them, God sent me to the assistance of the king of France."

During the thirteenth interrogatory, which took place on the morning of the 15th of March, the judges wishing to pronounce the accused an heretic, she was exhorted to commit herself to the church; but, being very deficient in education, she did not know how to reason concerning points of doctrine, and therefore stated, that if any thing had been uttered by her in opposition to the faith, she only wished to be made acquainted with the same, as it was far from her desire to uphold such tenets.

Some allusions were then made to her several attempts to escape from prison, to which she answered with a degree of prudence which could hardly have been expected from her, that if the will of God was favourable to it, she would eagerly embrace the opportunity, but at the same time without having recourse to violence. Jeanne was uniformly zealous in her religious duties, and never ceased to entreat that she might be permitted to attend the celebration of mass..

The fourteenth sitting was held on the morning of Saturday, the 17th of March, 1431. Upon this occasion the questions proposed to La Pucelle were disorderly and of a malicious tendency; sometimes relating to angels and to her male attire; at others to fairies, Saints Catherine and Margaret, and the

love and hatred that God might entertain towards the English or the French. To all these complicated questionings Jeanne answered with equal prudence and simplicity. She was frequently interrogated by several persons at the same time, who sought to break the thread of her replies; and as they were monks, who most earnestly endeavoured to embarrass her on these occasions, she could not refrain from exclaiming at times, "Beaux frères, faites l'un après l'autre - Good brothers, do pray speak one after the other." Two things, however, she uniformly maintained, which must have been exceedingly mortifying to her judges: First, that the English would all be expelled from the kingdom; and, secondly, that she would rather suffer death than revoke a single act she had done by order of the Almighty in the service of the king of France: adding, that the only recompense she expected was the salvation of her soul. Whenever there appeared any room for doubt, or when an immediate reply might be productive of inconvenience, the prisoner regularly demanded a little delay until she could frame her answer with greater propriety.

The tribunal held its fifteenth meeting in the evening of the same day, upon which occasion the subject of Jeanne's male apparel was resumed, when she assigned the following reasons for adopting and retaining it: First, that she had received an order from Heaven to assume it; secondly, that such a

dress was better calculated than that of a woman to secure her from the insults of the soldiery; and, thirdly, that her chastity was thereby more surely preserved.

These reasons were well supported by previous facts; for Jeanne had been assailed during her imprisonment by the violence of an English nobleman, (as she solemnly declared to brother Martin L'Advenu, who was present until her last moments,) as well as by the brutal guards who attended her. Of these evils Jeanne had complained to the earl of Warwick and the bishop of Beauvais; but finding that her representations were unavailing, she had been compelled, for the sake of self-preservation, to resume and retain the habiliments of a man, in which she constantly slept. The boldness of Jeanne's answers was construed into contumacy by her judges, who consequently pronounced her a relapse.

These brutal proceedings, as we have already stated, continued until the duchess of Bedford, sister of the duke of Burgundy, after ascertaining the virgin state of Jeanne d'Arc, prevented their repetition; and during the whole of the trial her purity was never once called in question. This, however, did not

* Carte (in Lenglet, vol. iii. p. 139), who is silent respecting the atrocious iniquity of the judgment, confesses, "That the chastity of Jeanne was never called in question, even by her greatest enemies, and that her courage could not be sufficiently extolled."

prevent her being questioned, whether, if she should lose her virginity, she would be deprived of her prosperity and the visits of her supernatural agents? To this La Pucelle made answer, that no revelation had been made to her on that head. Doubtless this question was suggested by the English, as it seems to be in unison with the repeated insults offered to her whilst in confinement. To this statement we may subjoin, that some of the interrogators put many frivolous and indecent questions to the prisoner, respecting virginity and the married state, as also concerning the cross which she had caused to be inserted in her letters before and after the words, "Jesus Maria." In reply to the latter query, La Pucelle said, she had been told by the ecclesiastics that it was proper so to do; and to the other queries her answers were invariably prudent and reserved.

In conclusion, the accused desired that she might be allowed to appeal to the Pope's decision, but such a proposition was far from acceptable to the bishop of Beauvais. As Jeanne d'Arc on several occasions repeated this demand, attempts were made to tamper with her, in order to prevent her from appealing to the apostolic chair. One of those vile hypocrites who at that period concealed their vices under the garb of the ministers of religion, and of whom there were but too many, was employed for this purpose. The individual in question was

Loiseleur, who used every effort to induce Jeanne to forego this appeal; but her firmness resisted all his artifice and sophistry.

On the 18th of March, the bishop of Beauvais, in conjunction with the grand inquisitor, assembled twelve of the assessors at his residence, when `it was agreed to examine the reports of the doctors who had been charged to give their opinions on the leading confessions of the accused, and consult what the works on the canon law might contain relative to the points in question.

Twenty-two assessors assembled on the 19th. It was then agreed, that all the previous proceedings should be collected and condensed into a less number of articles; previously to which, they resolved that the interrogatories should be legally verified. For this purpose they repaired to the chamber of Jeanne d'Arc, and read in her presence the whole of the proceedings; whereto she only made some trifling additions, and did not raise an objection to any one article.

The festival of Easter was now near at hand, and La Pucelle applied for permission to attend the celebration of mass on the Sunday. The judges seemed willing to accede to this request, provided she would agree to resume the dress of her sex. To this Jeanne replied, that she had not received the advice of her council respecting such a measure, and that she could not therefore adopt the female