1541.]
SOLWAY MOSS.
459
it may, May 27.on the day on which Sir John Neville suffered at York, and others among the conspirators at Tyburn, the grey head of the Countess of Salisbury fell upon the scaffold on the fatal green within the Tower.[1] To condemn is easy, instinctive, and possibly[2] right; to understand is also right, but is not easy. A settled age can imperfectly comprehend an age of revolution, or realize the indifference with which men risk their own blood and shed the blood of others when battling for a great cause. June.Another execution followed, which was as generally compassionated as Lady Salisbury's was regarded with indifference. The contrast of popular feeling may represent how vast has been the change, in the last three hundred years, in the comparative estimate of crime. The offence of the aged Countess, even though it could be proved to have been deliberate constructive treason, would appear still
- ↑ Lord Herbert, without mentioning his authority, says that, 'when commanded to lay her head on the block, she refused, saying, 'So should traitors do; I am none.' Turning her head every way, she told the executioner, if he would have it, he must get it as he could.' I am unable to see in this story the dignity admired by Lingard; and unless it rests on the evidence of eye-witnesses, I am not inclined to give it credit. Cardinal Pole says that her last words were, 'Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake.'—Epist. Reg. Pole, vol. iii. p. 76.
- ↑ I say 'possibly,' for if we do not know that Lady Salisbury had given fresh provocation, as little do we know that she had not; while this much indisputably had been proved against her, that while her son was engaged in a course of actions which the laws of all countries regard as the most criminal which a subject can commit, Lady Salisbury encouraged him in treason; and she encouraged, if she did not actively participate in, the conspiracy at home, which was designed to act in concert with an invasion.
