THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 



99 



Castle, the eminent architect, to furnish plans, and the 

 foundation stone of Lord Kildare's new mansion was 

 laid in 1745, inscribed as follows : — 



Domum 



CUJUS HIC LAPIS FUNDAMEN 



IN AGRO MOLESWORTHIANA 



EXTRUI CURAVIT 



JACOBUS 



COMES KILDARIAE VICESIMUS 



ANNO DOMINI MDCCXXXXV 



HINC DISCAS, 



QUICUNQUE TEMPORUM INFORTUNIO 



IN RUINAS TAM MAGNIFICAE DOMUS 



INCIDERIS, 



QUANTUS ILLE FUIT, QUI EXTRUXIT 



QUAMQUE CADUCA SINT OMNIA 



CUM TALIA TALIUM VIRORUM 



MONUMENTA 



CASIBUS SUPERESSE NON VALEANT 



RICHARDO CASTELLO, ARCH. 1 



The site of his new house was supposed to lie far 

 from the fashionable quarter of Dublin, but to one 

 who suggested this to him, Kildare replied that the 

 fashion would follow in whatever direction he led. 

 Time amply justified his prophecy, as within a few 

 years the immediate neighbourhood began to be ex- 

 tensively built over. Lord Kildare married, in 1746, 

 Lady Emily Lennox, sister of the then Duke of 

 Richmond, a celebrated beauty, by whom he had seven- 



1 The house, of which this stone is the foundation, James, twentieth 

 Earl of Kildare, caused to be erected in the Molesworth field, in the 

 year of our Lord 1745. Hence learn, when in some unhappy time 

 you chance on the ruins of so magnificent a house, how great was 

 he who erected it, and how perishable are all things, when such 

 monuments of such men cannot survive adversity. Richard Castle, 

 architect. 



