and preferably at the sides as well. For an average-sized altar the bottom fringe may be 3 in. deep, and that at the side 1 in. There may be strips of other material and colour on the frontal, but they are not necessary, and often the frontal is better without them.
The Frontlet (often mistakenly called the super-frontal) is a practical necessity for hiding the suspension of the frontal. For convenience it may always be red in colour, but any colour is admissible.[1] It is often made too deep. For an ordinary altar a depth of 7½ in., including fringe, or even less, is sufficient. The fringe should be about 1½ in., and laid on the frontlet, not hanging below it. The frontlet should never extend over the top of the altar: it should be tacked to one of the under linen cloths, like an apparel; but it is more convenient that the linen used for this purpose should be stout and of a dark-blue colour: such linen can be got at Morris’s, or from Harris (Derwent Mills, Cockermouth), or that used for butchers’ blouses will suffice. If the altar stand clear (as it should), the linen cloth can fall a couple of inches over the back, and leaden weights or an iron rod will keep the whole in position. If anything rest on the back of the altar, which is an objectionable foreign practice, then the method of fixing the cloth with drawing-pins (plugging a stone altar with wood for this purpose) seems to be unavoidable.
Altar Apparels add much to the beauty of the altar. They can be of any colour that suits the frontal and frontlet, and require, of course, taste in the selection of their material. They may hang 1 foot to 15 in. from the ground, and may be fixed with hook and eye to the top of the frontal: for an average altar 10 to 12 in. is wide enough. They should be fringed
- ↑ E.g. in the Exhumation of St. Hubert at the National Gallery there is a beautiful green frontal with purple apparels and frontlet.
