15 
being still supported by the English, until 1309, when he 
was slain by Aodh Breifneach, the representative and head 
of his rivals of the Clan Murtough, who the very next year 
was, in his turn, treacherously murdered, and the line of Aodh 
returned to power in the person of his son Feidlimidh. 
All this, however, was the history of the century previous 
to the times of Mealseachlain O’Kelly and his wife Finola, 
and there does not appear any sufficient reason why this par- 
ticular series of events should have been represented in the 
fresco, except that Finola appears to have been the grand- 
daughter of Aodh, son of Eoghan O’Conor, whose history 
has just been given. And this seems to suggest another 
reason against the supposition that the execution of Mac Mur- 
rogh’s son and hostage is the event portrayed in the fresco; 
for Aodh, son of Eoghan, grandfather of Finola, had been 
raised to the throne, and maintained there, in opposition to 
the power of the Clan Murtogh, by the interest of the Eng- 
lish. It is not probable, therefore, that the barbarous murder 
of Mac Murrogh’s son, which marked such extreme hostility 
to the English on the part of the O’Conors, should have been 
the one event of Irish history selected for the decoration of 
her tomb. She too, and probably her husband, was more 
likely, like the rest of her family, to have been in the inte- 
rest of the English. 
It must be admitted, however, that we have no sufficient 
explanation of the three draped and crowned figures in the 
upper part of the picture. That on the left, it should be ob- 
served, is bearded, and evidently represents a personage older 
than the other two, who are of youthful appearance, especially 
the figure bearing the naked sword on the extreme right. It is 
possible, however, that these may represent the line of kings 
in actual possession; but why they are limited to three doesnot 
very clearly appear. It may be stated as a conjecture, which 
Dr. Todd stated that he threw out merely as a subject for fur- 
ther investigation, that there seem to have been three kings 
