4 INSCRIPTION ON THE FONT AT CHKLMORTON. 



by round-headed trefoil arches into eight compartments. * The 

 Tirlemont font, hereafter noticed, is circular, but has eight 

 compartments round it, which by their number may be as 

 symbolical as if they were eight sides. It has occurred to my 

 mind that the two emblems on the same font may have been 

 intended to signify " the true faith in the Holy Trinity." It 

 may suffice to leave this question for further consideration. 



I now turn to such matters as bear more particularly upon 

 fonts in churches that are dedicated to St. John the Baptist. 

 In Italy there still exist baptisteries with statues and sculptures 

 upon them, which refer to the baptism by St. John, his mar- 

 tyrdom, and other scriptural events. At Verona, the font is 

 octagonal, and on one of the sides is the baptism of the 

 Saviour in the Jordan. t At Pisa, the font is also octagonal, 

 and from the centre rises a pillar with a figure of St. John, 

 and over the eastern doorway of the baptistery is a sculpture 

 representing the martyrdom of the Baptist.^ At Florence, over 

 the south door of the baptistery, which is octagonal, there is a 

 bronze group representing the beheading of St. John, and over 

 the east door there is the baptism in the Jordan. In the 

 Archaeological Museum at Brussels there is a brass font from 

 Tirlemont, of the middle of the 12th century, of which there is 

 a good representation in the 18 Arch. J., 215. The bowl is 

 circular, but round it there is an arcade of eight arches, and 

 beneath each of them there is a representation, and in one of 

 them the baptism of the Saviour, who appears as a child half 

 immersed in water, the Baptist standing at the right side, and 

 the Holy Ghost as a dove is in the upper part of the space 

 under the arch ; and under this representation is, " Verbo 

 accedente ad elementum fidei sacramentum " — " The Word ap- 

 proaching to the water, the sacrament of faith." ' At Liege, 

 there is a cylindrical bronze font, with five representations upon 

 it. One is the baptism of the Saviour in the Jordan ; another, 

 the baptism of Cornelius by St. Peter ; and a third, the baptism 

 of the Philosopher Craton at Ephesus by St. John. On an 



* 1 Cox's Derbyshire Churches, 60. f Murray Handb., 260. J Ibid , 430. 



