The first proof should contain merely the errors of the compositor; but it frequently happens that the corrector heightens them by his peculiarities. When this is unnecessarily done, it is an act of injustice to the compositor: it is sufficient for him to rectify such mistakes as arise either from inattention to his copy or want of judgment. The compositor ought not to suffer from the humour of a reader in capriciously altering commas and semicolons in the first proof, which he not unfrequently re-alters in the second, from a doubt as to the propriety of the points to be adopted. When a proof is handed to the compositor, he should immediately correct it; and the reader, correlatively, should be equally prompt in his department. Can it reasonably be expected that the compositor will feel inclined to forward his proof, when he knows that the reader will delay it for hours? Should a compositor have transposed two or more pages, either from an error in the folios or any other cause, he must unlock the quarter containing them, and, loosening the cross or crosses from the furniture, lift the chase and the remaining quarters off the stone. Should he have furniture sufficient round each page, he may move them into their proper stations by pressing the balls of his thumbs and fingers against the furniture at the head, foot, and sides of each page. If the letter be small, it will be advisable to wet the pages, because few imposing-stones are horizontal, or so steady that they will not shake when touched, or by the motion of the floor occasioned by persons walking or dragging forms along. Should a compositor find that his pages _hang_, he must unlock the quarter, and pat the face of the type with the balls of his fingers until he gets it into a square position. When a compositor unlocks a form, he should be careful not to leave the unlocked quoins too slack, as the force necessary to loosen the others may _squabble_ the matter, or occasion it to _hang_. It has been aptly said, “What is required of a compositor when he goes about correcting a foul proof, is a sharp bodkin and patience; because, without them, the letter cannot escape suffering by the steel, and hurrying will not permit him to justify the lines true. No wonder, therefore, to see pigeon-holes in one place, and pi in another.”[16]