Then follow rules to be observed in breaking off, rubbing, kerning, setting-up and dressing, with descriptions of the dressing-sticks, block-groove, hook, knife and “plow.” That these operations, as well as the casting, had undergone no alteration nearly a century after Moxon’s day, may be judged from the fact that Moxon’s descriptions are used verbatim to accompany the view of the {112} interior of Caslon’s foundry, shown in the _Universal Magazine_ of 1750, where all these operations are exhibited in active progress. With regard to the preparation of the type-metal, Moxon’s account is minute and a trifle peculiar. This metal was, according to his account, made of lead hardened with iron.[185] Stub-nails were chosen as the best form of iron to melt, and the mixture was made with the assistance of antimony, of which an equal amount with the iron was added to the lead, in the proportion of 3 lb. of iron to 25 lb. of lead. The great heat required to melt the iron necessitated open furnaces of brick, built out of doors, in a broad, open place, well exposed to the wind, into which the iron and antimony mixture was put in pots surrounded with charcoal. After half an hour’s time the metal men were to “lay their Ears near the Ground and listen to hear a Bubling in the Pots,” which is the sign that the iron is melted. They then were to erect another small furnace, “on that side from whence the Wind blows,” which was to contain the large pot full of lead. The lead being melted, they were to carry it at a great heat, with a “Labour would make Hercules sweat,” to the open furnace, filling up the pots of iron and antimony with the lead, and stirring at the same time. The open furnace was to be then demolished, and the mixed metal left to cool in the pots. And “now,” says Moxon, “(according to Custom), is Half a Pint of Sack mingled with Sallad Oyl provided for each Workman to Drink; intended for an Antidote against the Poysonous Fumes of the Antimony, and to restore the Spirits that so Violent a Fire and Hard Labour may have exhausted.” Such is a brief account of the practice of typefounding in Moxon’s time. Of the trade customs of the day our author also presents us with a curious picture, in his account of the Chapel. “A Founding-House,” he says, “is also call’d a Chappel: but I suppose the Title was originally assum’d by Founders to make a Competition with Printers. The Customes used in a Founding-House are made as near as maybe those of a Printing-House; but because the Matter they Work on and the manner of their Working is different, therefore such different Customes are in Use as are suitable to their Trade, as:― “First, To call Mettle Lead, a Forfeiture. “Secondly, A Workman to let fall his Mold, a Forfeiture. “Thirdly, A Workman to leave his Ladle in the Mettle Noon or Night, a Forfeiture.” {113}