Baskerville also cut a font of Greek type. This experiment has been regarded as unsuccessful and his Greek type has been somewhat criticised. It was unsuccessful, but not through the fault of the type itself. His type was excellent, but it differed considerably from that to which the scholars were then accustomed and the learned world did not care to adopt it. Minor changes in the formation of English letters are not important, providing the general form of the letter is retained. In languages using a different character, however, even slight modifications are liable to be confusing and scholarly conservatism naturally shrinks from changes of this sort. It is probable, moreover, that the universities and the few persons doing printing in Greek did not encourage the new character as it would have involved a considerable expenditure for new type. With the comparatively small use for Greek type one font would last for a very long time. Excellent as Baskerville’s types were, they were not generally adopted. The printers stuck to the work of Caslon and Jackson, partly from the fact shortly to be noted that Baskerville did not get on very well with the printers and publishers and partly because of the expense. They preferred sticking to the standard fonts and buying sorts which could be easily procured when necessary to undergoing the expense of buying new fonts from the new founder. Although the admirers of Baskerville consider his type better than Caslon’s, it was not enough better to drive it out of the market. Baskerville’s type, moreover, was much criticised on its own account. It was claimed that owing to its proportions and owing to its sharp contrasts it was hard on the eyes. This criticism, however, was probably very largely the result of prejudice and dislike. Benjamin Franklin was a friend of Baskerville and tells an amusing story about this kind of criticism. He says that some printers were at his lodging in London and complained vigorously of the objectionable character of Baskerville’s type and of the eye strain and headache which it caused to its users. Franklin thereupon stepped into another room and came back in a moment with a sheet of Caslon’s specimens from which he had removed the heading. He handed this sheet to the critics who had been berating Baskerville and praising Caslon and said that he could not help thinking that they were influenced somewhat by their prejudice and he wished that they would examine this sheet and see if they actually did experience the unpleasant results of which they had complained. Supposing the sheet to be Baskerville’s type, they studied it with some care and unanimously declared that they found the same difficulties and experienced the same discomforts which they had always met with in reading Baskerville’s type. Franklin refrained from pointing out the trap into which he had betrayed them, but satisfied himself that their criticisms really were the result of prejudice.