F O U 
branches carried on at the foundery, begins by taking one 
of thefe (licks, and, with a peculiar addrefs, Aides the 
whole column of types off upon the dreffing-ftick : this 
is made of well-feafoned mahogany, and furnifhed with 
two end-pieces of fteel, a little lower than the body of 
the types, one of which is moveable, fo as to approach 
the other by means of a long fcrew-pin, inferted in the 
end of the flick. The types are put into this flick with 
their faces next to the back or projection ; and after they 
are adjufted to one another fo as to ftand even, they are 
then bound up, by fcrewing home the moveable end- 
piece. It is here where the great and requifite accuracy 
of the moulds comes to be perceived ; for in this cafe the 
whole column, fo bound up, lies flat and true upon the 
flick, the two extreme types being quite parallel, and the 
whole has the appearance of one folid continuous plate 
of metal. The leaft inaccuracy in the exadt parallelifm 
of the individual type, when multiplied fo many times, 
would render it impoffible to bind them up in this man¬ 
ner, by difpofmg them to rife or fpring from the flick by 
the fmalleft preffure from the fcrew. Now, when lying 
fo conveniently with the narrow edges uppermoft, which 
cannot poflibly be fmoothed in the manner before men¬ 
tioned by the (tones, the workman does this more effectu¬ 
ally by (craping the furface of the column with a thick- 
edged but (harp razor, which at every (troke brings on a 
very fine fmooth furface, like to polifhed diver ; and thus 
he proceeds till in about half a minute he comes to the 
farther end of the flick. The other edges of the types are 
next turned upwards, and polifhed in the fame manner. 
It is whilft the types thus lie in the dreffing-ffick, that 
the operation of bearding or barbing is performed, which 
is effected by runnings plane, faced with fleel, along the 
ffioulder of the body next to the face, which takes more 
or lefs off the corner, as occafion may require. Whilft in 
the drefling-ftick they are alfo grooved, which is a very 
material operation. In order to underfland this, it mu ft 
be remembered, that when the types are firft broken off 
from the jets, fome fuperfluous metal always remains, 
which would make them bear very unequally againft the 
paper whilft under the printing-prefs, and effectually mar 
the impreftion. That all thefe inequalities may, there¬ 
fore, be taken away, and that the bearings of every type 
may be regulated by the fhoulders imparted to them all 
alike from the mould, the workman or dreffer proceeds 
in the following manner: The types being fcrewed up in 
the (tick, as beforementioned, with the jet-end outermoft, 
and projecting beyond the wood about one-eighth of an 
inch, the flick is put into an open prefs, fo as to prefent 
the jet-end uppermoft, and then every thing is made faft 
by driving a long wedge, which bears upon a flip of 
wood, which lies clofe to the types the whole length : 
then a plough or plane is applied, which is fo conftruCted 
as to embrace the projecting part of the types betwixt its 
long fides, which are made of polifhed iron. When the 
plane is thus applied, the fleel cutter bearing upon that 
part between the fhouldeTS of the types, where the inequa¬ 
lities lie, the dreffer dexteroufly glides it along, and by 
this means drips off every irregular part that comes in the 
way, and fo makes an uniform groove the whole length, 
and leaves the two fhoulders handing; by which means 
every type becomes precifely like to another, as to the 
height againft paper. The types being now finifhed, the 
flick is taken out of the prefs, and the whole column re¬ 
placed upon the other flick ; and after the whole are fo 
dreffed, he proceeds to pick out the bad letters, previous 
to putting them up into pages and papers. In doing this 
he takes the flick into his left hand, and turning the faces 
near to the light, he examines them carefully ; and when¬ 
ever an imperfeCt or damaged letter occurs, he nimbly 
plucks it out with a fharp bodkin, which he holds in his 
right-hand for that purpofe. Thofe letters which, from 
their form, project over the body of the type, and which 
cannot on this account be rubbed on the flones, are fcraped 
on the broad-ffdes with a knife or file, and fome of the 
F O V C27 
metal next the face pared away with a pen knife, in order 
to allow the type to come clofe to any other. This ope¬ 
ration is called kerning. 
The excellence of printing-types confifts not only in the 
due performance of all the operations above described, 
but alfo in the hardnefs of the metal, form, and fine pro¬ 
portion of the character, and in the exaCt bearing and 
ranging of the letters in relation to one another. 
FOUND'LING, f. A child expofed to chance; a child 
found without any parent or owner.—We like baftards, 
are laid abroad, even as foundlings , to be trained up by 
grief and forrow. Sidney. 
I pafs the foundling by, a race unknown, 
At doors expos’d, whom matrons make their own, 
And into noble families advance 
A namelefs iffue, the blind work of chance. Dryden. 
FOUND'RESS, or Founderf.ss, f. A woman that 
founds, builds, eftabliflies, or begins, any thing. A wo¬ 
man that eftabliflies any charitable revenue ; 
For of their order flie was patronefs, 
Albe Clariffa was their chiefeft founderefs. Spenfer. 
For zeal like her’s, her fervants were to fhow ; f 
She was the firft, where need requir’d to go ; I 
Herfelf the foundrefs, and attendant too. Dryden. J 
FOUNT, or FoNT,y! among printers, See. a fet orquan- 
tity of characters or letters of each kind, caft by a letter- 
founder, and forted. We fay, a founder has caft a fount 
of pica, of englifli, of pearl, &c. meaning that he has 
caft a fet of characters of thefe kinds. A complete fount 
does not only include the running letters, but alfo large 
and fmall capitals, fingle letters, double letters, points, 
commas, lines, and numeral characters. Founts are large 
or fmall, according to the demand of the printer, who or¬ 
ders them by the hundred weight, or by (heets. When 
the printer orders a fount of 500, he means that the 
fount (hould weigh 5001b. When he demands a fount of 
ten (heets, it is underftood that with that fount he (hall be 
able to compofe ten (heets, or twenty forms, without being, 
obliged to diftribute. The founder takes his meafures 
accordingly ; he reckons 120 pounds for a (heet, includ¬ 
ing the quadrats, &c. or 60 pounds for a form, which is 
half a (heet: not that the (fleet always weighs 1 20 pounds, 
or the form 60 pounds ; on the contrary, it varies ac¬ 
cording to the fize of the form ; befides, it is always fup- 
pofed that there are letters left in the cafes. 
The greuteft difficulty which the firft: letter-founders —■ 
had to encounter, was the difeovery of the neceffary num¬ 
ber of each letter for a fount of types in any particular 
language ; and, in order to determine this, they endea¬ 
voured to find out how much oftener one letter occurred 
than another, in fuch language. Perhaps this difeovery 
was made by cafting off the copy, as the printers call it ; 
which is, by calculating the number of letters neceffary 
for compofing any given number of pages, and by count¬ 
ing thenumberof each letter which occurs in thofe pages; 
this would, in fome degree, have pointed out the propor¬ 
tional number of one letter to another ; but whether it was 
done by this, or by what other method, is not eafy to dif- 
cover: however, it is generally fuppofed, that the letter- 
founder’s bill, as it is termed, was made in the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury, but on what principle, all writers are filent. The 
various ligatures and abbreviations ufed by the early 
printers made more types neceffary than at prefent. 
Printers divide a fount of letters into two dalles, viz, 
the upper and the lower cafe : the former contains the 
large capitals, fmall capitals, accented letters, figures, and 
marks of reference; the lowercafe confifts of lnrall let¬ 
ters, ligatures, or double letters, points, fpaces, and 
quadrats. The above will more clearly appear, by ex¬ 
hibiting a bill which has been adopted, and regularly fol¬ 
lowed many years, at Dr. Edmund Fry and Co.’s letter- 
foundery in Type-ftreet, (liewing the proportional num¬ 
ber of one letter to another in the Englifli language. A 
fount 
