1M 



FOMENTATIONS. 



FONT. 



1M 



FOMENTATIONS are liquid applications, generally of a warm 

 temperature, placed in contact with a limited portion of the body, to 

 mitigate or remove dinoam of the part, or of the neighbouring organs. 

 They differ from partial or local baths, chiefly in the greater length of 

 time which they are kept applied. Flannel cloths, or other substances, 

 each an the spongio-piline. tit to retain heat and moisture, are com- 

 . employed. To enable then substances to retain the heat utill 

 longer, they are often covered externally with oiled silk. It in pro|x-r 

 to renew the application before the cloths begin to give a feeling (if 

 coldnees. The liquid* used are of various kinds, sometimes pure 

 water; at other times medicated ; they are termed emollient when 

 charged with mucilaginous principles, such as mallows, and sedative 

 >r anodyne when they contain a narcotic principle, such as poppy 

 heuU. 



FONT, the vessel placed in a church to contain the water mployad 

 in baptism. The form of the font is evidently derived from that of 

 the Urger Roman stone vaaes, but few if any of the font* now found 

 in churches are of a date earlier than what in architecture is known 

 as the Romanesque period. In our own country there are a great 

 many fonts, curious both for their antiquity and their architectural 

 design. One or two are, on questionable grounds, attributed to 

 the Saxon period ; but those respecting which there is no difference 

 > f ^pinion range from the Norman period to the decline of Gothic 

 architecture. 



What may be called the normal form of a font is that of a cup or 

 Ixml hollowed out for water, and supported on a thick solid stem. 

 The exterior of the bowl is in the older examples round, or square, but 

 in the later most commonly octagonal ; and the sides and stem are 

 often highly enriched with sculptured figures, and occasionally traces 

 of colour and gilding still remain, as at Gorleston and Blvthborough, 

 Suffolk, and Qresham, Norfolk. In many instances, a flight of steps 

 forms a base for the stem ; and in fonts of the Perpendicular period, 

 even the steps are carved with panels, having quatrefoils and rosettes 

 tunk within them. From about the middle of the 13th century, when 

 by a rescript of the Archbishop of Canterbury fonts were required to 

 be covered and locked, the lids of fonts began to acquire an ornamental 

 character equally with the fonts themselves. At first they were merely 

 plain covers with padlocks, but eventually (though probably not before 

 the middle of the 15th century) they assumed a pyramidal or spire- 

 like form, richly carved with a profusion of shafts, buttresses, and 

 tracery, piled up to the apex. Covers of this kind still remain at 

 Castleacre and North Walsingham churches, Norfolk ; Ewelme, Oxford- 

 shire ; Thaxted, Essex, and elsewhere. 



The more ancient fonts are generally very large; the basin being 

 sufficiently capacious to permit of the baptism of the infant by immer- 

 sion. As a rule they are made of stone, and almost always from a 

 single block ; but some leaden fonts of Norman, as well as of later date, 

 ore still extant both in this country and in France : in the latter 

 country a few remain of copper or bronze. Fonts were mostly placed 

 in the western end of the nave, near the entrance of the church ; but 

 sometimes in a portion of the church separated from the body of the 

 building by walls or a screen, or entirely detached from it. Of these 

 baptisteries as they were called [BAITISTEBY], examples occur at 

 Canterbury Cathedral ; Luton, Bedfordshire ; Cranbrook, Kent ; and 

 Menacuddle, St. Austcl, Cornwall ; but more perfect examples may 

 be found in some recent churches erected in conformity with strict 

 " ecclesiological " principles ; as All Saints, Margaret-street, London, 

 where the font (which boa a carved cover of the kind described above), 

 is enclosed in a rich baptistery, which is shut off from the nave by 

 low walls, though under the same roof; and at All Souls' church, 

 Halifax, where a baptistery is formed in the basement of the tower, 

 which stands at the north-west angle of the church. 



Fonts of Norman date are nearly always large and massive ; the 

 basin is usually round or square, but some occur which have been 

 rendered octagonal by chamfering off the angles of the square blocks, as 

 at Drayton church, Norfolk. They are supported on a very thick stem, 

 but in some of the largest there are also smaller shafts placed under the 

 angles of the basin, as at Lincoln cathedral ; Ifley church, Oxfordshire ; 

 South church, Hay ling Island, Hampshire, &c. Norman fonts are 

 frequently sculptured with rude bassi-relievi, of the Crucifixion or 1 Up- 

 turn of Christ, or some other typical subject, figures of the apostles, 

 saints, grotesque figures, scroll-work, *c. Porchester church, Hants, 

 has a very ancient circular font, resembling in character the puteal, or 

 circular stone-mouth of the well in the atrium of a Roman house : it 

 is decorated with intersecting arches on columns, with a frieze of 

 foliage and figures above. At Coleshill, Warwickshire, is a Norman 

 font, of which the basin is a mere cylinder, but elaborately sculptured 

 outoide with the Crucifixion (enclosed within a circle), the evangelists, 

 Ac., and supported on an enormously thick stem. A handsome circular 

 font richly covered with scroll-work occurs at Great Shefford church, 

 Berks ; at Monks Risborough, Buckinghamshire, the circular basin is 

 fluted. Most Norman fonts are of stone, but some occur of lead. One 

 of the most remarkable of these is in Dorchester church, Oxon. The 

 bowl is of cast lead, of 1 foot 104 inches internal diameter, 2 feet '2 

 inches external, and 1 foot deep. Around the outside are eleven 

 seated figures under semicircular arches, representing, probably, the 

 Apostles Judas being omitted. The pedestal is of stone and more 

 modem. A leaden font of very beautiful workmanship is in the chapel 



of LJancourt, on the Wye. Fonts of the Mine date in Normandy, are 

 almost exactly similar in style, but somewhat richer and more refined 

 in finish ; showing, not merely similarity of origin, but supporting the 

 probability of their being executed by the tame workmen, or work- 

 men trained in the same school. 



Fonts of the First Pointed, or Early English date, are like those of 

 the preceding period, circular and square, but they are likewise not 

 seldom octagonal. In general character they greatly resemble the 

 Norman, but they differ from them in being somewhat less massive, 

 and more finished in style ; they have sometimes arcaded- work, some- 

 times trefoils on the bowls, with slender shafts dividing the panels, and 

 almost always detached supporting shafting, as well as a thick central 

 stem. 



In the Second Pointed, or Decorated Style, the fonts are finer in 

 design than the earlier examples, but less refined in execution than 

 might be expected from the superiority of the buildings of this period. 

 The basins are now usually octagonal, but occasionally they are hexa- 

 gonal, as at Rolvenden, Kent, and Drayton Paraloe, Buckinghamshire. 

 Fonts of this period are characterised by the flowing tracery of the 

 panels, engaged shafts, highly enriched ornamentation, diapered panels, 

 and occasionally elegant sculpture. A good example of this style 

 occurs in the church of All Saint*, Norwich. 



In the Perpendicular, or Thud Pointed Style, the form is almost 

 invariably octagonal Occasionally figures of men or animals are intro- 

 duced as apparent supporters to the bowl, as at St. Martin's, Oxford, 

 where supporting figures are placed within recesses formed by but- 

 tresses at the angles of the stem ; and at St. John's, Norwich, where 

 lions are similarly placed. The ornamentation is now much more rich, 

 becoming more and more florid in the later examples, and at hist erring 

 greatly on the side of excess of decoration, as in the otherwise fine 

 font at Walsoken, Norfolk. On the panels of the basin foliated circles 

 or quatrefoils frequently inclose roses or heraldic shields. The stem, 

 where single, is often octagonal and panelled. Statuettes and bassi- 

 relievi, sometimes very beautifully executed, occur in the i 

 examples, both within niches on the panels of the basin, and around 

 the stem. A very beautiful example of a Perpendicular font of the 

 best period occurs at East Dereham Church, Norfolk, of which we 

 give an engraving. The lofty pyramidal font-covers spoken of above, 



Font In East Dereham Church, Norfolk, from an original driving made by 

 Mr. W. B. Clarke, architect, in 1891. 



are chiefly of this period the famous one at Ewelme, Oxford, whirh 

 is 10 feet 6 inches high, is a characteristic example. 



From the decline of Gothic architecture little attention was given to 

 fonts in this country ; and not only were no new ones of any artistic 

 pretension executed, but the old ones were neglected, and often 

 applied to the most unworthy uses. Since the revival of Oothic 



