May I ask why you compare the <font> element to using inline style rather than giving the <p> a class and styling it in a separate stylesheet? Doing it this way also allows users to override your style with extensions like Stylus.
(Again, not trying to criticize, just trying to understand.)
<p><font face="font">Your text here</font></p>
Looks way better than:
<p style="font-family: 'font', sans-serif;"></p>
to me.