Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/479

1541.] it may, 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. To condemn is easy, instinctive, and possibly 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. 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