Divinity hath oftentimes descended SHIRLEY. The Grateful Servant. The Vision was originally printed as the ninth book of JOAN of ARC. The plan and execution of that Poem were equally faulty; it has been repeatedly and laboriously corrected; but as the only apology for the great and numerous faults which unavoidably remain, I request the reader to recollect that it was first written at the age of nineteen, and published at the age of one and twenty. R. S. THE VISION OF THE MAID OF ORLEANS. THE FIRST BOOK. ORLEANS was hush'd in sleep. Stretch'd on her couch The delegated Maiden lay; with toil Exhausted, and sore anguish, soon she clos'd Her heavy eyelids; not reposing then, For busy phantasy, in other scenes Awakened: whether that superior powers, By wise permission, prompt the midnight dream, Or that the soul, escaped its fleshly clog, Flies free, and soars amid the invisible world, |