ompense
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[659] 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.,[660] 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 nation for personal ambition of her own.

If it be lawful to interpret symptoms in themselves trifling by the light
of later events, it would seem as if her attitude now underwent a material
change. Her son Reginald had already quarrelled with the king upon the
divorce. He was in suspicious connection with the pope, and having been
required to return home upon his allegiance, had refused obedience. His
mother, and his mother's attached friend, the Marchioness of Exeter, we now
find among those to whom the Nun of Kent communicated her prophecies and
her plan