Default font in emacs

[Matthew Saltzman <mjs CLEMSON EDU>]

I want to change the default font in emacs, but I haven't succeeded yet.

If I pull down the Options menu and select Set font/fontset, select the
fontset I want, then select Save options, I get a custom-set-faces
stanza in ~/.emacs, but it's empty except for comments.

If I set emacs.font in ~/.Xdefaults (as the emacs manual suggests), that
has no effect.

ISTR that there is some other file for setting X defaults in
Fedora/GNOME, but I can't recall what it is.

TIA.
-- 
                Matthew Saltzman

Clemson University Math Sciences
mjs AT clemson DOT edu
http://www.math.clemson.edu/~mjs