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| THE PORTLESTER TOMB, DUBLIN. -The crumbling ruins of the venerable St. Audeon's (St. Owen's) Church-the oldest, it is said, of all churches in Dublin-stand on the south side of the Liffey. Parallel to them is situated the Mortuary Chapel of Rowland Fitz-Eustace, Lord Portlester, which is beautiful even in decay. Fitz-Eustance was an off-shoot of the Fitzgeralds. Four branches of his family were ennobled, but all have become extinct, although an humble farmer in Kildar claims direct descent from one of them. Tradition says that the Baron Portlester, who founded this chapel, fought in France under John, Duke of Bedford, brother of King Henry V., the victor of Agincourt. He married the Lady Margaret de Jenico, connected with the ancient House of Artois, and was Lord Chancelor and Treasurer of Ireland in 1452. The sarcophagus, shown in the sketch, is surmounted by two figures in alto-relievo-the effigies of Earon Portlester and his French consort. The Baron is clad in a full suit of armor and the lady in the ancient English garb of the fifteenth century. Both are well preserved, although the inscription on the marble curb of the sarcophagus is rather illegible. The daughter of this couple, Lady Allison, became the wife of Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, and died of grief because of her husband's imprisonment in London Tower. The other tomb shown int he picture is supposed to be that of a bishop of the church. |
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