June 25. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



625 



expressed in this celebrated fresco, contains the 

 following sentence : 



" The work in question is now so generally accessible, 

 through the medium of accurate engravings, tliat any 

 one may easily exercise his own judgment on the 

 matter." 



Having within no very distant period spent an 

 hour or two in examining the original, with copies 

 lying close at hand for the purposes of comparison, 

 allow me to offer you a few impressions of which, 

 •while fresh, I " made a note" in an interleaved 

 copy of Bishop Burnet's curious Tour in Italy, 

 •which served me as a journal while abroad. Bur- 

 net mentions the Dominican Convent at Milan as 

 in his day " very rich." My note is as follows : 



" The Dominican convent is now suppressed. It is a 

 cavalry barracks : dragoons have displaced Dominicans. 

 There is a fine cupola to the church, the work of Bra- 

 mante : in the salle or refectory of this convent was 

 discovered, since Burnet's time, under a coat of wash or 

 plaster, the celebrated fresco of Lionardo da Vinci, now 

 so well known to the world by plates and copies, better 

 finished than the original ever was, in all probability ; 

 certainly better than it is now, after abuse, neglect, 

 damp, and, worst of all, restoring, have done their joint 

 ■work upon it. A visit to this fresco disenchants one 

 wonderfully. It is better to be satisfied with the fine 

 engravings, and let the original live in its ideal excel- 

 lence. The copyists have taken some liberties, of which 

 these strike me as the chief : 



" First, The Saviour's head is put more on one side, 

 in what I would call a more languishing position than 

 its actual one. 



" Second, the expression of the figure seated at his 

 left hand is quite changed. In the copies it is a grave, 

 serious, fine face : in the original, though now indistinct, 

 it evidently expressed ' open-mouthed horror ' at the 

 declaration, ' One of you shall betray me.' 



" Third, Judas in all copies is identified not only by 

 the held bag of money, but by the overturned saltcellar 

 at his elbow. This last is not in the original. 



" The whole fresco, though now as well kept as may 

 be, seems spoiling fast. There is a Crucifixion at the 

 other end of the same hall, in much better preservation, 

 though of the same date ; and the doorway which the 

 tasteful Dominicans cut in the wall, through the bottom 

 of the painting, is, though blocked up, still quite visible. 

 It is but too probable that the monks valued the absurd 

 and hideous frescoes in the cloisters outside, represent- 

 ing Saint Dominic's miracles ! and the Virgin fishing 

 souls out of purgatory with a rosary, beyond Lionardo's 

 great work." 



So far my original note, written without suppos- 

 ing that the received idea, as to the subject of the 

 picture, had ever been questioned. In reference 

 to the question raised, however, I will briefly say, 

 that, as recollection serves me, it would require a 

 •well-sustained criticism to convince me that the 

 two disciples at the Saviour's right hand were not 

 designed to express the point of action described 

 in the 23rd and 24th verses of chapter xiii. of 



St. John's Gospel. Possibly Mr. Smibke might 



favour us with the argument of his MSS. on the 



group. A. B. K. 

 Belmont. 



FONT INSCRIPTIONS. 



(Vol. vii., p. 408.) 



I have in my note-book the following entries :— ■ 



Kiddington, Oxon. : 



" This sacred Font Saint Edward first receaved. 

 From womb to grace, from grace to glory went 

 His virtuous life. To this fayre isle beqveth'd. 

 Prase .... and to vs bvt lent. 

 Let this remaine the trophies of his fame; 

 A King baptized from hence a Saint became. 



" This Fonte came from the King's Chapell in Islip." 



Newark, round the base in black letter : 



" Suis . Natis . sunt . Deo . hoc . Fonte . Renati . 

 erunt." 



On a pillar adjoining the font is a brass tablet 

 with this inscription : 



" This Font was demolished by the Rebels, May 9, 

 1646, and rebuilt by the charity of Nicholas Ridley in 

 1660." 



Kirton, Lincoln : 



" Orate pro aia Alauni Burton qui fontem istum 

 fieri fee. a.d. mccccv." 



Clee, Lincoln : 



" The Font is formed of two cylindrical parts, one 

 placed upon the other, over which, in the shaft of the 

 circular column, is inlaid a small piece of marble, with 

 a Latin inscription in Saxon characters, referring to the 

 time of King Richard, and stating it was dedicated to 

 the Holy Trinity and St. Mary, by Hugh Bishop of 

 Lincoln, a.d. 1192." 



The above are extracts from books, not copied 

 by me from the fonts. F. B. Relton. 



At Threckingham, Lincolnshire, round the base 

 of the font — 



" Ave Maria gratia . p . d . t." 

 At Little Billing, Northamptonshire, — 



" Wilberthus artifex atq; cementarius hunc fabri- 

 cavit, quisquis suum venit mergere corpus procul dubio 

 capit." 



J. P., Jun. 



To the list of these should be added the early 

 English font at Keysoe, Beds., noticed in the 

 Ecdesiologist, vol. i. p. 124., and figured in Van 

 Voorst's Baptismal Fonts. It bears the legend iu 

 Norman French : 



^ " Trestui : ke par hici passerui 

 Pur le alme Warel prieui : 

 Ke Deu par sa grace 

 Verrey merci li face. Ain." 



