Strict uniformity should always be preserved in the use of capitals, in orthography, and punctuation. Nothing can be more vexatious to an author than to see the words _honour_, _favour_, &c. spelt with and without the _u_. This is a discrepancy which correctors ought sedulously to prevent. The above observations equally apply to the use of capitals to noun-substantives, &c. in one place, and the omission of them in another. However the opinions of authors may differ in these respects, still the system of spelling, &c. must not be varied in the same work. When an author gives him the option, a proof-reader ought to spell ambiguous words and arrange compounds in a methodical and uniform way; and, to enable the compositors to become acquainted with and to observe his method, he should furnish for their guidance a list of such ambiguous words and compounds.[15] Such being the qualifications of a reader, we exhibit the process which proof-sheets ought to undergo before the pages are put to press. When a first proof is pulled, the compositor who imposed the sheet ought to collect and arrange the copy, and deliver both to the reader, who, after folding the sheet to prove the accuracy of its imposition, carefully examines the signatures, head-lines, and paging. He then calls his reading-boy, to read the copy aloud to him. This boy should be able to read with ease and distinctness any copy put into his hands. The eye of the reader should not follow, but rather precede, the voice of the boy: accustomed to this mode, he will be able to anticipate every single word in the copy; and, should a word or sentence happen to be missing in the proof, his attention will the more sensibly be arrested by it when he hears it pronounced by his reading-boy. He ought to be careful lest his eyes advance too far before the words of the boy; because, in his attention to the author’s meaning, he will be apt to read words in the proof which do not actually appear there, and the accuracy of the reading-boy will but tend to confirm him in the mistake. When the reading of the sheet is concluded, the number (if more than one) of the volume, signature, and _prima_, or first word of the ensuing sheet, should be accurately marked on the margin of the copy, and a bracket made before the first word of the next sheet, in order that the compositor, should he not have composed beyond the sheet, may know where to begin, without having the trouble of referring either to the proof or the form, and the reader will be certain that the commencement is right when he gets the succeeding sheet. This prevents unnecessary trouble both to the reader and compositor. Before the proof is sent to the compositor to be corrected in the metal, an entry should be made in a book, according to the following plan:—