FONT INSCRIPTIONS.
(Vol. vii., p. 408.)
I have in my note-book the following entries:—
Kiddington, Oxon.:
"This sacred Font Saint Edward first receaved,
From womb to grace, from grace to glory went
His virtuous life. To this fayre isle beqveth'd.
Prase ... and to vs bvt lent.
Let this remaine the trophies of his fame;
A King baptized from hence a Saint became.
"This Fonte came from the King's Chapell in Islip."
Newark, round the base in black letter:
"Suis . Natis . sunt . Deo . hoc . Fonte . Renati . erunt."
On a pillar adjoining the font is a brass tablet with this inscription:
"This Font was demolished by the Rebels, May 9, 1646, and rebuilt by the charity of Nicholas Ridley in 1660."
Kirton, Lincoln:
"Orate pro aia Alauni Burton qui fontem istum fieri fec. a.d. mccccv."
Clee, Lincoln:
"The Font is formed of two cylindrical parts, one placed upon the other, over which, in the shaft of the circular column, is inlaid a small piece of marble, with a Latin inscription in Saxon characters, referring to the time of King Richard, and stating it was dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St. Mary, by Hugh Bishop of Lincoln, a.d. 1192."
The above are extracts from books, not copied by me from the fonts.
F. B. Relton.
At Threckingham, Lincolnshire, round the base of the font—
"Ave Maria gratis . p . d . t."
At Little Billing, Northamptonshire,—
"Wilberthus artifex atq; cementarius hunc fabricavit, quisquis suum venit mergere corpus procul dubio capit."
J. P., Jun.
To the list of these should be added the early English font at Keysoe, Beds., noticed in the Ecclesiologist, vol. i. p. 124., and figured in Van Voorst's Baptismal Fonts. It bears the legend in Norman French:
+ "Trestui: ke par hiei passerui
Pur le alme Warel prieui:
Ke Deu par sa grace
Verrey merci li face. Am."
Or, in modern French:
"Restez: qui par ici passerez
Pour l'âme de Warel priez:
Que Dieu par sa grace
Vraie merci lui fasse. Amen."
Cheverells.