examined, besides those contained in the present work; yet how small a part of a boundless field has been laid open to view, will be felt by every one who has been engaged in the same undertaking. For these reasons we shall not attempt to trace the history and origin of Fonts, but shall refer our readers to the works of Gough, Robinson, Bingham, Wheatley, Fosbrooke, and the writers in the Archæologia, in which two papers may be particularly mentioned, one by Mr. Carte, in vol. x. p. 209; and one by the Rev. Samuel Denne, vol. xi. p. 108. The articles on the same subject by J. Adey Repton, Esq., vol. xvi. p. 335 and Mr. Gough, vol. x. p. 183, should also be consulted. The excellent series of Fonts by Mr. Simpson, with its learned preface, and a chapter on the subject in Mr. Poole's "Appropriate Character of Church Architecture," are familiar to most; beside which, a vast number of engravings of ancient Fonts, and many occasional observations upon them, may be found dispersed through various publications by any one who will take the trouble to scarch for them. In We shall devote the following remarks principally to the architectural view of the subject; and even this we shall be compelled to go through in a somewhat cursory and imperfect manner, though perhaps more in detail than has yet been attempted. truth, from the great antiquity, the obscure and symbolical character of the earlier examples, the progressive changes in shape and detail, and, above all, from the boundless variety of design, for which the Baptismal Fonts of this country are remarkable Those referred to at the foot of the page are in our own Serics,
