Murreuy—An Ancient IS. History of Holy Cross Abbey. 413 
says Miss Strickland, ‘“‘among the many illustrious females that have 
worn the matrimonial crown of England, by the title of ‘the Good 
Queen,’ a title which, elegant in its simplicity, briefly implies that she 
possessed not only the great and shining qualities calculated to add 
lustre to a throne, but that she employed them in promoting the hap- 
piness of all classes of her subjects, affording at the same time a bright 
example of the lovely and endearing attributes which should adorn the 
female character.” All this was true in a great degree of her namesake 
too, the wife of King Stephen. But it would require more than the 
usual charity to predicate it of Queen Eleanor. Though historians 
commonly say that Henry I. had only two children, William, who 
was drowned on his way from Normandy to England, and Matilda, 
who married the Emperor of Germany ; both Gervase of Canterbury 
and Robert of Gloucester make mention of a third, named Richard. 
But nothing further seems to be known about him. Unhappily, the 
dates cannot be well brought to accord with the previous part of our 
history, for Donnell O’Brien built the first part of the Abbey in 1168, 
and good Queen Maud was then just fifty years in her grave. I shall 
not discuss this matter further, but rather follow the example of 
Hartry, and ‘‘ leave it to the judgment of my betters.” 
The tomb of ‘‘the Good Woman’s Son”’ has long been a crux to Irish 
Antiquarians. Its beauty has added a special zest to the inquiry, for 
assuredly in Ireland there is no other work in stone, of what is called 
the pointed style, equal to it in graceful outline and accuracy of detail. 
The difficulty arises chiefly from the shields displayed along the soffit. 
These are five in number. The first is the cross styled of St. George, 
the arms of the Abbey, no doubt. The second, which is much larger 
than the others, contains the arms of England, as borne by the Sove- 
reigns in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 7. e. France modern, and 
England quarterly. The third, the arms of Butler, a chief indented ; 
the fourth, the arms of Desmond and Kildare, a cross saltire ; the fifth 
is blank. Betham would have it to be the tomb of Joan, daughter and 
heiress of Gerald, fifth Earl of Kildare, and wife of James, fourth Earl 
of Ormonde, who died in 1430. Petrie at one time thought it was 
the tomb of Eleanor, daughter of James, third Earl of Ormonde, the 
wife of Gerald the poet, fourth Earl of Desmond, who died in 1480. 
She is styled by The Four Masters ‘‘a bounteous, truly hospitable 
woman.” But he repented of this opinion afterwards, and said he had 
formed it too hastily. More recent writers, among them the Rey. 
James Graves, whose opinion on such matters deserves the highest 
respect, have cut the knot, and will not allow it to be a tomb at 
all, but assert and prove by examples found in many other Abbeys 
that it is the sedilia or seats for the clergy when officiating at High 
Mass. The shicld bearing the royal arms of larger size, for honourable 
distinction, would betoken an Abbey founded or endowed by royalty ; 
the Butler and Desmond ayms would record the families of benefactors 
of special merit. As for the blank shield, I will only remark that, at 
Fountains Abbey, on the keystone of one of the original lancet win- 
