Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/280

 162 LEADEN FONT IN BROOKLAND CHURCH, KENT. November. — A figure wielding a crooked staff; his occu- pation seems to be indicated b}'- a hog, whose head is seen near the ground. This figure wears a hood, and apparently an upper coat. It is probable that this may represent driving out swine to pannage in the woods, and the man wielding a hooked staff is occupied in beating down acorns, or " mast." '* Legend, NOVEMBRE. Zodiacal sign, a centaur with bow and arrow. Legend, SAGITARIVS. December — A figure with an uplifted axe ; an animal, probably intended for a hog, is represented in the lower part of the compartment. Legend, DESE. BR. Zodiacal sign, a very nondescript figure, with a beast's head and horns, a bird's body, wings, two legs, and a curled tail. Legend, CAPRIC The twelve compartments not being sufficient for the re- quired circumference of the font, eight of those described are repeated ; the entire number forming the arcade being twenty. Above them is a line of hatched, and two lines of cable mouldings, and the font finishes with a plain lip, about an inch above the upper cable moulding. In two places, above the month of December, and between the months of June and July, these mouldings are interrupted by a square space, on which are small figures. These figures are five in number, and seem intended to represent the Resurrection of our Saviour. They are so much obscured by injuries and paint, that this may seem a questionable conjecture ; but a very similar arrangement of the same subject often occurs in medicGval works, and one of the lower figures is represented as resting his head on his hand, as in sleep. It will be ob- served, that the names of the signs of the Zodiac are in Latin, whilst those of the months are in French, or Anglo-Norman. May it possibly be inferred from this circumstance that this font was fabricated in France 1^ ■' Thus November is eliaracterised in Normandy, and .at Rouen, in the Museum.) Rcfrnault's " Hova; Sarum," 1524, — It is remarkable that examples in Eng- " JVliclri pasco sues." land are almost exclusively of the Norman •'' The oliservation here suggested by period. The following list of leaden fonts Mr. Nesbitt is not undeserving of atten- is probably far from complete, and notices tion, although no facts, corroborative of of other examples will be acceptable : — the sup])osition that tliese leaden fonts ; Llancaut and Tidenham, Gloucestershire were of foreign manufacture, have ))eeu (Archaeologia, xxix, pi. in.) ; Frampton adduced. Tiiey arc;, indccMl, rare at the on Severn (Jonrn. Archaeol. Ass., ii. present tiin(in the northern ])arts of U!4) ; Siston and Climbridge, (the last France (examples occur at Bourg Achard, dated 1 640), in the same couuty ; Walton-