John Ball. Revenge, my brethren, beseems not Christains; Send us these terms, sign'd with your seal of state. We will await in peace. Deceive us not— Act justly, so to excuse your late foul deed. King. The charter shall be drawn out; on mine honor All shall be justly done. Joan of Arc.-Lingard. [Henry V., the successor of Henry IV., King of England, taking advantage of the lunacy of the French king, Charles VI., and the distracted condition of affairs in France occasioned by it, invaded that country, and gained a great victory over the French army at Ag'in-court (1415). This was soon followed by the treaty of Troyes (trwah), by which Henry was to succeed to the French throne on the death of Charles. He died, however, before the French king, and was succeeded by his infant son, Henry VI. On the death of Charles VI., his son, Charles VII., brave and energetic, determined to resist the claim of the English monarch to the succession. A war ensued, during which appeared that wonderful heroine, Joan of Arc. Her interesting but mournful history is contained in the following extract from Lingard's "History of England."] 1. THE fall of Orleans was confidently anticipated; and the most gloomy apprehensions prevailed in the councils of the French monarch, when the French throne was saved from ruin by Joan d'Arc, the daughter of a small farmer at Domremy, a hamlet in Champagne, situated between Neufchâteau and Vancouleur. This interesting female was born about the year 1412. Her education did not differ from that of the other poor girls in the neighborhood; but she was distinguished above them all by her diligence, modesty, and piety. 2. Near Domremy was a solitary chapel, called the Hermitage of the Virgin. Joan was accustomed to visit this hermitage every Saturday, and to hang up a garland of flowers, or burn a taper of wax in honor of the mother of Christ. These, her early habits, are worthy of notice, as they probably served to impress on her mind that romantic character which it afterward exhibited. The child was fond of solitude; whatever interested her became the subject of long and serious thought; and in these day-dreams the young enthusiast learned to invest with visible forms the creations of her own fancy. 3. Besides religion, there was another sentiment which sprang up in the breast of Joan. Young as she was, she had heard enough of the calamities which oppressed her country, to bewail the hard fate of her sovereign, driven from the throne of his fathers. It chanced that in May, 1428, a marauding party of Burgundians compelled the inhabitants of Domremy to seek an asylum in Neufchâteau. The village was plundered, and the church reduced to a heap of ruins. 4. On their departure the fugitives returned, and the sight wound up the enthusiasm of Joan to the highest pitch. She escaped from her parents, prevailed on an uncle to accompany her, and announced her mission to Baudricourt, one of the French generals, who, though he treated her with ridicule, deemed it his duty to communicate her history to the dauphin, and received an order to forward her to the French court. To travel a distance of one hundred and fifty leagues, through a long tract of country, of which one portion was possessed by hostile garrisons, and the other perpetually infested by parties of plunderers, was a perilous and almost hopeless attempt. 5. But Joan was confident of success; on horseback, and in male attire, with an escort of seven persons, she passed without meeting an enemy; and on the tenth day at Fierbois. (feer'bwah), a few miles from Chinon (she-nong'), announced to Charles her arrival and object. An hour was fixed for her admission to the royal presence; and the poor maiden of Domremy was ushered into a spacious hall, lighted up with fifty torches, and filled with some hundreds of knights, among whom Charles himself had mixed unnoted, and in plain attire. 6. Joan entered without embarrassment; the glare of the lights, the gaze of the spectators did not disconcert her. Singling out the dauphin at the first glance, she walked up to him with a firm step, bent her knee, and said, "God give you good life, gentle king." He was surprised, but replied, "I am not the king, he is there," pointing at the same time to a different part of the hall. "In the name of God," she exclaimed, "it is not they, but you are the king. Most noble lord dauphin', I am Joan the maid, sent on the part of God to aid you and the kingdom; and by his order I announce to you that you will be crowned in the city of Rheims (reemz).” 7. The following day she made her appearance in public, and on horseback. From her look she was thought to be in her sixteenth or seventeenth year; her figure was slender and graceful, and her long black locks fell in ringlets on her shoulders. She ran a course with the lance, and managed her horse with ease and dexterity. The crowd burst into shouts of admiration; they saw in her something more than human; she was, they thought, a knight descended from heaven, for the salvation of France. Men of every rank caught the enthusiasm, and thousands offered their services to follow her to battle. 8. Sixty bastiles or forts, erected in a circle round Orleans, had effectually intercepted the communication with the country; and the horrors of famine were already felt within the walls, when it was resolved by the French cabinet to make a desperate effort to throw a supply of provisions into the city. A strong body of men, under some of the bravest officers in France, assembled at Blois (blwah), and Joan solicited and obtained permission not only to join, but also to direct, the expedition. 9. To the English commanders she sent orders, in the name of God, to withdraw from France, and return to their native country. Dunois (doo-nwah'), the Governor of Orleans, led her secretly into that city, where she was received by the citizens, with lighted torches and acclamations of joy. Her presence created in the soldiers a spirit of daring, and a confidence of success. Day after day sallies were made, and the strongest of the English forts successively fell into the hands of the assailants. 10. One day, while she was in the act of planting a ladder, an arrow passed through an opening in her corslet", and fixed itself between the chest and the shoulder. Her companions conveyed her out of the crowd, the wound was dressed, and the heroine, after a few minutes spent in prayer, rejoined the combatants. At her appearance the assailants redoubled their efforts, and the fort was soon won. 11. Suffolk, disconcerted by repeated losses, determined to raise the siege; and the soldiers, with feelings of shame and regret, turned their backs to the city. The Earl of Suffolk was soon besieged in a neighboring town, and the place was carried by storm. More than three hundred of the garrison perished; and Suffolk, with the remainder, fell into the hands of the enemy. 12. Joan had always declared that the object of her mission was twofold: the liberation of Orleans, and the coronation of the king at Rheims. Of these the first had been accomplished; and she vehemently urged the execution of the second. Though to penetrate as far as Rheims was an enterprise of difficulty and danger, for every intermediate fortress was in the possession of the enemy, Charles determined to trust to his own fortune and the predictions of his inspired deliverer. 13. Having sent a strong division of troops to alarm the frontiers of Normandy, and another to insult those of Guienne, he commenced his march with an army of ten thousand cavalry. The citizens of Rheims having expelled the Burgundian garrison, received him with the most flattering testimonies of joy. The coronation was performed in the usual manner; but as none of the peers of France attended, Charles appointed proxies to perform their duties. During the ceremony, Joan, with her banner unfurled, stood by the king's side; as soon as it was over, she threw herself on her knees, embraced his feet, declared her mission accomplished, and with tears solicited his leave to return to her former station. 14. But the king was unwilling to lose the services of one who had hitherto proved so useful; and at his earnest request she consented to remain with the army, and to strengthen that throne which she had in a great measure established. Bedford obtained fresh assurances of fidelity from the Duke of Burgundy, withdrew five thousand men from his Norman garrisons, and received an equal number from his uncle Beaufort. With these he went in pursuit of Charles, who was unwilling to stake his crown on the uncertain event of a battle. 15. In the neighborhood of Senlis, however, the two armies undesignedly came in sight of each other. The English, in ferior in numbers, prepared for the fight after their usual manner; the French officers, flushed with success, impatiently demanded the signal for battle. But the defeats of Agincourt and Verneuil led Charles not to rely on mere superiority of number. The armies separated as if it had been by mutual consent. The regent hastened into Normandy, and Charles, at the solicitation of his female companion, took advantage of the duke's absence to make an attempt on the capital. Soissons, Senlis, Beauvais, and St. Denis opened their gates. He advanced to Montmartre, published an amnesty, and directed assault on the Fauxbourg of St. Honoré. 16. The action lasted four hours. At its very commencement Joan received a dangerous wound, was thrown into the ditch, and lay there unnoticed till she was discovered in the evening, and carried off by a party sent in search after her. Charles, mortified by the obstinate resistance of the Parisians, retired to Bourges; while the maid, looking on her wound as an admonition from heaven that her commission had ceased with the coronation at Rheims, consecrated her armor to God in the church at St. Denis. Her services, however, were still wanted. At the solicitation of her sovereign, she consented to resume the profession of arms, and accepted a patent of nobility for herself and her family, accompanied with a grant of income equal to that of an earl. 17. At the commencement of spring, the Duke of Burgundy undertook to reduce the city of Compeigne (com-pe-ain'); and the maid was selected to raise the siege. Her troops were defeated, however; she was taken prisoner, and was handed over to the regent, Bedford. The unfortunate maid was treated with neglect by her friends, with cruelty by her enemies. If ever prince had been indebted to a subject, Charles VII. was indebted to Joan d'Arc; yet from the moment of her captivity she appears to have been forgotten. We read not of any sum offered for her ransom, or attempt made to alleviate the rigor of her confinement, or notice taken of her trial and execution. 18. The Bishop of Beauvais (bo-va'), in whose diocese she had been taken, claimed the right of trying her in his court on an ac |