The Ascending and Descending Letters reach from the Foot-Line, up to the Top-Line; as all the Capital Letters are Ascending Letters, and so are many of the Lower-Case Letters; as, b d f, and several others. The Descending Letters are of the same Length with the Ascending Letters; as, g p q and several others. These are contained between the Head-Line and the Bottom-Line. The Short Letters are contained between the Head-Line and the Bottom-line. These are three different Sizes of Heighth the Punches are made to, for Letters of the same Body. But in proper place I shall handle this Subject more large and distinctly.
And as there is three Heighths or Sizes to be considered in Letters Cut to the same Body, so is there three Sizes to be considered, with respect to the Thicknesses of all these Letters, when the Punches are to be Forged: For some are m thick; by m thick is meant m Quadrat thick, which is just so thick as the Body is high: Some are n thick; that is to say, n Quadrat thick, viz. half so thick as the Body is high: And some are Space thick; that is, one quarter so thick as the Body is high; though Spaces are seldom Cast so thick, as shall be shewed when we come to Casting: and therefore, for distinction sake, we shall call these Spaces, Thick Spaces.
The first three Sizes fit exactly in Heighth to all the Letters of the same Body; but the last three Sizes fit not exactly in Thickness to the Letters of the same Body; for that some few among the Capitals are more than m thick, some less than m thick, and more than n thick; and some less than n thick, and more than Space thick; yet for Forging the Punches, these three Sizes are only in general Considered, with Exception had to Æ Æ Q, and most of the Swash-Letters; which being too thick to stand on an m, must be Forged thicker, according to the Workman’s Reason.
After the Workman has accounted the exact number of Letters he is to Cut for one Set, he considers what number he shall use of each of these several Sizes in the Roman, and of each of these several Sizes in the Italick; (for the Punches of Romans and Italicks, if the Body is large, are not to be Forged to the same shape, as shall be shewed by and by) and makes of a piece of Wood one Pattern of the several Sizes that he must have each number Forged to. Upon every one of these Wooden Patterns I use to write with a Pen and Ink the number of Punches to be Forged of that Size, lest afterwards I might be troubled with Recollections.
I say (for Example) He considers how many long Letters are m thick, how many Long-Letters are n thick, and how many Long-Letters are Space thick, in the Roman; and also considers which of these must be Counter-punch’d, and which not: For (as was said before) those Letters that are to be Counter-punch’d are to have about twice the Heighth and twice the Thickness of the Face of the Counter-Punch, for the Reason aforesaid. But the Letters not to be Counter-punch’d need no more Substance but what will just contain the Face of the Letter; and makes of these three Sizes three Wooden Patterns, of the exact Length, Heighth and Thickness that the Steel Punches are to be Forged to.
He also counts how many are Ascendents and Descendents, m thick, n thick, and Space thick; still considering how many of them are to be Counter-punch’d, and how many not; and makes Wooden Patterns for them.
The like he does for short-letters; and makes Wooden Patterns for them, for Steel Punches to be Forged by.
And as he has made his Patterns for the Roman, so he makes Patterns for the Italick Letters also; for the same shap’d Punches will not serve for Italick, unless he should create a great deal more Work to himself than he need do: For Italick Punches are not all to be Forged with their sides square to one another, as the Romans are; but only the highest and lowest sides must stand in Line with the highest and lowest sides of the Roman; but the Right and Left-Hand sides stand not parallel to the Stems of the Roman, but must make an Angle of 20 Degrees with the Roman Stems: so that the Figure of the Face of the Punch will become a Rhomboides, as it is called by Geometricians, and the Figure of this Face is the Slope that the Italick Letters have from the Roman, as in proper place shall be further shewed. Now, should the Punches for these Letters be Forged with each side square to one another, the Letter-Cutter would be forced to spend a great deal of Time, and take great pains to File away the superfluous Steel about the Face of the Letter when he comes to the Finishing of it, especially in great Bodied Letters. Yet are not all the Italick Letters to be Forged on the Slope; for the Punches of some of them, as the m n, and many others, may have all, or, at least, three of their sides, square to one another, though their Stems have the common Slope, because the ends of their Beaks and Tails lie in the same, perpendicular with the Outer Points of the Bottom and Top of their Stems, as is shewed in the Drafts of Letters.
Though I have treated thus much on the Forging of Punches, yet must all what I have said be understood only for great Bodied Punches; viz. from the Great-Primer, and upwards. But for smaller Bodies; as English, and downwards, the Letter-Cutter generally, both for Romans and Italicks, gets so many square Rods of Steel, Forged out of about two or three Foot in Length, as may serve his purpose; which Rods he elects as near his Body and Sizes as his Judgment will serve him to do; and with the edge of a Half-round File, or a Cold-Chissel, cuts them into so many Lengths as he wants Punches. Nay, many of these Rods may serve for some of the small Letters in some of the greater Bodies; and also, for many of their Counter-Punches.
Having thus prepared your Punches, you must Neal them, as I shewed in Numb. 3. Vol. I.