a perfect picture, which might be considered a pattern card of his trade. He was buried, as he had desired by his will, in his own garden at Birmingham. His grave was covered with a cone of masonry, but this monument was destroyed in 1791. Some persons of that town having assembled to celebrate the dawn of the French revolution, a riot took place, and the populace wreaked their vengeance on this tomb, Baskerville having avowed sentiments contrary to the doctrines of Christianity.

The art of type-founding was kept secret as long as possible, just as printing had been. The workmen were bound to silence, and so faithful do they seem to have been, that there was some risk of type-founding becoming one of the lost arts. "For," writes Moxon, "I could not learn any one had taught it to any other, but that every one that had used it had learned it of his own genuine inclination." If this be so, then the art of type-founding has been discovered again and again, as generation after generationhas disappeared. Indeed, so far had silence become the custom as regards type-founding, that when two Scotchmen, the celebrated Alexander Wilson and his friend Bain, commenced their experiments for the improvement of types, they never attempted to gain any insight whatever into the processes then used, from the workmen employed in the existing foundries, though some of them might have given them information in which they stood in want. They failed repeatedly rather than be dishonest, and the merit by which their type-foundry at Glasgow has become the first in Europe is all their own. Again, Mr. Caslon kept the mode of making punches a profound secret, when he was engaged in the work locking himself in a room specially arranged for the purpose. Yet this precaution provoked rather than prevented its discovery. Jackson, his apprentice, was as desirous of learning the art as his master was unwilling to teach him; Jackson, therefore, bored a hole in the wainscot of the room in which the two Caslons, father and son, were at work, and overlooked their operations. Thus instructed, Jackson made a punch, and presented it to his master. But instead of being rewarded for his ingenuity, as Schoeffer was by Faust, Caslon beat him, threatening, moreover, that if he ever again offended by such cleverness, he should be sent to Bridewell. Jackson afterwards became a great type-founder.

The first and most important operation in making type is the cutting of the punches. These consist of separate pieces of very hard steel, each containing a single letter of the alphabet. The punch is, in truth, a sort of seal, with this difference, that the

VOL. II.

G

letter is raised on the surface, not sunk into it. The letter of the punch is an exact model of the letter to be cast. The punch is struck into a piece of copper, just as a seal is struck into wax, and the impression thus made is the mould in which the type is cast. There is, of course, a separate mould or matrix for each separate letter of the alphabet, and no less than 320 punches, and, of course, the same number of matrices, are necessary for the different varieties of letters, capitals, and small capitals, Roman and Italic, which form a complete fount of type. The following

is the form of a letter, which we need scarcely say represents the shape of the interior of the mould. The mould is enclosed in two flat pieces of wood, and the metal is poured into it through a small funnel-shaped top. The metal used in making types is a mixture of lead, antimony, and tin, the proportions of which are the secrets of the different type-founders. The caster, after he has poured in the metal, jerks the mould upwards, by which the air is expelled, and the metal is forced into every part of it, so as to form the letters perfectly. Such letters as f and j, of small sizes, are now generally cast by the aid of a force-pump attached to the metal-pot, an improvement that saves the caster much time and trouble. The metal sets, or becomes solid, instantaneously after it has entered the mould. The process of casting, though apparently very primitive and clumsy, is performed with considerable expedition. A good workman will close the mould, cast the letter, open the mould, and remove the letter in the eighth part of a minute; that is, he will cast 500 letters in an hour. The type made by hand is considered the best; but type is now made by machinery at the rate of thousands instead of hundreds an hour. The machinery is, however, so complicated, that it would be impossible to describe it with any chance of being understood. Machines for making type, we may add, are not new in conception, although they have not been used until the last few years. Mr. Nicholson obtained a patent for a type-casting machine in 1790. Dr. Church, of Birmingham, also obtained a patent in 1825 for a plan of casting 75,000 letters an hour. Mr. L. J. Pouchée actually succeeded in casting 24,000 letters an hour. Machine-made type is used more generally in America than in Europe, where accuracy and beauty are more highly esteemed by the tasteful printer than cheapness.

There is an incident in the progress of typography which is worthy of especial notice. It is another proof that there are some men who are stimulated by the very difficulties which overwhelm most others. When Warren Hastings was Governorgeneral of India, there was a young writer, named Wilkins, in the East India Company's service, at Bengal. Hastings desired to improve the education of the persons employed by the Company; and Wilkins, having made himself acquainted with the language of the country, was enabled to render him much assistance. Amongst other things, Hastings determined to print the grammar of the Bengalee language. The type had to be cast for the purpose. But owing to the intricacies of the strokes, the varying lengths, sizes, positions, and combinations of the Bengalee alphabet, it was found very difficult to form the punches. Mr. Bolt attempted it, but entirely failed, though he was an excellent Bengalee scholar. Many able artists of London, who had assisted, failed also. In this emergency, Wilkins applied himself to the task. He had neither models nor practical knowledge to guide him, nor did he possess any trained mechanical skill; yet he succeeded by the force of determination and industry. He became the metallurgist, the punch-cutter, the type-founder, and the printer; and produced a grammar-book which forms an extraordinary instance of untaught skill. Afterwards hê organized a printing-office, and greatly advanced the art of printing in India. On his return to England, in 1786, he determined to print a Sanscrit grammar; and for this also he cut the punches, made the matrices, and cast the type. Only a single copy of a part of this work is in existence, for after Wilkins had printed 20 pages of it, his residence, at Hawkhurst, in Kent, was burnt down, and his punches, matrices, and types were rendered useless. But Wilkins returned to the task, and the Sanscrit grammar which he has given to the world is a monument both of mental and mechanical ability.

A set of types was anciently called a fund; it is now called a fount. The different letters bear a fixed proportion to each other. Thus a fount containing 8,500 a's will have 1,600 of b; 3,000 of c; 4,400 of d; 12,000 of e; 2,500 of f; 1,700 of g; 6,400 of h; 8,000 of i; 400 of j; 800 of k; 4,000 of 1; 3,000 of m; 8,000 of n; 8,000 of o; 1,700 of p; 300 of q; 6,200 of r; 8,000 of s; 9,000 of t; 3,400 of u; 1,200 of v; 2,000 of w; 400 of x; 2,000 y; 200 of z.

of

The numbers vary in this

way,

because some letters are more

used than others. It has been found, for instance, that 200 z's are sufficient where 12,000 e's are required. The capital letters of a fount are also proportioned to each other similarly to the other letters. To these must be added the spaces, which are small pieces of metal used to separate the words; being shorter than the letters, the ink in printing does not touch them, and, therefore, they make no mark on the paper, that is to say, they create a blank between the words. The spaces are of four sorts-hair, thin, middle, and thick spaces. Besides these there are quadrats, or larger spaces, to fill out the breaks in sentences: these are n and m quadrats, spaces, and two, three, and four m quadrats. The shank or body of the m quadrat, we may add, is a perfect square, and is, therefore, used in measuring, just as an inch is in a foot.

The different kinds of type are measured by one standard. This type is the sort called pica. Thus the large letters used in placards are called ten, twenty, or thirty lines pica, according to their size, that is to say, they are wide, or, as printers say, as deep, as ten, twenty, or thirty lines of pica.

N

For instance, this letter is "ten-line pica Egyptian," and is as deep as ten lines of pica put together. The following are the names and specimens of body letters, that is, the types used in printing

books.

GREAT PRIMER. This is sometimes called Bible text, as it is seldom used in printing any other books than the large folio Bibles. The French call it Great Roman.

The

ENGLISH. This is used for printing Bibles, large books, and the body of handbills. French and Dutch call it St. Augustine; it is supposed, therefore, that this sized type was first used by those nations in printing the works of that writer.

PICA. This is the standard by which all the others are measured. It is more generally used than any other sort, especially in printing works of a high character. The French and Germans call it Cicero, it having been originally used by them in printing the Roman orator's epistles.

SMALL PICA.-This is the favourite type for novels. It is called brevier by the Germans, and philosophie by the French. LONG PRIMER.-This sort is generally used for printing small books, or large books with close pages. The French call it little Roman, and the Germans corpus, it having been used by them, in the first instance, for printing the Corpus Juris.

BOURGEOIS. This type is very much used, and generally forms the largest type employed in printing newspapers. Bourgeois is a French word, but the name is applied only as expressing the common use of the type. The French themselves call it gaillarde.

BREVIER.-This is employed in printing small, cheap books, and for notes to larger type. It is supposed to have derived its name from the practice of using it to print breviaries, or Roman Catholic church-books. The French call it little text, and the Germans maiden letter.

MINION. This type is very largely used in printing newspapers, as well as in small prayer-books and bibles, and pocket editions of other works. The Germans call it colonel, and the French mignonne, or favourite.

EMERALD. This is a small kind of minion, used chiefly in newspapers, and only lately intro

duced.

NONPAREIL. This type is so called because it is far more beautiful than any other sort. It possesses all the beauty, without losing the distinctness of the larger sorts.

RUBY. This is, like Emerald, an interpolation in the original order of types. It was, at first, a nonpareil body with a smaller face. The French have no type which corresponds with it.

PEARL.-This is only used for miniature books and notes, and is legible only to persons possessing strong sight. DIAMOND-This is the smallest sort of type, and was first cat by the Dutch. A bo k printed in this type is, indeed, a corosity, like the Lord's Prayer written on the size of a sixpence, The letters are so small that 2,500 of them are certained in a pound's weight. Strong eyes are required to read it, and still stronger eyes to arrange the letters for printing. We may add, however, that a type still smaller was cast by M. Didot, a Frenchman.

The above types are used in book printing; there are others which are used for placards. For instance, paragon; double pica; two-line pica; two-line English; two-line great primer; and canon, which is four times as large as pica. The types larger than canon have no distinct names, but are known as five, six, seven, twenty, or fifty-line pica, according to their size. Above 24-line pica, the letters are usually cut in wood-not cast in metal.

Type-founders all adopt the same names for these letters; but not always the same height and depth. The consequence is, that types cast at one foundry cannot very well be worked with those cast at another foundry, an inconvenience similar to that now experienced on railways, the width of which being different, each set of engines and carriages can only be worked on the line for which they have been made