[texhax] \vsplit-ting and aligning boxes

[Rodolfo Medina]

Rodolfo Medina <rodolfo.medina at gmail.com> writes:

> David Carlisle <d.p.carlisle at gmail.com> writes:
>
>> \setbox0=\vtop{\hsize3cm \prevdepth=0pt
>> To be, or not to be, that is the question:
>> Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
>> The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
>> Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
>> And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
>> No more; and by a sleep to say we end
>> The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
>> That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
>> Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
>> To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there's the rub:
>> For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
>> When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
>> Must give us pause—there's the respect
>> That makes calamity of so long life.
>> For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
>> Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
>> The pangs of dispriz'd love, the law's delay,
>> The insolence of office, and the spurns
>> That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,
>> When he himself might his quietus make
>> With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
>> To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
>> But that the dread of something after death,
>> The undiscovere'd country, from whose bourn
>> No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
>> And makes us rather bear those ills we have
>> Than fly to others that we know not of?
>> Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
>> And thus the native hue of resolution
>> Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
>> And enterprises of great pitch and moment
>> With this regard their currents turn awry
>> And lose the name of action.}
>>
>>
>> \setbox2=\vsplit0 to 9cm
>> \setbox4=\vsplit0 to 8cm
>> \setbox6=\vsplit0 to 7cm
>>
>>
>> \hbox{\vtop{\unvbox2}\hskip1cm\vtop{\unvbox4}\hskip1cm\vtop{\unvbox6}\hskip1cm\vtop{\unvbox0}}
>>
>> \bye
>
>
> Thanks, David, Philip, Daniel: to me it turns out that the first column,
> i.e. the first \vtop, is a bit lower than the other three (it becomes evident
> if we cancel the \hskips).  Besides, all four of them are lowered with respect
> to the normal level of the first line of the page...

...Why does this happen?

Rodolfo