Interesting..
However..
I find it more compelling to think that, writers being sloppy and pages being unruled, this is a case of fitting the gallows to the above word, which happened to be slightly high by sloppy accident.
I accidentally write some words slightly higher often enough, even on ruled paper!
As for word spacing certain places being strange.. Well. If it's a copy from a draft or other text, and clearly the drawings came first, one might expect the end of the line being slightly more cramped.
I'm reminded of a biblical manuscript where the scribe, realizing his mistake, towards the last third wrote progressively denser so as to fit a preset manuscript length.
However..
I find it more compelling to think that, writers being sloppy and pages being unruled, this is a case of fitting the gallows to the above word, which happened to be slightly high by sloppy accident.
I accidentally write some words slightly higher often enough, even on ruled paper!
As for word spacing certain places being strange.. Well. If it's a copy from a draft or other text, and clearly the drawings came first, one might expect the end of the line being slightly more cramped.
I'm reminded of a biblical manuscript where the scribe, realizing his mistake, towards the last third wrote progressively denser so as to fit a preset manuscript length.