Early in the Queen’s reign he found a generous patron in Archbishop Parker, under whose auspices he cut some of his most famous founts. One of the earliest of these was the fount of Saxon, which appeared first in Ælfric’s Saxon Homily, edited by the Archbishop under the title of _A Testimonie of Antiquitie_, and printed in 1567. It was used again in Lambard’s _Archaionomia_ in the following year, in the _Saxon Gospels_, printed in 1571, and subsequently in the Archbishop’s famous edition of Asser Menevensis’ _Ælfredi Res Gestæ_ in 1574.[166] This last-named work, which may be regarded as one of the first historical monuments of English letter-founding, contained a preface by Parker, in which {96} Day’s performance in cutting the punches is thus particularly alluded to:—“Jam vero cum Dayus typographus primus (et omnium certè quod sciam solus) has formas æri inciderit; facilè quæ Saxonicis literis perscripta sunt, iisdem typis divulgabuntur.”[167] The Saxon fount, as will be seen by the facsimile, is an English in body, very clear and bold. Of the capitals, eight only, including two diphthongs, are distinctively Saxon, the remaining eighteen letters being ordinary Roman; while in the lower-case there are twelve Saxon letters as against fifteen of the Roman. The accuracy and regularity with which this fount was cut and cast is highly creditable to Day’s excellence as a founder.[168] He subsequently cut a smaller size of Saxon on Pica body. The typography of the _Ælfredi_ is superior to that of almost any other work of the period. Dibdin considered it one of the rarest and most important volumes which issued from Day’s press. The Archbishop’s preface is printed in a bold, flowing Double Pica Italic, and the Latin preface of St. Gregory at the end in a Roman of the same body, worthy of Plantin himself. It is at least a curious circumstance, pointing to a community of founts among printers even at that day, that in Binneman’s[169] edition of Walsingham’s _Historia_, bound up with Day’s _Asser_ and the _Ypodigma Neustriæ_, this same large Roman and Italic is made use of. Respecting an Italic fount cut by Day in 1572, several interesting particulars are preserved, which tend to throw further light on our printer’s operations as a punch-cutter and letter-founder. [Illustration: 20. Day’s Saxon Fount. (From the _Ælfredi Res Gestæ_, 1574.)] [Illustration: 21. Day’s Double Pica Roman. (From the _Ælfredi Res Gestæ_, 1574.)] [Illustration: 22. Day’s Double Pica Italic. (From the _Ælfredi Res Gestæ_, 1574.) (The extract is Parker’s reference to Day as a letter-founder.)]