Chap. IX. ] Mechanic Arts. " 1 1 9 



and the Acts of the Apostles, according to th^ 

 MS. of Bcza. But, for the most part, tlic 

 practice in question has been confined to manu- 

 scripts of small extent, and to objects of especial 

 curiosity *. 



The art of forming types for pxi^iting has also 

 received considerable improvements in the course 

 of the eighteenth centuiy. Among tlic numerous 

 authors of these, the celebrated John Basker- 

 ville deserves particular notice. The diligence^ 

 zeal, and success with which he applied himself 

 to improve the mode of foun^ding types, and 

 to give them a more beautiful form, are well 

 known; as well as the numerous editions which 

 he w^as enabled to give of important works, parti- 

 cularly the Latin classics, in a style of elegance 

 far surpassing every thing of the kind which had 

 before issued from the press. Various inventions, 

 to abridge labour in the business of letter-foundery, 

 have also been made within this period ; of these, 

 perhaps, few are entitled to be mentioned with 

 more respect than that of Mr. Apollos Kinsley, 

 an ingenious American, who is said to have de- 

 vised a method of abbreviating, to an astonishing 

 degree, the necessary process in this manufac- 



ture f. 



The discoveries made within a few years past in 

 the philosophy of Tamwig have greatly facili- 

 tated the process, and promoted the interests of 

 that important art. For these the pubhc are m-^ 



* Monthly Rericiv, of London, vol. xii, N. S. p. 241. 

 f American Rtviev;, and Literary jQurnal, vol.i. No. 1. 



