In vain did John of Ligny's wife throw herself at his feet, in vain did she supplicate him not to dishonor himself. He was no longer a free man, already had he touched English gold; though he gave her up, not, it is true, directly to the English, but to the Duke of Burgundy. This house of Ligny and of Saint-Pol, with its recollections of greatness and its unbridled aspirations, was fated to pursue fortune to the end-to the Grève. The surrenderer of the Pucelle seems to have felt all his misery; he had painted on his arms a camel succumbing under its burden, with the sad device, unknown to men of heart, "Nul n'est tenu à l'impossible," (No one is held to impossibilities).

What was the prisoner doing the while? Her body was at Beaurevoir, her soul at Compiègne; she was fight

ing, soul and spirit, for the king who had deserted her. Without her, she felt that the faithful city of Compiègne would fall, and, with it, the royal cause throughout the North. She had previously tried to effect her escape from the towers of Beaulieu; and at Beaurevoir she was still more strongly tempted to fly: she knew that the English demanded that she should be given up to them, and dreaded falling into their hands. She consulted her saints, and could obtain no other answer than that it behooved to be patient, "that her delivery would not be until she had seen the king of the English." "But," she said within herself, "can it be that God will suffer these poor people of Compiègne to die, who have been, and who are, so loyal to their lord?" Presented under this form of lively compassion, the

temptation prevailed. For the first time she turned a deaf ear to her saints she threw herself from the tower, and fell at its foot half-dead. Borne in again and nursed by the ladies of Ligny, she longed for death, and persisted in remaining two days without eating.

Delivered up to the Duke of Burgundy, she was taken to Arras, and then to the donjon-keep of Crotoy, which has long been covered by the sands of the Somme. From this place of confinement she looked out upon the sea, and could sometimes descry the English downs-that hostile land into which she had hoped to carry war for the deliverance of the Duke of Orléans. Mass was daily performed here by a priest who was also a prisoner, and Jeanne prayed ardently; she asked, and it was given unto her.

Though confined in prison, she displayed her power all the same; as long as she lived, her prayers broke through the walls, and scattered the enemy.

On the very day that she had predicted, forewarned by the archangel, the siege of Compiègne was raised that is, on the 1st of November. The Duke of Burgundy had advanced as far as Noyon, as if to meet and experience the insulting reverse personally. He sustained another defeat shortly afterwards at Germigny (November 20). Saintrailles then offered him battle at Peronne, which he declined.

These humiliations undoubtedly confirmed the duke in his alliance with the English, and determined him to deliver up the Pucelle to them. But the mere threat of interrupting all commercial relations would have been enough.

Chivalrous as he believed himself to be, and the restorer of chivalry, the Count of Flanders was at bottom the servant of the manufacturers and the merchants. The manufacturing cities and the flax-spinning districts would not have allowed commerce to be long interrupted, or their works brought to a stand-still, but would have burst forth into insurrection.

At the very moment the English had got possession of the Pucelle, and were free to proceed to her trial, their affairs were going on very badly. Far from retaking Louviers, they had lost Chateau-galliard. La Hire took it by escalade, and finding Barbazan a prisoner there, set that formidable captain at liberty. The towns voluntarily went over to Charles VII., the inhabitants expelling the English: those of