«Lo these the walls of Chinon, this the abode
Of Charles our monarch. Here in revelry
He of his armies vanquish'd, his fair towns
Subdued, hears careless and prolongs the dance.
And little marvel I that to the cares

Of empire still he turns the unwilling ear,
For loss on loss, defeat upon defeat,

His strong holds taken, and his bravest Chiefs
Or dead or captured, and the hopes of youth
All blasted, have subdued the royal mind,
Undisciplined in Fortitude's stern school.
So may thy voice arouse his sleeping virtues!»

So as he entered cried the haughty Fair,
Thou art well come to witness the disgrace,
The weak, unmanly, base despondency

Of this thy Sovereign Liege. He will retreat

To distant Dauphiny, 52 and fly the war!
Go then, unworthy of thy rank! retreat
To distant Dauphiny, and fly the war,
Recreant from battle; I will not partake

A fugitive's fate; when thou hast lost thy crown
Thou hast lost Agnes.-Dost not blush, Dunois!
To bleed in combat for a Prince like this,

Fit only, like the Merovingian race

On a May morning deck'd with flowers, 33 to mount
Ilis gay-bedizen'd car, and ride abroad
And make the multitude a holiday.

Go, Charles-and hide thee in a woman's garb,
And these long locks will not disgrace thee then!» 54

Nay, Agnes!» Charles replied, «reproach me not, I have enough of sorrow. Look around, See this fair country ravaged by the foe, My strong holds taken, and my bravest Chiefs Fall'n in the field, or captives far away. Dead is the Douglas; cold thy gallant heart, Illustrious Buchan! ye from Scotland's hills, Not mindless of your old ally distress'd, Rush'd to his succour : in his cause ye fought, For him ye perish'd. Rash, impetuous Narbonne! Thy mangled corse waves to the winds of Heaven, 55 Cold, Graville, is thy sinewy arm in death; Fall'a is Ventadaur; silent in the grave Rambouillet sleeps: Bretagne's unfaithful chief Leagues with my foes, and Richemont, 56 or in arms Defies my weak control, or from my side, A friend more dreaded than the enemy, Drives my bests servants with the assassin sword. Soon must the towers of Orleans fall!--But now

Stood Charles.

Astonish'd by his speech

«At one of meaner estimation

I should have smiled, Dunois. Thy well-known worth, The loyalty of all thy noble house,

Compel me even to this, a most strange tale,

To lend a serious ear. A woman sent
From Heaven, the saviour of this wasted realm,
One whom it were not possible to hear,
And disbelieve! Dunois, ill now beseems
Aught wild and hazardous; the throne of France
Totters upon destruction. Is my person
Known to this woman?»

« If then she knows me not, abide thou here,
And hither, by a speedy messenger,
Summon the Maiden. On the throne meantime,
I the while mingling with the Menial throng,
Some courtier shall be seated. If the Maid
Be by the spirit of God indeed inspired,
That holy spirit will gift her with the power
To pierce deception. But if strange of mind
Enthusiast fancy fire her wilder'd brain,
She to obscurity again, thus proved,
May guiltlessly retire. Our English foes
Might well exult to see the sons of France
Led by a frenzied female.» 57 So he said;
And, with a faith half-faltering at the proof,
Dunois dispatched a messenger, to seek
Beside the banks of Vienne, the Mission'd Maid.

The courtiers heard. The astonish'd King exclaimed, <<This is indeed the agency of Heaven! Hard, Maiden, were I of belief,» he cried,

<«< Did I not now, with full and confirm'd faith,
Thee the redeemer of this ravaged realm

Believe. Not doubting therefore the strange will
Of all-wise Providence, delay I now
Instant to marsha! the brave sons of France
Beneath thy banners; but to satisfy

Those who at distance from this most clear proof
May hear and disbelieve, or yield at best
A cold assent, these fully to confirm
And more to manifest thy holy power,
Forthwith with all due speed I shall convene
The Doctors of Theology, 60 wise men
And skilful in the mysteries of Heaven.
By these thy mission studied and approved,
As needs it must, their sanction to all minds
Shall bring conviction, and the firm belief
Lead on thy favour'd troops to mightiest deeds,
Surpassing human credibility.>>

The Doctors met, from cloister gloom recluse,
Or from the haunts luxurious of abode
Episcopal, they met, and sought the place
Of judgment, in the ancient church assign'd.
The floor with many a monumental stone
Was spread, and brass-ensculptured effigy
Of holy abbots honour'd in their day,

Now to the grave gone down. The branching arms
Of many a ponderous pillar met aloft,

Wreath'd on the roof emboss'd. Through storied panes
Of high arch'd windows came the tinctured light.
Pure water in a font beneath reflects
The many-colour'd rays; around that font
The fathers stand, and there with rites ordain'd
And signs symbolic strew the hallowing salt,
Wherewith the limpid water, thus imbued,
So taught the church, became a spell approv'd
Against the fiends of Satan's fallen crew:
A licens'd spell of mightier potency
Than e'er the hell-hags taught in Thessaly;
Or they who sitting on the rifled grave,
By the blue tomb-fire's lurid light dim seen,

Mark'd with the mystic tonsure and enrobed

In sacred vests, a venerable train,

They stand. The delegated Maid obeys

Their summons. As she came, a loveliest blush
O'er her fair cheek suffus'd, such as became
One mindful still of maiden modesty,

Though of her own worth conscious. Through the aisle
The cold wind moaning, as it pass'd along
Waved her dark flowing locks. Before the train
In reverent silence waiting their sage will,
With half-averted eye she stood composed.
So have I seen the simple snow-drop rise
Amid the russet leaves that hide the earth
In early spring, so seen it gently bend
In modest loveliness alone amid
The waste of winter.

By the Maiden's side
The Son of Orleans stood, prepared to vouch
That when on Charles the Maiden's eye had fix'd,
As led by power miraculous, no fraud,
Nor juggling artifice of secret sign
Dissembled inspiration. As he stood
Steadily viewing the mysterious rites,
Thus to the attentive Maid the Arch-Priest spake
Severe.

« Woman, if any
fiend of hell
Lurk in thy bosom, so to prompt the vaunt
Of inspiration, and to mock the power
Of God and holy Church, thus by the virtue
Of water hallowed in the name of God
That damned spirit adjure I to depart
From his possessed prey.»>

Slowly he spake,
And sprinkled water on the virgin's face:
Indignant at the unworthy charge, the Maid
Felt her cheek flush; but soon the transient glow
Fading, she answer'd meek.

« Most holy Sires,
Ye reverend Fathers of the Christian church,
Most catholic! I stand before you here
A poor
weak woman; of the grace vouchsafed,
How far unworthy, conscious: yet though mean,
Innocent of fraud, and chosen by high Heaven
The minister of aid. Strange voices heard,
The dark and shadowing visions of the night,
And feelings which I may not dare to doubt,
These portents make me conscious of the God
Within me; he who gifted my purged eye
To know the Monarch 'mid the menial throng,
Unseen before. Thus much it boots to say.
The life of simple virgin ill deserves
To call your minds from studies wise and deep,
Not to be fathom'd by the weaker sense
Of man profane.>>

«<Thou speakest,» said the Priest, « Of dark and shadowing visions of the night. Canst thou remember, Maid, what vision first Seem'd more than Fancy's shaping. From such tale, Minutely told with accurate circumstance, Best judgment might be formed.>>

The Maid replied,

«Amid the mountain valleys I had driven My father's flock. The eve was drawing on,

When by a sudden storm surprised, I sought
A chapel's neighbouring shelter; ruined now, 61
But I remember when its vesper bell
Was heard among the hills, a pleasant sound,
That made me pause upon my homeward road,
Awakening in me comfortable thoughts
Of holiness. The unsparing soldiery

Had sack'd the hamlet near, and none was left
Duly at sacred seasons to attend

Saint Agnes' chapel. In the desolate pile

I drove my flock, with no irreverent thoughts,
Nor mindless that the place on which I trod
Was holy ground. It was a fearful night!
Devoutly to the virgin Saint I pray'd,

Then heap'd the wither'd leaves which autumn winds
Hlad drifted in, and laid me down upon them,
And sure I think I slept. But so it was
That, in the dead of night, Saint Agnes stood 62
Before mine eyes, such and so beautiful
As when, amid the house of wickedness,

The Power whom with such fervent love she served
Veil'd her with glory. And she seem'd to point
To the moss-grown altar, and the crucifix
Half hid by weeds and grass ;..,. and then I thought
I could have wither'd armies with a look,
For from the present Saint such divine power
I felt infused..... "T was but a dream perhaps.
And yet methought that when a louder peal
Burst o'er the roof, and all was left again
Utterly dark, the bodily sense was clear
And accurate in every circumstance

Of time and place.»>

Attentive to her words

Thus the Priest answer'd.

« Brethren, ye have heard
The woman's tale. Beseems us now to ask
Whether of holy Church a duteous child
Before our court appears, so not unlike
Heaven might vouchsafe its gracious miracle;
Or silly heretic, whose erring thoughts,

Monstrous and vain, perchance might stray beyond
All reason, and conceit strange dreams and signs
Impossible. Say, woman, from thy youth
Hast thou, as rightly mother Church demands,
Confess'd to holy Priest each secret sin,

That, by the Grace vouchsafed to him from Heaven,
He might absolve thee?»

<< Father, she replied, The forms of worship in mine earlier years Wak'd my young mind to artificial awe, And made me fear my GoD. Warm with the glow Of health and exercise, whene'er I pass'd The threshold of the house of prayer, I felt A cold damp chill me; I beheld the flame That with a pale and feeble glimmering Dimm'd the noon-light; I heard the solemn mass, And with strange feelings and mysterious dread Telling my beads, gave to the mystic prayers Devoutest meaning. Often when I saw The pictur'd flames writhe round a penanced soul, Have I retired, and knelt before the cross, And wept for grace, and trembled, and believed A God of Terrors. But in riper years, When as my soul grew strong in solitude, I saw the eternal energy pervade

The boundless range of nature, with the sun

Pour life and radiance from his flamy path,
And on the lowliest flowret of the field
The kindly dew-drops shed. And then I felt
That HE who form'd this goodly frame of things
Must needs be good, and with a FATHER'S name
I call'd on HIM, and from my burthen'd heart
Pour'd out the yearnings of unmingled love.
Methinks it is not strange then, that I fled
The house of prayer, and made the lonely grove
My temple, at the foot of some old oak
Watching the little tribes that had their world
Within its mossy bark; or laid me down
Beside the rivulet whose murmuring

Was silence to my soul, 63 and mark'd the swarm
Whose light-edged shadows on the bedded sand
Mirror'd their mazy sports; the insect hum,
The flow of waters, and the song of birds
Making a holy music to mine ear:

Oh! was it strange, if for such scenes as these,
Such deep devoutness, such intense delight
Of quiet adoration, I forsook

The house of worship? strange that when I felt
How Goo had made my Spirit quick to feel
And love whate'er was beautiful and good,
And from aught evil and deform'd to shrink
Even as with instinct; father! was it strange
That in my heart I had no thought of sin
And did not need forgiveness?»>

As she spake
The Doctors stood astonish'd, and some while
They listen'd still in wonder. But at length
A Priest replied,

« Woman, thou seemst to scorn
The ordinances of our holy Church;
And, if I rightly understand thy words,
Thou sayst that Solitude and Nature taught
Thy feelings of religion, and that now
Masses and absolution and the use
Of mystic wafer, are to thee unknown.
How then could Nature teach thee true religion,
Deprived of these? Nature can teach to sin,
But 't is the Priest alone can teach remorse,
Can bid St Peter ope the gates of Heaven,
And from the penal fires of purgatory
Absolve the soul. Could Nature teach thee this?
Or tell thee that St Peter holds the keys,
And that his successor's unbounded power
Extends o'er either world? Although thy life
Of sin were free, if of this holy truth
Ignorant, thy soul in liquid flames must rue

Its error.»>

Thus he spake; the applauding look Went round. Nor dubious to reply the Maid Was silent.

« Fathers of the holy Church, If on these points abstruse a simple maid Like me should err, impute not you the crime To self-will'd reason, vaunting its own strength Above the eternal wisdom. True it is That for long time I have not heard the sound Of mass high-chaunted, nor with trembling lips Fartook the mystic wafer: yet the bird Who to the matin ray prelusive pour'd His joyous song, methought did warble forth Sweeter thanksgiving to Religion's ear

In his wild melody of happiness,

Than ever rung along the high-arch'd roofs
Of man:... yet never from the bending vine
Pluck'd I its ripen'd clusters thanklessly,
Or of that God unmindful, who bestow'd
The bloodless banquet. Ye have told me, Sirs,
That Nature only teaches man to sin!

If it be sin to seek the wounded lamb,

To bind its wounds, and bathe them with my tears,
This is what Nature taught! No, Fathers! no,
It is not Nature that can teach to sin:
Nature is all Benevolence, all Love,

All Beauty! In the greenwood's quiet shade
There is no vice that to the indignant cheek
Bids the red current rush; no misery there;
No wretched mother, who with pallid face
And famine-fall'n, hangs o'er her hungry babes,
With such a look, so wan, so woe-begone,
As shall one day, with damning eloquence,
Against the mighty plead!... Nature teach sin!
O blasphemy against the Holy One,
Who made us in the image of Himself,
Who made us all for happiness and love,
Infinite happiness, infinite love,
Partakers of his own eternity.»

Solemn and slow the reverend Priest replied,

« Much, woman, do I doubt that all-wise Heaven
Would thus vouchsafe its gracious miracles
On one fore-doom'd to misery; for so doom'd
Is that deluded one, who, of the mass
Unheeding, and the Church's saving power,
Deems nature sinless. Therefore, mark me well,
Brethren, I would propose this woman try
The holy ordeal. Let her, bound and stript,
Lest haply in her clothes should be conceal'd
Some holy relic so profaned, be cast

In the deep pond; there if she float, no doubt
Some fiend upholds, but if she instant sink,
Sure sign is that that Providence displays
ller free from witchcraft. This done, let her walk
Blinded and bare o'er ploughshares heated red,
And o'er these past, her naked arm plunge deep
In scalding water. If from these she pass
Unburt, to holy father of the church,
Most blessed Pope, we then refer the cause
For judgment: and this Chief, the Son of Orleans,
Who comes to vouch the royal person known
By her miraculous power, shall pass with her

The sacred trial.»

«Grace of God!» exclaim'd The astonish'd Bastard; « plunge me in the pool! O'er red-hot ploughshares make me dance to please Your dotard fancies! Fathers of the church, Where is your gravity? what! elder-like Would ye this fairer than Susannah eye' Ye call for ordeals; and I too demand The noblest ordeal, on the English host By victory to approve the mission sent From favouring Heaven. To the Pope refer For judgment! Know ye not that France even now Stands tottering on destruction?»

Starting wild,

With a strange look, the mission'd Maid exclaim'd, «The sword of God is here! the grave shall speak To manifest me!»>

Even as she spake,

A pale blue flame rose from the trophied tomb
Beside her and within that house of death
A clash of arms was heard, as though below
The shrouded warrior shook his mailed limbs.

«Hear ye?» the Damsel cried; « these are the arms Which shall flash terror o'er the hostile host. These, in the presence of our Lord the King, And of the assembled people, I will take ilere from the sepulchre, where many an age, Incorruptible, they have lain conceal'd, For me preserved, the delegate of Heaven >>

King of France! I come From Orleans, speedy and effectual aid Demanding for her gallant garrison, Faithful to thee, though thinn'd in many a fight, And wither'd now by want. Thee it beseems, For ever anxious for thy people's weal,

To succour the brave men whose honest breasts Culwark thy throne.»>

He said, and from the hall With upright step departing, in amaze At his so bold deportment left the court. The King exclaim'd, « But little need to send Quick succour to this gallant garrison, If to the English half so firm a front They bear in battle!»>

« In the field, my liege,» Dunois replied, "yon Knight has served thee well. Him have I seen the foremost of the fight, Wielding so fearfully his death-red axe, That wheresoe'er he turn'd, the affrighted foe Let fall their palsied arms with powerless stroke, Desperate of safety. I do marvel much That he is here: Orleans must be hard press'd, To send the bravest of her garrison

On such commission.»>

Swift the Maid exclaim'd,

I tell thee, Chief, that there the English wolves Shall never pour their yells of victory! The will of God defends those fated walls; And resting in full faith on that high will,

I mock their efforts. But the night draws on;
Retire we to repose. To morrow's sun,
Breaking the darkness of the sepulchre,

Shall on that armour gleam, through many an age
Kept holy and inviolate by time.>>

She said, and, rising from the board, retired.

Meantime the herald's brazen voice proclaim'd
Coming solemnity, and far and wide

Spread the strange tidings. Every labour ceased;
The ploughman from the unfinish'd furrow hastes;
The armourer's anvil beats no more the din
Of future slaughter. Through the thronging streets
The buzz of asking wonder hums along.

On to St Catharine's sacred fane they go; The holy fathers with the imaged cross Leading the long procession. Next, as one Suppliant for mercy to the King of Kings, And grateful for the benefits of Heaven, The Monarch pass'd; and by his side the Maid, Her lovely limbs robed in a snow-white vest; Wistless that every eye on her was fixd,

64

With stately step she moved: her labouring soul To high thoughts elevate; and gazing round With the wild eye, that of the circling throng And of the visible world unseeing, saw The shapes of holy fantasy. By her The warrior Son of Orieans strode along Preeminent. He, nerving his young frame With manly exercise, had scaled the cliff, And dashing in the torrent's foaming flood, Stemm'd with broad breast its fury; so his form, Sinewy and firm, and fit for loftiest deeds, Tower'd high amid the throng effeminate; No dainty bath had from his hardy limbs Effaced the hauberk's honourable marks; His helmet bore of hostile steel the dints Many and deep; upon his pictured shield A Lion vainly struggled in the toils, Whilst by his side the cub with pious rage, His young mane floating to the desert air, Rends the fallen huntsman. Tremouille him behind, The worthless favourite of the slothful Prince, Stalk'd arrogant, in shining armour clasp'd, Emboss'd with gold and gems of richest hue, Gaudily graceful, by no hostile blade Defaced, and rusted by no hostile blood; Trimly accoutred court habiliments, Gay lady-dazzling armour, fit to adorn In dangerless manœuvres some review, The mockery of murder! follow'd him The train of courtiers, summer-flies that sport In the sun-beam of favour, insects sprung From the court dunghill, greedy blood-suckers, The foul corruption-gender'd swarm of state.

As o'er some flowery field the busy bees Pour their deep music, pleasant melody To the tired traveller, under some old oak Stretch'd in the checquer'd shade; or as the sound Of many waters down the far off steep Dash'd with loud uproar, rose the murmur round Of admiration. Every gazing eye Dwelt on the mission'd Maid; of all beside, The long procession and the gorgeous train,

Though glittering they with gold and sparkling gems,
And their rich plumes high waving to the air,
Heedless.

The consecrated dome they reach,
Rear'd to St Catharine's holy memory.
Her tale the altar told; when Maximin,
His raised lip kindled with a savage smile,
In such deep fury bade the tenter'd wheel
Tear her life piecemeal, that the very face
Of the hard executioner relax'd

With horror; calm she heard, no drop of blood
Forsook her cheek, her steady eye was turn'd
Heaven-ward, and Hope and meekest Piety
Beam'd in that patient look. Nor vain her trust,
For lo! the Angel of the Lord descends
And crumbles with his fiery touch the wheel!
One glance of holy triumph Catharine east,
Then bow'd her to the sword of martyrdom. 65

Her eye averting from the storied woe, The delegated Damsel knelt and pour'd To Heaven the earnest prayer.

A trophied tomb Close to the altar rear'd its ancient bulk. Two pointless javelins and a broken sword, Time-mouldering now, proclaim'd some warrior slept The sleep of death beneath. A massy stone And rude-ensculptured effigy o'erlaid The sepulchre. In silent wonderment The expectant multitude with eager eye Gaze, listening as the mattock's heavy stroke Invades the tomb's repose: the heavy stroke Sounds hollow; over the high-vaulted roof Roll the repeated echoes: soon the day Dawns on the grave's long night, the slant sun-beam Beams on the inshrined arms, the crested helm, The baldrick's strength, the shield, the sacred sword. A sound of awe-repress'd astonishment Rose from the crowd The delegated Maid Over her robes the hallowed breast-plate threw, Self-fitted to her form; on her helm'd head The white plumes nod, majestically slow; She lifts the buckler and the sacred sword, 66 Gleaming portentous light.

The wondering crowd
Raise the loud shout of transport. «God of Heaven,>>
The Maid exclaimed, « Father all merciful!
Devoted to whose holy will, I wield

The sword of vengeance, go before our host!
All-just avenger of the innocent,

Be thou our Champion! God of Love, preserve
Those whom no lust of glory leads to arms.>>

She ceased, and with an eager hush the crowd Still listen'd; a brief while throughout the dome Deep silence dwelt; then with a sudden burst Devout and full, they rais'd the choral hymn,

Thee, Lord, we praise, our God!» the throng without Catch the strange tidings, join the hymn of joy, And thundering transport peals along the heavens.

As through the parting crowd the Virgin pass'd, He who from Orleans on the yesternight Demanded succour, clasp'd with warmth her hand, And with a bosom-thrilling voice exclaim'd, <«<lll-omen'd Maid! vietim of thine own worth,