small shafts or round Mouldings, while the Perpendicular have slender buttresses; but these two peculiarities are often interchanged. The stems of Decorated Fonts are often quite plain, even where the bowl has the greatest enrichment, as at Wortham, Suffolk, and Shelf anger, Norfolk. This is rarely the case in Perpendicular Fonts, where paneling became almost universal; it may, however, be occasionally found, as at Bourn, Lincolnshire. A common peculiarity in the stems of Decorated Fonts, though seldom seen in the later examples, is the octagonal form beveled or chamfered from a square in the lower part. In early Fonts the central support is often destitute of capital and base, while the shafts have both. A few Early English and Decorated Fonts are supported upon arches, either with or without a central stem. Such occur at Barnack, West Depping, Lincolnshire, and Foxton, Cambridgeshire. The effect is admirable, the arches not being merely paneled ornaments, but pierced through; and it is surprising that this construction is of such rare occurrence, when we consider that the Gothic principle requires every shaft to be surmounted by an arch rather than a horizontal impost. The angular props of Fonts, however, may be more properly considered as mere legs or supports, as they are often without any Mouldings in early examples, though in those of Early English date they are usually furnished with bold capitals and bases, as at Stand- ground, near Peterborough and Bainton, Northamptonshire; both beautiful though simple Fonts. • North Bradley. Thurlby.-Tickenham. 16
