The DropCap function takes a single character or short (enclosed) text vector and places it at the left margin, sized to cover a specified number of lines of normal text. The default height is 2 lines, and the default font is the current text font.

nlDropCap 'T'            © Simple initial capital
nlDropCap 'N' 5          © Span 5 lines of text
nlDropCap 'H' 3 'Heb'    © 3 line span, Helvetica bold

Note that you can specify a short text vector, but this must be enclosed unless you also set the height or the font:

nlDropCap ›'THIS'
nlFlow 'is an interesting page of text ...'

Newleaf will wrap as many paragraphs as necessary around the rectangle defined by the DropCap.