FONDI

a town of South Italy, near a coast lagoon to which it gives name, province of Caserta. It is a bishop’s see, and contains a cathedral, Fondi stands in a plain, the ancient Cecubus Ager, which produced the famous Cecuban wine. Pop. 11,378. FONT. In the early days of tho Christian Church the ve el needed for Ith (tes. Ce, he laser | in Font, Offley, Hertfordshire Decorated Gothic Style the rite of baptism took the form of a tank, admitting the complete immersion of adults. It was usually placed in a special building called a baptistery, though bathrooms in large private houses were occasionally used. By the eighth century the baptism of infants was general, and, the rite having been administered in churches as early as 578, the need for economy of space reduced the size of the ve el and produced the font. ‘The earlicr form was that of an unmounted and undecorated tub, such as occurs at Tangmere, Su ex, and in still ruder shape at Old Radnor, Rad nor shire. Yor greater convenience the font was presently mounted on legs, at first often five in number, but soon generally combined into a central shaft or pillar. The height wae gradually in 501 FONTAINE creased, partly by elongation of the shaft, and partly by the whole being mounted on a dais or platform, an elevation which gave the.ve el a more imposing and ceremonial appearance. The basin, though sometimes of* local stone, was occasionally of marble or alabaster, polished. Its shape was round, sauare, or octagonal, the last named form becoming very general in the fifteenth century; a beautiful specimen is seen at Snape, Suffolk. Decoration, in the form of carving, had become usual in Norman times, resuiting in such fine examples as those at Castle Frome and Hard is ley, both in Here ford shire, and both apparently by the same designer. Such decoration, when including figures, was usually gacred in, character, but the font at Lostwithiel, one of many interesting Cornish specimens, exhibits the Cro , the Virgin, and a mitred abbot in proximity to a huntsman and hound. The use of fonts was forbidden under the Commonwealth, and many were certainly destroyed at this period, but vandalism of a later date is responsible for the lo of others. Among exceptional fonts must be mentioned the twenty-nine English examples in lead, of which no fewer than eight occur in Gloucestershire. Pewter and bronze were also used, while fonts of brick and wood are not unknown, and Guernsey po e es a small silver font. lont-covers, often large and highly decorative, originated in the custom of leaving consecrated water in the font, and in the fear of this being taken for employment in unhallowed magic rites.