thus for this fault; but only Paste a piece of Paper, or a Card, (according as it may want thickness) against the thin side of the Matrice and so thicken it.

But to mend the sides I use another Expedient, viz. by Soldering a piece of Plate-Brass against its thin side or sides, which is much better than Botching it.

Secondly, If the Matrice be filed away too much at the Foot, they knock it up with the Pen of the Hammer; and stretch it between the Foot and the Orifice of the Matrice, and then Justifie it again in Line. Or a piece may be Soldered under the Foot.

Thirdly, If the Face of the Matrice be too much taken away, and either the Punch spoiled or the Notch in the back of the Matrice made so, as it cannot be Sunken deeper, they raise a Bur on the Face, as they did on the thin sides, to keep the Matrice off the Carriages and Bodies which Lengthens the height of the Letter against Paper so much as is the height of the raised Bur. But of all the Botches this is the worst, because the Beard lies now nearer the Face: And the hollow standing off of the Face of the Matrice from the Carriages and Bodies, subjects the Mettal to run between them, and so pesters the Workman to get the Letter out of the Mold and Matrice.

Sect. XVIII, Of setting up the Furnance.

HAving Justified the Mold and Matrice, we come now to Casting of Letters: But yet we have neither Furnance, Mettal, or Ladle. Wherefore it is the Founders care, first to provide these.

The Furnance I have described in Plate 20. It is built of Brick upright, with four square sides and a Stone on the top, in which Stone is a wide round hole for the Pan to stand in.

The Hearth lies seven Inches below the top of the round Hole, and hath under it another round Iron-Ring of the same demensions with the first, on which straight Iron-Bars are fastened that the Fire is laid on.

In the round Iron-Ring (or rather Segment) on the top of the Furnance is set the Pan, which is either a Plate Ladle, or a small Cast-Iron Kettle that sinks into it within two Inches of the Brims of the Pan.

¶. 2. Of making Mettal.

The Mettal Founders make Printing-Letters of, is Lead hardned with Iron: Thus they chuse stub-Nails for the best Iron to Melt, as well because they are asured stub-Nails are made of good soft and tough Iron, as because (they being in small pieces of Iron) will Melt the sooner.

To make the Iron Run, they mingle an equal weight of Antimony (beaten in an Iron-Morter into small pieces) and stub-Nails together. And preparing so many Earthen forty or fifty pounds Melting-Pots (made for that purpose to endure the Fire) as they intend to use: They Charge these Pots with the mingled Iron and Antimony as full as they will hold.

Every time they Melt Mettal, they build a new Furnance to melt it in: This Furnance is called an Open Furnance; because the Air blows in through all its sides to Fan the Fire: They make it of Bricks in a broad open place, as well because the Air may have free access to all its sides, as that the Vapours of the Antimony (which are Obnoxious) may the less offend those that officiate at the Making the Mettal: And also because the Violent Fire made in the Furnance should not endanger the Firing any adjacent Houses.

They consider before they make the Furnance how many Pots of Mettal they intend to Melt, and make the Furnance sizable to that number: We will suppose five Pots. Therefore they first make a Circle on the Ground capable to hold these five Pots, and wider yet by three or four Inches round about: Then within this Circle they lay a Course of Bricks close to one another to fill the Plain of that Platform, with their broad or flat sides downwards, and their ends all one way, and on this Course of Bricks they lay another Course of Bricks as before, only the Lengths of this Course of Bricks lies athwart the Breadths of the other Course of Bricks: Then they lay a third Course of Bricks with their lengths cross the Breadth of the second Course of Bricks.

Having thus raised a Platform, they place these five Pots in the middle of it close to one another, and then on the Foundation or Platform raise the Furnance round about by laying the Bricks of the first Lay end to end and flat, close to one another: On the second Lay, they place the middle of a Brick over a Joynt (as Brick-layers call it) that is where the ends of two Bricks joyn together, and so again lay Bricks end to end till they Trim round the Platform. Then they lay a third Lay of Bricks, covering the Joynts of the second Lay of Bricks as before: So is the Foundation finisht.

Then they raise the Walls to the Furnance on this Foundation; But do not lay the ends of their Bricks close together. But lay the ends of each Brick about three Inches off each other, to serve for Wind-holes till they Trim round about: Then they lay another Lay of Bricks leaving other such Wind-holes over the middle of the last Lay of Bricks, and so Trim as they work round either with half Bricks or Bats that the Wind-holes of the last Lay may be covered: And in this manner and order they lay so many Lays till the Walls of the Furnance be raised about three Bricks higher than the Mouths of the Melting-Pots, still observing to leave such Wind-holes over the middle of every Brick that lies under each Lay.

Then they fill the sides of the Furnance round about the Melting-Pots, and over them with Charcoal, and Fire it at several Wind-holes in the bottom till it burn up and all over the Furnance, which a moderate Wind in about an Hours time will do: And about half an Hours time after they lay their Ears near the Ground and listen to hear a Bubling in the Pots; and this they do so often till they do hear it. When they hear this Bubling, they conclude the Iron is melted: But yet they will let it stand, perhaps half an hour longer or more, according as they guess the Fire to be Hotter or Cooler, that they may be the more assured it is all throughly Melted. And when it is Melted the Melting Pot will not be a quarter full.

And in or against that time they make another small Furnance close to the first, (to set an Iron-Pot in, in which they Melt Lead) on that side from whence the Wind blows; Because the Person that Lades the Lead out of the Iron-Pot (as shall be shewed by and by) may be the less annoyed with the Fumes of the Mettal, in both Furnances. This Furnance is made of three or four Course of Bricks open to the windward, and wide enough to contain the designed Iron-Pot, with room between it and the sides to hold a convenient quantity of Charcoal under it, and about it.

Into this Iron-Pot they put for every three Pound of Iron, about five and twenty pounds of Lead. And setting Fire to the Coals in this little Furnance they Melt and Heat this Lead Red-hot.

Hitherto a Man (nay, a Boy) might officiate all this Work; But now comes Labour would make Hercules sweat. Now they fall to pulling down so much of the side of the open Furnance as stands above the Mouth of that Melting-Pot next the Iron-Pot, And having a thick strong Iron Ladle, whose Handle is about two Yards long, and the Ladle big enough to hold about ten Pounds of Lead, and this Ladle Red-hot that it chill not the Mettal, they now I say with this Ladle fall to clearing this first Melting-Pot of all the Coals or filth that lie on the top of the Melted Mettal: while another Man at the same time stands provided with a long strong round Iron Stirring Poot; the Handle of which Stirring Poot is also about two Yards long or more, and the Poot it self almost twice the length of the depth of the Melting Pot. This Poot is nothing but a piece of the same Iron turned to a square with the Handle: And this Poot is also in a readiness heated Red-hot.

Now one Man with the Ladle Lades the Lead out of the Iron-Pot into the Melting Pot, while the other Man with the Poot stirs and Labours the Lead and Mettal in the Melting Pot together till they think the Lead and Mettal in the Melting Pot be well incorporated: And thus they continue Lading and Stirring till they have near filled the Melting Pot.

Then they go to another next Melting-Pot, and successively to all, and Lade and stir Lead into them as they did into the first. Which done the Mettal is made: And they pull down the Walls of the Open Furnance, and rake away the Fire that the Mettal may cool in the Pots.

Now (according to Custom) is Half a Pint of Sack mingled with Sallad Oyl, provided for each Workman to Drink; intended for an Antidote against the Poysonous Fumes of the Antimony, and to restore the Spirits that so Violent a Fire and Hard Labour may have exhausted.

¶. 3. Of Letter-Ladles.

Letter-Ladles differ nothing from other common Ladles, save in the size: Yet I have given you a Draft of one in Plate 20 at A. Of these the Caster has many at Hand, and many of several sizes that he may successively chuse one to fit the several sizes of Letters he has to Cast; as well in Bodies as in Thicknesses.

§. XIX. ¶. 1. Of Casting, Breaking, Rubbing, Kerning, and setting up of Letters.

BEfore the Caster begins to Cast he must kindle his Fire in the Furnance, to Melt the Mettal in the Pan. Therefore he takes the Pan out of the Hole in the Stone, and there lays in Coals and kindles them. And when it is well kindled, he sets the Pan in again, and puts Mettal into it to Melt. If it be a small Bodyed-Letter he Casts, or a thin Letter of Great Bodies, his Mettal must be very hot; nay, sometimes Red-hot to make the Letter Come. Then having chose a Ladle that will hold about so much as the Letter and Break is, he lays it at the Stoking-hole, where the Flame bursts out to heat. Then he ties a thin Leather cut into such a Figure as is described in Plate 20 at B with its narrow end against the Face to the Leather-Groove of the Matrice, by whipping a Brown Thread twice about the Leather-Groove, and fastning the Thread with a Knot. Then he puts both Halves of the Mold together, and puts the Matrice into the Matrice Cheek, and places the Foot of the Matrice on the Stool of the Mold, and the broad end of the Leather upon the Wood of the upper half of the Mold, but not tight up, lest it might hinder the Foot of the Matrice from Sinking close down upon the Stool in a train of Work. Then laying a little Rosin on the upper Wood of the Mold, and having his Casting Ladle hot, he with the bolling side of it Melts the Rosin; And when it is yet Melted presses the broad end of the Leather hard down on the Wood, and so fastens it to the Wood. All this is Preparation.

Now he comes to Casting. Wherefore placing the under-half of the Mold in his left hand, with the Hook or Hag forward, he clutches the ends of its Wood between the lower part of the Ball of his Thumb and his three hind-Fingers. Then he lays the upper half the Mold upon the under-half, so as the Male-Gages may fall into the Female-Gages, and at the same time the Foot of the Matrice place it self upon the Stool. And clasping his left-hand Thumb strong over the upper half of the Mold, he nimbly catches hold of the Bow or Spring with his right-hand Fingers at the top of it, and his Thumb under it, and places the point of it against the middle of the Notch in the back-side of the Matrice, pressing it as well forwards towards the Mold, as downwards by the Sholder of the Notch close upon the Stool, while at the same time with his hinder-Fingers as aforesaid, he draws the under-half of the Mold towards the Ball of his Thumb, and thrusts by the Ball of his Thumb the upper part towards his Fingers, that both the Registers of the Mold may press against both sides of the Matrice, and his Thumb and Fingers press both Halves of the Mold close together.

Then he takes the Handle of his Ladle in his right Hand, and with the Boll of it gives a stroak two or three outwards upon the Surface of the Melted Mettal to scum or clear it from the Film or Dust that may swim upon it. Then takes up the Ladle full of Mettal, and having his Mold as aforesaid in his left hand, he a little twists the left side of his Body from the Furnance, and brings the Geat of his Ladle (full of Mettal) to the Mouth of the Mold, and twists the upper part of his right-hand towards him to turn the Mettal into it, while at the same moment of Time he Jilts the Mold in his left hand forwards to receive the Mettal with a strong Shake (as it is call’d) not only into the Bodies of the Mold, but while the Mettal is yet hot, running swift and strongly into the very Face of the Matrice to receive its perfect Form there, as well as in the Shanck.

Then he takes the upper half of the Mold off the under-half, by placing his right-Hand Thumb on the end of the Wood next his left-Hand Thumb, and his two middle-Fingers at the other end of the Wood, and finding the Letter and Break lie in the under-Half of the Mold (as most commonly by reason of its weight it does) he throws or tosses the Letter Break and all upon a Sheet of Waste-Paper laid for that purpose on the Bench just a little beyond his left hand, and is then ready to Cast another Letter as before, and also the whole number that is to be Cast with that Matrice.

But sometimes it happens that by a Shake, or too big a Ladle, the Mettal may spill or slabber over the Mouth of the upper Half of the Mold, so that the spilt Mettal sticking about the outsides of the Mouth, may lift the Letter off the under-half of the Mold, and keep it in the upper half. Therefore he with the point of the Hag in the Wood of the under-half of the Mold, picks at the hollow in the fore part of the Break made by the Shaking out of the Mettal, and draws Break and Letter both out. It sometimes sticks in the under-half of the Mold by the same cause, and then he uses the point of the Hag in the upper half of the Mold, to pick or hale it out, as before.

It also sometimes sticks when any of the Joynts of the Mold open never so little, the Mettal thus getting in between those Joynts: But this fault is not to be indured, for before he can Cast any more, this fault must be mended.

But besides Letters, there is to be Cast for a perfect Fount (properly a Fund) Spaces Thick and Thin, n Quadrats, m Quadrats and Quadrats. These are not Cast with Matrices but with Stops (as we may call them) Because when these are Cast they are all shorter than the Shanck of the Letter, that they may not Print. Therefore they take off the Register of the under-Half Mold, and fit a piece of Plate-Brass about a Brevier Thick and a Brevier longer than to reach to the edge of the Body in the place of the Register, and drill a hole in this Plate-Brass right against the Hole in the Carriage that the Female-Screw lies in: This Hole is made so wide that the Male-Screw which screwed the Register close to the Carriage and Body may enter in at it, and screw this Plate-Brass close to them, as it did the Register: Then they make a mark with the point of a Needle on the Plate-Brass just against the side of the Edge of the Body, and at this mark they double down the end of the Plate-Brass inwards to make a perfect Square with the inside of the whole Plate. This doubling down is called the Stop aforesaid, and must be made just so thick as they design the Thin or Thick Space to be, and must have its Upper and Under-Edges filed so exactly to the Body, that it may lie close upon the Under-Carriage, and just even so high as the upper-side of the Body. So that when the Upper half of the Mold is placed on the under-Half, and Mettal Cast in at the Mouth (as before) the Mettal shall descend no deeper between the two Bodies then just to his Stop: You must note that this Stop must be filed exactly true as to Body and Thickness: For if it be never so little too big in Body, the Carriage of the Mold will ride upon it and make the Body of the Space bigger. Or if the Body be never so little too little, the Hot Mettal will run beyond the Stop; both which Miscarriages in making the Stop, spoil the Space.

If the Space be too short, they File the end of the Stop shorter.

This Brevier thick Plate will be thick enough for Stops for the Thin or Thick Spaces of any Body though of Great-Cannon, and for the n Quadrat Stop of any Body under a Great Primmer. And for the m Quadrat Stop of all to a Brevier and all Bodies under it. But for Stops that require to be Thicker then a Brevier, instead of doubling the Stop inwards on the Plate, I Solder on the inside of that end of the Plate a Stop full big enough in Body, and big enough in Thickness for the Quadrat I intend to make, and afterwards file and fit the Stop exactly as before.

When they Cast these Spaces or Quadrats, this Stop is always screwed fast upon the Carriage of the under-Half Mold as aforesaid. So that they only fit the upper half Mold on the under, and Cast their Number almost twice as quick as they do the Letters in Matrices.

It is generally observed by Work-men as a Rule, That when they Cast Quadrats they Cast them exactly to the Thickness of a set Number of m’s or Body, viz. two m’s thick, three m’s thick, four m’s thick, &c. And therefore the Stops aforesaid must all be filed exactly to their several intended thicknesses, The reason is, that when the Compositer Indents any Number of Lines, he may have Quadrats so exactly Cast that he shall not need to Justifie them either with Spaces or other helps.

¶. 2. Some Rules and Circumstances to be observed in
Casting.

1. If the Letter be a small Body, it requires a Harder Shake than a great Body does: Or if it be a thin Letter though of a greater Body, especially small i, being a thin Letter its Tittle will hardly Come; So that sometimes the Caster is forced to put a little Block-Tin into his Mettal, which makes the Mettal Thinner, and consequently have a freer flux to the Face of the Matrice.

2. He often examines the Registers of the Mold, by often Rubbing a Cast Letter: For notwithstanding the Registers were carefully Justified before, and hard screwed up; yet the constant thrusting of both Registers against the sides of the Matrice, may and often do force them more or less to drive backwards. Or a fall of one half or both Halfs of the Mold, may drive them backwards or forwards: Therefore he examins, as I said, how they Rub, whether too Thick or too Thin. And if he see Cause, mends the Registers, as I shew’d §. 5. ¶. 2.

Or if the Matrice be Botcht, as I shew’d you §. 5. ¶. 3. then those Botches (being only so many fine points rising out of the Body of the Copper of the Matrice) may with so many reiterated pressures of the Registers against them, flatten more and more, and press towards the Body of the Matrice, and consequently make the Letter Thinner: Which if it do, this must be mended in the Matrice by re-raising it to its due Thickness.

3. He pretty often examins, as I shew’d in §. 5. ¶. 2. how the Letters stand in Line: For when great Numbers are Cast with one Matrice, partly by pressing the point of the Wyer against the Bottom-Sholder of the Notch in the back-side of the Matrice, and partly by the softness of the matter of his Matrice and hardness of the Iron-stool, the Foot of the Matrice (if it wear not) may batter so much as to put the Letter out of Line. This must be mended with a Botch, viz. by knocking up the Foot of the Matrice, as I shew’d §. 5. ¶. 3.

A Workman will Cast about four thousand of these Letters ordinarily in one day.

¶. 3. Of Breaking off Letters.

Breaking off is commonly Boys-work: It is only to Break the Break from the Shanck of the Letter. All the care in it is, that he take up the Letter by its Thickness, not its Body (unless its Thickness be equal to its Body) with the fore-inger and Thumb of his right Hand as close to the Break as he can, lest if when the Break be between the fore-Finger and Thumb of his left hand, the force of Breaking off the Break should bow the Shanck of the Letter.

¶. 4. Of Rubbing of Letters.

Rubbing of Letters is also most commonly Boys-work: But when they do it, they provide Finger-stalls for the two fore-Fingers of the right-Hand: For else the Skin of their Fingers would quickly rub off with the sharp greet of the Stone. These Finger-stalls are made of old Ball-Leather or Pelts that Printers have done with: Then having an heap of one sort of Letters lying upon the Stone before them, with the left hand they pick up the Letter to be Rub’d, and lay it down in the Rubbing place with one of its sides upwards they clap the Balls of the fore-Finger and middle-Finger upon the fore and hinder-ends of the Letter, and Rubbing the Letter pretty lightly backwards about eight or nine Inches, they bring it forwards again with an hard pressing Rub upon the Stone; where the fore-Finger and Thumb of the left-Hand is ready to receive it, and quickly turn the opposite side of the Letter, to take such a Rub as the other side had.

But in Rubbing they are very careful that they press the Balls of their Fingers equally hard on the Head and Foot of the Letter. For if the Head and Foot be not equally prest on the Stone, either the Head or Foot will drive-out when the Letters come to be Composed in the Stick; So that without Rubbing over again they cannot be Drest.

¶. 5. Of Kerning of Letters.

Amongst the Italick-Letters many are to be Kern’d, some only on one side, and some both sides. The Kern’d-Letters are such as have part of their Face hanging over one side or both sides of their Shanck: These cannot be Rub’d, because part of the Face would Rub away when the whole side of the Shanck is toucht by the Stone: Therefore they must be Kern’d, as Founders call it: Which to do, they provide a small Stick bigger or less, according as the Body of the Letter that is to be Kern’d. This Kerning-stick is somewhat more than an Handful long, and it matters not whether it be square or round: But if it be square the Edges of it must be pretty well rounded away, lest with long usage and hard Cutting they Gall the Hand. The upper-side of this Kerning-Stick is flatted away somewhat more than the length of the Letter, and on that flat part is cut away a flat bottom with two square sides like the Sides or Ledges of the Lining-stick to serve for two Sholders. That side to be Kern’d and scrap’d, is laid upwards, and its opposite side on the bottom of the Kerning-stick with the Foot of the Letter against the bottom Sholder, and the side of the Letter against the side Sholder of the Kerning-stick.

He also provides a Kerning-Knife: This is a pretty strong piece of a broken Knife, about three Inches long, which he fits into a Wooden-Handle: But first he breaks off the Back of the Knife towards the Point, so as the whole edge lying in a straight line the piece broken off from the back to the edge may leave an angle at the point of about 45 Degrees, which irregular breaking (for so we must suppose it) he either Grinds or Rubs off on a Grind-stone. Then he takes a piece of a Broom-stick for his Handle, and splits one end of it about two Inches long towards the other end, and the split part he either Cuts or Rasps away about a Brevier deep round about that end of the Handle. Then he puts about an Inch and an half of his broken blade into the split or slit in the Handle, and ties a four or five doubled Paper a little below the Rasped part of the Handle round about it, to either a Pica or Long-Primmer thick of the slit end of the Handle. This Paper is so ordered that all its sides round about shall stand equally distant from all the Rasped part of the Handle: For then setting the other end of the Handle in Clay, or otherwise fastening it upright, when Mettal is poured in between the Rasped part of the Handle and the Paper about it, that Mettal will make a strong Ferril to the Handle of the Knife. The irregularities that may happen in Casting this Ferril may be Rasped away to make it more handy and Handsome.

Now to return again where I left off. Holding the Handle of the Kerning-stick in his left hand, He lays the side of the Letter to be Kern’d upwards with the Face of the Letter towards the end of the Kerning-stick: the side of the Letter against the side Sholder of the Kerning-stick, and the Foot of the Letter against the bottom Sholder of the Kerning-stick, and laying the end of the Ball of his left-Hand Thumb hard upon the Shanck of the Letter to keep its Side and Foot steddy against the Sholders of the Kerning-stick, he with the Kerning-Knife in his right-Hand cuts off about one quarter of the Mettal between the Beard of the Shanck and the Face of the Letter. Then turning his Knife so as the back of it may lean towards him, he scrapes towards him with the edge of the Knife about half the length of that upper-side, viz. about so much as his Thumb does not cover: Then he turns the Face of the Letter against the lower Sholder of the Kerning-stick, and scraping fromwards him with a stroak or two of his Knife smoothens that end of the Letter also.

If the other side of the Letter be not to be Kern’d it was before Rub’d on the Stone, as was shewed in the last ¶: But if it be to be Kern’d, then he makes a little hole in his Kerning-stick, close to the lower Sholder of it and full deep enough to receive all that part of the Face of the Letter that hangs over the Shanck, that the Shanck of the Letter may lie flat and solid on the bottom of the Kerning-stick, and that so the Shanck of the Letter bow not when the weight of the hand presses the edge of the Kerning-Knife hard upon it. Into this hole he puts (as before said) so much of the Face of the Letter as hangs over the side of the Shanck, and so scrapes the lower end of the Letter and Kerns the upper end, as he did the former side of the Letter.

¶. 6. Of Setting up, or Composing Letters.

I described in §. 5. ¶. 2. the Lining-stick, But now we are come to Setting up, or Composing of Letters. The Founder must provide many Composing-Sticks; five or six dozen at the least. These Composing-sticks are indeed but long Lining-sticks, about seven or eight and twenty Inches long Handle and all: Whereof the Handle is about three Inches and an half long: But as the Lining-stick I described was made of Brass: So these Composing-sticks are made of Beech-Wood.

When the Boy Sets up Letters (for it is commonly Boys-Work) The Caster Casts about an hundred Quadrats of the same Body about half an Inch broad at least, let the Body be what it will, and of the length of the whole Carriage, only by placing a flat Brass or Iron Plate upon the Stool of the Mold close against the Carriage and Body, to stop the Mettal from running farther.

The Boy (I say) takes the Composing-stick by the Handle in his left hand, clasping it about with his four Fingers, and puts the Quadrat first into the Composing-stick, and lays the Ball of his Thumb upon it, and with the fore-Finger and Thumb of his right-Hand, assisted by his middle-Finger to turn the Letter to a proper position, with its Nick upwards towards the bottom side of the Composing-stick; while it is coming to the Stick, he at the same time lifts up the Thumb of his left-Hand, and with it receives and holds the Letter against the fore-side of the Quadrat, and after it, all the Letters of the same sort, if the Stick will hold them, If not he Sets them in so many Sticks as will hold them: Observing to Set all the Nicks of them upwards, as aforesaid. And as he Set a Quadrat at the beginning of the Composing-stick, so he fills not his Stick so full, but that he may Set another such Quadrat at the end of it.

¶. 7. Some Rules and Circumstances to be observed in Setting up Letters.

1. If they Drive a little out at Head or Foot, so little as not to require new Rubbing again, then he holds his Thumb harder against the Head or Foot, so as to draw the Driving end inward: For else when they come to Scraping, and Dressing the Hook of the Dressing-Hook drawing Square, will endanger the middle or some other part of Letters in the Stick to Spring out: And when they come into the Dressing-block, the Knots of the Blocks drawing also square subject them to the same inconvenience. And if they Drive out at the Head, the Feet will more or less stand off one another: So that when the Tooth of the Plow comes to Dress the Feet, it will more or less job against every Letter, and be apt to make a bowing at the Feet, or at least make a Bur on their sides at the Feet.

2. When Short-Letters are begun to be Set up in a Stick, the whole Stick must be fill’d with Short-Letters: Because when they are Dressing, the Short Letters must be Bearded on both sides the Body: And should Short-Letters or Ascending or Descending or Long stand together, the Short cannot be Bearded because the Stems of the Ascending or Descending or Long-Letters reach upon the Body to the Beard: So that the Short-Letters cannot be Bearded, unless the Stems of the other Letters should be scraped off.

3. When Long-Letters are begun to be Set up in the Stick, none but such must fill it, for the reason aforesaid.

4. If any Letters Kern’d on one side be to be Set up, and the Stems of the same Letters reach not to the opposite Beard as s or f, in Setting up these or such like Letters, every next Letter is turned with its Nick downwards, that the Kern of each Letter may lie over the Beard of its next. But then they must be all Set up again with a Short-Letter between each, that they may be Bearded.

As every Stick-full is set up, he sets them by upon the Racks, ready for the Dresser to Dress, as shall be shewed in the next §.

The Racks are described in Plate 21. at A. They are made of Square Deal Battens about seven Inches and an half long, as at a b a b a b, and are at the ends b b b let into two upright Stiles, standing about sixteen Inches and an half assunder, and the fore-ends of the Racks mounting a little, that when Sticks of Letters is Set by on any two parallel Racks, there may be no danger that the Letters in them shall slide off forward; but their Feet rest against the Bottom-Ledges of the Composing-sticks. They set by as many of these Sticks with Letter in them, as will stand upon one another between every two Rails, and then set another pile of Sticks with Letter in them before the first, till the length of the Rail be also filled with Sticks of Letter before one another. They set all the Sticks of Letters with their ends even to one another with the Faces of the Letter forwards.

This Frame of Racks is always placed near the Dressing-Bench, that it may stand convenient to the Letter-Dressers Hand.

§. 20. ¶. 1. Of Dressing of Letters.

THere be several Tools and Machines used to the Dressing of Letters: And unless I should describe them to you first, you might perhaps in my following discourse not well understand me: Wherefore I shall begin with them: They are as follows.

Of each of these in order.

¶. 2. Of the Dressing-Sticks.

I need give no other Description of the Dressing-sticks, than I did in the last §. and ¶. of the Composing-Sticks: Only they are made of hard Wood, and of greater Substance, as well because hard Wood will work smoother than soft Wood, as because greater Substance is less Subject to warp or shake than smaller Substance is. And also because hard Wood is less Subject to be penetrated by the sharpness of the Bur of the Mettal on the Letters than the soft.

¶. 3. Of the Block-Grove, and its Appurtenances.

The Block-Grove is described in Plate 21. a b. The Groove in which the Blocks are laid, two Inches deep, and seven Inches and an half wide at one end, and seven Inches wide at the other end: One of the Cheeks as c is three Inches and an half broad at one end, and three Inches broad at the other end, and the other Cheek three Inches broad the whole Length: The Length of these Cheeks are two and twenty Inches.

The Wedge e f is seven and twenty Inches and an half long, two Inches broad at one end, and three Inches and an half broad at the other end; And two Inches deep.

g g g g The Bench on which the Dressing-Blocks are placed, are about sixteen Inches broad, and two Foot ten Inches high from the Floor. The Bench hath its farther Side, and both ends, railed about with slit-Deal about two Inches high, that the Hook, the Knife, and Plow, &c. fall not off when the Workman is at Work.

The Blocks are described in Plate 21 at a b: They are made of hard Wood. These Blocks are six and twenty Inches long, and each two Inches square. They are Male and Female, a the Male, b the Female: Through the whole Length of the Male-Block runs a Tongue as at a b, and a Groove as at c d, for the Tongue of the Plow to run in; This Tongue is about half an Inch thick, and stands out square from the upper and under-sides of the Block. About three Inches within the ends of the Block is placed a Knot as at c c: These Knots are small square pieces of Box-wood, the one above, and the other below the Tongue.

The Female Block is such another Block as the Male Block, only, instead of a Tongue running through the length of it a Groove is made to receive the Tongue of the Male-Block, and the Knots in this Block are made at the contrary ends, that when the Face of a Stick of Letter is placed on the Tongue the Knot in the Male-Block stops the Stick of Letter from sliding forwards, while the other Knot in the Female-Block at the other end, by the knocking of a Mallet on the end of the Block forces the Letter between the Blocks forwards, and so the whole Stick of Letters between these two Knots are screwzed together, and by the Wedge e f in Plate 21 (also with the force of a Mallet) Wedges the two Blocks and the Stick of Letter in them also tight, and close between the sides of the two Blocks; that afterwards the Plow may more certainly do its Office upon the Foot of the Letter; as shall be shewed hereafter.1