in the lists against the French, who, without any unfair play, would make an assay of their courage and address with them."

"This challenge being received and accepted, two Englishmen appeared at a spot environed on all sides with cords attached to posts, which was allotted for the combatants. In addition to this, it was lined with men on foot and on horseback in good array, of whom there were equal numbers on either side, to prevent any injury happening to such as entered the lists or came to behold the combat. This being done, they all four rushed upon each other with couched lances, meeting together with impetuous and unparalleled force: but, in the end, the greater glory of the battle remained with the French. For Vedille and his adversary having each pierced the other through the side armour, even to their shirts, without having done much injury; and Gasquet having unhorsed his opponent with a blow of his lance, they were separated. This was done in order to prove that the contest was that of brave and courageous men, without any movement of hatred or choler having urged them to the rencounter."

Page 18.

And more especially there died an English lord.

The Editor's research has not enabled him to identify the name of the noble personage above adverted to, concerning whom Dubreton, at page 68, states as follows:

"In this combat an Englishman of high quality and great reputation was killed. Some knights having dismounted, raised him up and transported him to the camp

as he surrendered up his soul. He was extremely regretted by all the English, as well on account of the great proofs he had given of his courage in divers rencounters, as also from his being of considerable utility to them."

Page 20.

For he was their marshal, and a right valiant man.

Speaking of Lancelot de l'Isle, Dubreton, at page 71, inserts the following eulogium:

"This death considerably elevated the courage of the Orleanese, and diminished their apprehension, as if the enemy's forces had been destroyed with this great captain, for he was one of the most redoubted of the English host. His counsel was fit to be executed, and his hand was never wanted. There was not an order to be issued, nor a watch, a review, nor a labour to be undertaken, or any act to be performed, that he would not accomplish with the most admirable patience and address. If God, by the hands of those of Orleans, had not taken from the world this wary, prompt, vigilant, bold, and generous enemy, it is not likely that the French would have easily escaped the threatening storm, nor extricated their necks from the yoke of servitude wherewith they were threatened by the English."

The English carried off the sticks, that is, vine stakes, from the vineyards.

The soil in the environs of Orleans has been for many centuries famous for its fecundity in producing the vine, and at the present period it is ranked the most prolific territory

in France for the growth of the grape. The space occupied by the vineyards extends from ten to eleven leagues, upwards of thirty miles, comprising an extent of nearly thirty parishes, between the towns of Jargeau and Beaugenci, of which places mention is made in the course of the Diary. According to the common computation, an ordinary year's growth will produce an hundred thousand tuns of wine. It is scarcely possible to picture a more gratifying spectacle than the numerous villages scattered through such an extent of vine-land, while the countless country residences of private individuals equally tend to diversify the rich prospect. The environs of Orleans give two species of wines, the white and the red, the former of which being the produce of St. Mesmin, and called Génetin, is peculiar to that country.

Page 22.

Bar, or Barrois, a considerable territory of France, situated on either bank of the river Meuse, between Lorraine and Champaigne, is the country that gave birth to the Pucelle of Orleans.

Domremy, a small village near Vaucouleurs, in Lorraine, is situated in a barren soil, and was the natal place of Jeanne d'Arc, who was the daughter of Jacques d'Arc and his wife Elizabeth, or rather Isabella Romée.

Vaucouleurs, a small city, and formerly a provostship, is very agreeably situated on the slope of a hill, at the base of which is a meadow, watered by the river Meuse, which stretches itself till lost in the distance. This place belonged to the dukes of Lorraine, until Philip of Valois purchased

so important a key to the empire in 1335.

Jeanne d'Arc

being born in this provostship, the territory was, in consequence, highly favoured by Charles VII., who bestowed upon it great immunities and exemptions.

Page 23. Narrated to him her visions.

Numerous attempts have been made by French writers to prove that the mission of Jeanne d'Arc was the effect of celestial agency, which assertion is combated by Robertson, in his introduction to the history of Charles V. He therein examines the mission of the Pucelle in a political point of view, and while rendering justice to her wisdom and courage, deploring her untimely fate, and most eloquently inveighing against the superstition to which she was sacrificed, he nevertheless considers her as a mere instrument and a victim of party. This writer, however, is not the only one who has started objections against the heavenly mission of Jeanne; for we find that one Doctor Beaupere, who acted as an assessor during her trial, entertained an opinion, "That her alleged visions and apparitions were rather the effects of human invention, than due to divine inspiration:" and in the Histoire Générale des Rois de France depuis Pharamond jusqu'à Charles Sept, written by Bernard de Girard, lord de Haillan, first historian of France, and established genealogist of the Order of the Holy Ghost, by Henry III., appears the following statement, translated, as nearly as possible, verbatim :

"Some say that Jeanne was the mistress of John Bastard of Orleans; others of the lord de Baudricourt, who

L

being wary and cunning, and seeing that the king knew no longer what to do or to say, and the people, on account of continual wars, so much oppressed as not to be able to raise their courage, betook themselves to have recourse to a miracle fabricated in false religion, being that which, of all things, most elevates the heart; and makes men believe, even the most simple, that which is not; and the people were very proper to imbibe such superstitions. Those who believe she was a maid sent by God are not damned, neither are those who did not believe. Many esteem this last assertion an heresy, but we will not dwell too much upon it, neither too much on the contrary belief. Wherefore these lords, for the space of some days, instructed her in all she was to answer to the demands which should be made of her by the king and themselves when in his presence; for they were to interrogate her, and in order that she might recognise the monarch when conducted into his presence, they caused her every day to see, at various times, his picture. The day appointed on which she was to be led to him in his chamber, which they had already arranged, they did not fail to be present. Being entered, the first who asked her what she wanted, were the Bastard of Orleans and Baudricourt, who demanded of her, her business. She replied she wanted to speak to the king. They presented to her another of the lords who was there, saying to her that he was the king; but she, instructed in all which should be done and said, as well as what she was to do and say, said, that it was not the king, and that he was hid in the alcove, containing the bed. This feigned invention and appearance of religion, was of such profit to the kingdom, that it raised the courage lost and beaten