114 Eijc 3Cut=2Tm of i&ogamonli'g (Srabc. 



tion of her feudal rights is still extant. We may not 

 perhaps regard it as presenting a portrait of the Countess 

 Ela, like the effigy of her husband in Salisbury cathe- 

 dral, but it affords, no doubt, a faithful resemblance of 

 her noble and dignified bearing, and of her graceful, 

 though simple costume. Her right hand is on her 

 breast, her left supports a hawk, the usual symbol of 

 nobility, her head is covered with a singularly small cap, 

 possibly, the precursor of the more recent coronet ; her 

 long hair flows negligently upon her neck, and on either 

 side the royal lions of Salisbury appear to gaze on her, 

 like the lions of Spenser's " Fairy Queen," on the deso- 

 late lady Una.* 



Seven years had now elapsed from the time of the 

 earl's death, during which the countess sedulously ful- 

 filled the duties of her high condition. Her eldest son, 

 who was then a minor, married the rich heiress of two 

 baronies, the daughter of Richard de Caniville, and the 

 Lady Eustachia.f Richard, Stephen, and Nicholas 

 were gone forth into the world, and her daughters 

 Isabella, Petronilla, Ela, and Sola being either married 

 or of age, the countess thought herself at liberty to 

 relinquish the arduous duties in which she had hitherto 

 been engaged, and to devote herself to a secluded life. 

 Yielding, therefore, to the natural desire of withdrawing 

 from the busy world, she proceeded to undertake a task 



Annals of Lacock, p. 180. 



t Madox's History of the Exchequer, p. 218. 



