Next he provides Cases. A Pair of Cases is an Upper-Case and a Lower-Case.
The Upper-Case and the Lower-Case are of an equal length, breadth and depth, viz. Two Foot nine Inches long, One Foot four Inches and an half broad, and about an Inch and a quarter deep, besides the bottom Board; But for small Bodied Letters they are made somewhat shallower, and for great Bodies deeper.
Long-Primmer and downwards are accounted small Bodies; English and upwards are accounted great Bodies.
The conveniencies of a shallow Case is, that the Letters in each Box lye more visible to the last, as being less shadowed by the sides of the Boxes.
The conveniencies of a deep Case is, that it will hold a great many Letters, so that a Compositer needs not so often Destribute. 2dly. It is not so soon Low, (as Compositers say when the Case grows towards empty) and a Low Case is unconvenient for a Compositer to work at, partly because the Case standing shelving downwards towards them, the Letters that are in the Case tend towards the hither-side of the Case, and are shadowed by the hither side of that Box they lye in, so that they are not so easily seen by the Eye, or so ready to come at with the Fingers, as if they lay in the middle of the Box.
These Cases are encompassed about with a Frame about Three quarters of an Inch broad, that the ends of the several partitions may be let into the substance of the Frame: But the hithermost side of the Frame is about half an Inch higher than the other sides, that when either the Galley or another pair of Cases are set upon them, the bottom edge of the Galley, or of those Cases may stop against that higher Frame, and not slide off.
Both the Upper and the Lower-Case have a thick Partition about three quarters of an Inch broad, Duff-tail’d into the middle of the upper and under Rail of the Frame. This Partition is made thus broad, that Grooves may be made on either side of it to receive the ends of those Partitions that devide the breadth of the Case, and also to strengthen the whole Frame; for the bottom Board is as well nailed to this thick Partition as to the outer Frame of the Case.
But the devisions for the several Boxes of the Upper and Lower-Cases are not alike: for each half of the whole length of the Upper-Case is devided into seven equal parts, as you may see in Plate 1. at A, and its breadth into seven equal parts, so that the whole Upper-Case is divided into Ninety eight square Boxes, whose sides are all equal to one another.
But the Two halfs of the length of the Lower-Case are not thus devided; for each half of the length of the Lower-Case is devided into Eight equal parts, and its breadth into Seven; but it is not throughout thus devided neither; for then the Boxes would be all of equal size: But the Lower-Case is devided into four several sizes of Boxes, as you may see in Plate 1. B.
The reason of these different sizes of Boxes is, That the biggest Boxes may be disposed nearest the Compositers hand, because the English Language, and consequently all English Coppy runs most upon such and such Sorts; so that the Boxes that holds those Sorts ought to be most capacious.