"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

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Might well exult to see the sons of France "Led by a phrenzied female." 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.

Soon is the court convened; the jewell'd crown Shines on a menial's head. Amid the throng The Monarch stands, and anxious for the event, His heart beats high. She comes, the Maid inspired!

And as the Bastard led her to the throne,

Quick glancing o'er the mimic Majesty
Fix'd full her eye on Charles.

"Thou art the King!

"I come the avenging Delegate of Heaven,
"To wield the fated weapon, from whose death,
"Their stern hearts palsied by the arm of God,
"Far, far from Orleans shall the English wolves

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Speed their disastrous flight. Monarch of France!

Spread the good tidings through thy ravaged realm!

"The Maid is come, the mission'd Maid, whose hand "Shall in the consecrated walls of Rheims

"Crown thee the anointed King."

In wonder mute

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 marshal the brave sons of France

"Beneath thy banners; but to satisfy

"Those who at distance from this most clear proof

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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, 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."

Well pleas'd the Maiden heard. Her the King leads
From the disbanding throng, meantime to dwell
With Mary.
Watchful for her Lord's return,

She sat with Agnes; Agnes proud of heart,
Majestically fair, whose large full eye

Or flashing anger, or with scornful scowl,

Deform'd her beauteous features. Yet with her

The lawless idol of the Monarch's heart,

Mary, obedient to her husband's will,

Dwelt meekly in accord. The Maiden soon

Loved the mild Queen, and sojourning with her

Expects the solemn summons.

Thro' the realm

Meantime the King's convoking voice was heard, And from their palaces and monasteries

Forth came the Doctors, men acute and deep, Grown gray in study; Priests and Bishops haste To Chinon: teachers wise and with high names, Seraphic, Subtile, or Irrefragable,

By their admiring pupils dignified.

The Doctors met, from cloister gloom recluse, Or from the haunts luxurious of abode

Episcopal, they met, and sought the place
Of judgement, 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. Thro' 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,
Share with the Gouls their banquet.

This perform'd,

The Maid is summon'd. Round the holy vase

Mark'd with the mystic tonsure and enrobed