letter, he being entirely unconscious the
while of the fact.

``Now, if we can discover any law which
governs this abnormal position of the types
--if, for instance, we can predicate that the
letter _o_, when away from its own, will be
more frequently found in the box appropriated
to letter _a_ than any other; that _b_

has a general tendency to visit the _l_ box,
and _l_ the _v_ box; and that _d_, if away
from home, will be almost certainly found
among the _n_'s; if we can show this, we
shall then lay a good foundation for the
re-examination of many corrupt or disputed
readings in the text of Shakspere,
some of which may receive fresh life from
such a treatment.

``To start with, let us obtain a definite
idea of the arrangement of the types in
both `upper' and `lower' case in the
time of Shakspere--a time when long _s_'s,
with the logotypes _ct_, _ff_, _fi_, _ffi_, _ffl_, _sb_, _sh_,
_si_, _sl_, _ss_, _ssi_, _ssl_, and others, were in daily
use.''

Mr. Blades then refers to Moxon's
_Mechanical Exercises_, 1683, which contains
a representation of the compositors'