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boldest soldier; vigorous, agile, graceful, she sat on her white war-horse straight as a lance, clad in armor of the finest steel, plated with silver and ornamented with many designs, and polished like a mirror; upon her head tossed the plumes of a helmet, her sword had lain for ages beneath the altar of St. Cather ine at Ficrbois, and its whereabouts had been revealed to her by those strange voices that had urged her to come to the rescue of her king and country; before her went her pen non, an angel offering a city to the Blessed Virgin. Beside this wondrous maid rode Gilles de Rais, specially commissioned by the king to watch over the safety of Joan, to gether with many other noble and valiant lords and esquires, captains and soldiers. Her presence was a very savor of life unto life to her fellow countrymen, and a savor of death unto death to their foes; she was as the cloud in the wilderness, a light to her friends, a threatening portent to her enemies. Courage sprang up in the hearts of the French, the English knees waxed faint. Though she was within two bow-shots of the English siege-works she was allowed to pass into the beleaguered but now rejoicing city. Quickly the siege was raised; to the rescued Orleanists she was an angel of deliverance, to the discomfited Bedford she was " a Desciple and Lyme of the Fiende, that used fais enchantments and Sorcerie." From victor}' to victory she lead (urged, we should perhaps say) the Dauphin's forces, and at length dragged, well-nigh against his will, the irresolute Charles to Rheims to be crowned. In the grand old cathedral of that city she stood beside the altar during the coronation, while her much-loved prince was being anointed with the holy oil; her banner, emblazoned with the image of the Father throned on the clouds, — the world in His hand, angels at His feet presenting lilies, and bearing the simple legend " Jesus-Marie," was in her hand. The faithful Gilles de Rais was at her side. A few weeks later, when her sun was be

ginning to go down at noon, Joan and the Marshal Rais were in the foremost ranks at the unsuccessful assault on Paris, and though her standard-bearer was shot dead beside her and she herself wounded in the leg, and night was fast coming on, she declined to retreat and stoutly refused to leave the ditch where she had planted herself, and had to be carried off by some of her comrades by main force. On the 5th of May, 1430, the Maid was taken prisoner while leading a sortie to re lieve the town of Compeigne, which was in vested by the Duke of Burgundy's followers. . The Bastard of Vendôme, a follower of Jean de Luxembourg, was her captor. Great were the rejoicings among the Burgundians and English. According to the rules of war she might have been ransomed by her friends. The English resolved to prevent this at all hazards. To them she was a witch who had triumphed by her sorceries; they must lessen her influence and have her condemned by the Holy Church and the Inquisition for her sins in defeating them through the aid of the devil; the charge of witchcraft has sent hundreds of thousands quickly to the grave. Pierre Canchón, Bishop of Beauvais, in whose diocese the poor Maid had been captured, was chosen by the English council to obtain her from her actual captors; he demanded her that she might be tried for sorcery, idolatry, invocation of the devil, and other matters involving the true failli. Although, he said, owing to these charges against her she ought not to be accounted a prisoner of war, still he offered,£10,000 for her. (The price at which, according to the custom of France, a king or royal prince could be bought from his captors.) John of Luxem bourg agreed to sell Joan for this if the amount were paid in cash and an annuity likewise secured to the Vendôme. It was not until the autumn that the money was raised by the estates of Normandy and paid over. Meanwhile, although to their eternal disgrace be it spoken, neither Charles, to