Conservatism, indeed, has been a marked feature in the history of British letter-founding. Between 1637 and 1837 the number of important foundries rarely exceeded the limit prescribed by the Star Chamber decree of the former year. The methods and practice of the art, as we have seen, remained virtually unchanged during the whole period. The traditional customs, the trade _argot_, the relations of men to men, and men to masters, even the tricks and gestures of the caster, suffered nothing by the lapse of two centuries. The relations of the founders among themselves during the period underwent more vicissitudes. At all times jealous of their mystery, they mistrusted in turn the printers and one another. As the new school of Caslon and his apprentices rose up to oust the old Dutch school of James, mutual antagonism was the order of the day. The literary duel between the Caslons and the Frys was perhaps the least injurious outcome of this spirit. This antagonism resolved itself, at the close of last century, into a combination of London founders against their rising Scotch competitors. An Association was formed in 1793, which continued for three years. In 1799 it was re-formed, and this time lasted four years; and again in 1809 it was revived and continued till 1820, when it terminated. In the early days of this Association the lady Caslons took a prominent part in its deliberations, which, however, frequently consisted of little more than the imposition of fines for non-attendance. The prices of type during this period, chiefly owing to the fluctuations in the value of metals during the French war, were constantly changing. Pica in 1793 was 1_s._ 1 1/2_d._ a pound, in 1800 1_s._ 4_d._, in 1810 3_s._, and in 1816 (after the price of antimony had gone down from £400 to £200 a {119} ton), 2_s._ The Scotch founders, however, joined presently by the Sheffield houses, continued to underbid the London founders in their own market; and at one time a combination of all the English houses existed in opposition to the unfortunate new foundry of the Frenchman, Pouchée. * * * * * Our survey does not extend beyond the year 1830, but before concluding this hasty outline of the progress of letter-founding as a mechanical trade, it will be interesting to notice the gradual changes in the process of casting which led to the final abandonment of the venerable hand-mould in favour of machinery. We cannot do better than give a brief summary from the Patent Book[194] of the chief improvements proposed to be made in typefounding prior to 1830, premising that many of the schemes advanced no further than the proposal, and that some of the most important improvements which actually did take place were not registered in the Patent Book at all.