he conspiracy was broken, and that
no immediate danger was now to be feared, they proceeded leisurely to
follow the clue of the Nun's confession, and to extend their inquiries.
The Countess of Salisbury was mentioned as one of the persons with whom
the woman had been in correspondence. This lady was the daughter of the
Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV. Her mother was a Neville, a
child of Richard the King-maker, the famous Earl of Warwick, and her
only brother had been murdered to secure the shaking throne of Henry
VII. Margaret Plantagenet, in recompense for the lost honours of the
house, was made Countess of Salisbury in her own right. The title
descended from her grandfather, who was Earl of Salisbury and Warwick;
but the prouder title had been dropped as suggestive of dangerous
associations. The Earldom of Warwick remained in abeyance, and the
castle and the estates attached to it were forfeited to the Crown. The
countess was married after her brother's death to a Sir Richard Pole, a
supporter and relation[211] of the king; and when left a widow she
received from Henry VIII. the respectful honour which was due to the
most nobly born of his subjects, the only remaining Plantagenet of
unblemished descent. In his kindness to her children the king had
attempted to obliterate the recollection of her brother's wrongs, and
she had been herself selected to preside over the household of the
Princess Mary. During the first twenty years of Henry's reign the
countess seems to have acknowledged his attentions with loyal regard,
and if she had not forgotten her birth and her childhood, she never
connected herself with the attempts which during that time were made to
revive the feuds of the houses. Richard de la Pole, nephew of Edward
IV.,[212] and called while he lived "the White Rose," had more than once
endeavoured to excite an insurrection in the eastern counties; but Lady
Salisbury was never suspected of holding intercourse with him; she
remained aloof from political disputes, and in lofty retirement she was
contented to forget her greatness for the sake of the Princess Mary, to
whom she and her family were deeply attached. Her relations with the
king had thus continued undisturbed until his second marriage. As the
representative of the House of York she was the object of the hopes and
affections of the remnants of their party, but she had betrayed no
disposition to abuse her influence, or to disturb the quiet of the
nat