SCHOOL READING.

EIGHTH YEAR.

JOAN OF ARC.

Jeanne d'Arc, or, as she is named in English, Joan of Arc, was the daughter of a peasant of Domrémy, a little village on the borders of 5 Lorraine and Champagne. She was born in 1412. Domrémy

is close to the great woods of the Vosges, in which Jeanne loved to wander, watching the 10 birds and the beasts, and making friends of them. At home she was "a good girl, simple and pleasant in her ways," and differed

Thomas De Quincey.

from other girls in being more modest, industrious, and 15 pious. She was taught to sew and to spin, but not to read and write.

At this time all the northern part of France was torn and desolated by the war which had for its object the subjugation of France to the power of England. Misery 20 and disease were everywhere, and even in her distant vil

lage, at the foot of the Vosges, Jeanne had been made acquainted with the horrors and hardships which afflicted her country. When about thirteen years of age, she believed that St. Michael appeared to her in a blaze of light, commanding her to be modest and attentive to all 5 the duties of religion. This vision, and her sorrow for the distress of France, absorbed her whole being; her constant expression was, she "had pity on the fair realm of France."

When she was fifteen, St. Michael appeared to her again, 10 and bade her go and fight for the Dauphin.

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Messire," replied the girl, "I am but a poor maiden ; I know not how to ride to the wars, or to lead men

The poor girl wept, and wished to escape a work so 15 difficult and so new. But, encouraged by the angel, her brave spirit overcame her fears, and she made known her mission to her friends.

At first she was laughed at as insane, and her father swore he would drown her rather than she should go with 20 men to the wars; but she succeeded in the end in leaving her home, and in making her way to the Dauphin, whom she persuaded of her heavenly mission, and promised that he should be anointed and crowned in the town of Rheims. She was now in her eighteenth year-tall, strong, and 25 active, and able to remain on horseback without food from dawn till dark. Mounted on a charger, clad in a suit of white armor from head to foot, and bearing a white banner, she seemed "a thing wholly divine, whether to see or hear."

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In April, 1429, she commenced the relief of Orleans, which was closely besieged by the English, and which, pressed by famine, was on the point of surrender when Jeanne presented herself to the Dauphin. In the midst of a terrible thunderstorm she marched through the 5 English lines, unperceived and unopposed, and next morning showed herself with her banner on the walls of Orleans.

"I bring you," she said to the French general Dunois, who had sallied out of Orleans to meet her, "the best aid 10 ever sent to any one, the aid of the King of Heaven."

Fort after fort fell into her hands, and the English, believing they were fighting against invisible powers, raised the siege and marched away. The belief in witchcraft and sorcery was then real and living among all 15 classes of people. Triumph after triumph followed; and, with an ever-increasing army, she at length reached the gates of Rheims.

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"O gentle king, the pleasure of God is done!" she cried, when she saw the crown placed on the head of 20 Charles the Seventh; and she now passionately longed to go back to her father, to her village and her quiet home. "Oh that I might go and keep sheep once more with my brothers and sisters; they would be so glad to see me again!" But the French court had found out how use- 25 ful she was, and refused to let her depart.

Jeanne's instinct and heavenly voices spoke the truth. From this time she could not help feeling that her mission was at an end, and that she was fighting without the support of heaven. During the defense of Compiègne she 30

was thrown from her horse and taken prisoner. After the barbarous custom of the time in dealing with prisoners, she was sold by her captor to the Duke of Burgundy, an ally of England, and again by the Duke into the hands of 5 the English.

Her triumphs were triumphs of sorcery in the eyes of her enemies; and even her king must have believed her to be a witch, for, with the base ingratitude born of intense and royal selfishness, he made not the smallest 10 attempt either to ransom or release her.

After a year's imprisonment, an ecclesiastical court, with the Bishop of Beauvais at its head, was formed to try her. The accusation was that she had been guilty of heresy and magic. Not permitted an advocate or de15 fender, she was only supported by the courage of innocence; but she displayed in her answers a shrewdness and simple good sense that contrasted strongly with the artful dealings of the learned doctors, her judges.

When they asked: "Do you believe that you are in the 20 favor of God?" she replied, "If I am not, God will put me in it; if I am, God will keep me in it."

When asked if the saints of her visions hated the English, she answered: "They love whatever God loves, and hate whatever he hates." And when the Bishop of Beau25 vais, still trying to entrap her, proceeded: "Does God, then, hate the English?" she still replied: "Whether God loves or hates the English, I do not know; but I know that all those who do not die in battle shall be driven away from this realm by the king of France."

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When questioned about her standard, she said: "I car