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Then man met man, then on the batter'd shield

Rung the loud lance, and thro' the darken'd sky

Fast fell the arrowy storm.

Amid his foes

The Bastard's arm sway'd irresistible

The strokes of death; and by his side the Maid
Led the fierce fight, the Maid, though all unused
To such rude conflict, now inspired by Heaven,
Flashing her flamy falchion thro' the troops,
That like the thunderbolt, where'er it fell,
Scatter'd the trembling ranks. The Saracen,
Tho' arm'd from Cashbin or Damascus, wields
A weaker sword; nor might that magic blade
Compare with this, which Oriana saw
Flame in the ruffian Ardan's robber hand,
When, sick and cold as death, she turn'd away
Her dizzy eyes, lest they should see the fall
Of her own Amadis. Nor plated shield,
Nor the strong hauberk, nor the crested casque,
Stay that descending sword. Dreadful she moved,
Like as the Angel of the Lord went forth]

And smote his army, when the Assyrian king,
Haughty of Hamath and Sepharvaim fallen,
Blasphemed the God of Israel.

Yet the fight

Hung doubtful, where, exampling hardiest deeds, Salisbury mow'd down the foe, and Fastolffe strove, And in the hottest doings of the war

Tower'd Talbot. He, remembring the past day When from his name the affrighted sons of France

Fled trembling, all astonish'd at their force

And wontless valour, rages round the field
Dreadful in fury; yet in every man

Meeting a foe fearless, and in the faith

Of Heaven's assistance firm.

The clang of arms

Reaches the walls of Orleans. For the war

Prepared, and confident of victory,

Forth speed the troops. Not when afar exhaled The hungry raven snuffs the steam of blood

That from some carcass-cover'd field of fame

Taints the pure air, wings he more eagerly
To riot on the gore, than rush'd the ranks;
Impatient now for many an ill endured

In the long siege, to wreak upon their foes
Due vengeance. Then more fearful grew the fray;
The swords that late flash'd to the evening sun
Now quench'd in blood their radiance.

O'er the host

Howl'd the deep wind that ominous of storms
Roll'd on the lurid clouds. The blacken'd night
Frown'd, and the thunder from the troubled sky
Roar'd hollow. Javelins clash'd and bucklers rang;
Shield prest on shield; loud on the helmet jarr'd
The ponderous battle-axe; the frequent groan
Of death commingling with the storm was heard,
And the shrill shriek of fear.

Even such a storm

Before the walls of Chartres quell'd the pride

Of the third Edward, when the heavy hail

Smote down his soldiers, and the conqueror heard

GOD in the tempest, and remember'd him

Of the widows he had made, and in the name
Of blessed Mary vow'd the vow of peace.

Lo! where the holy banner waved aloft,

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The lambent lightnings play. Irradiate round,

As with a blaze of glory, o'er the field

It stream'd miraculous splendour. Then their hearts
Sunk, and the English trembled; with such fear
Possess'd, as when the combined host beheld
The sun stand still on Gibeon, at the voice
Of that king-conquering warrior, he who smote
The country of the hills, and of the south,
From Baal-gad to Halak, and their chiefs,
Even as the Lord commanded. Swift they fled
From that portentous banner, and the sword
Of France; tho' Talbot with vain valiancy
Yet urged the war, and stemm'd alone the tide
Of conquest. Even their leaders felt dismay;
Fastolffe fled fast, and Salisbury in the rout

Mingles, and, all impatient of defeat,

Borne backward Talbot turns.

Then echoed loud

The cry of conquest, deeper grew the storm,
And darkness, hovering o'er on raven wing,
Brooded the field of death.

Nor in the camp

Deem themselves safe the trembling fugitives.
On to the forts they haste. Bewilder'd there
Amid the moats by fear, and the dead gloom
Of more than midnight darkness, plunge the troops,
Crush'd by fast following numbers who partake
The death they give. As rushing from the snows
Of winter liquefied, the torrent tide

Resistless down the mountain rolls along,
Till at the brink of giddy precipice
Arrived, with deafening clamour down it falls:
Thus borne along, tumultuously the troops,
Driven by the force behind them, plunge amid
The liquid death. Then rose the dreadful cries
More dreadful, and the dash of breaking waves

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