and a dozen of indecorous priests, artful and fanatical. Was she then wrong in not acknowledging as judges men who sought to avenge themselves upon an enemy, who acted subserviently to the hatred of the English, and who talked only of the church militant and the church instructrice? Jeanne, to all appearance, did not comprehend those high-sounding terms.

It may not, however, be amiss to observe, that there remained at that period at Paris, of the dispersed university, only a small number of ignorant and superstitious doctors, who even felt astonished at the high importance attached to them, in having the assertions of La Pucelle forwarded from Rouen for the purpose of receiving their final decision.

DESCRIPTION

OF

THE ANNUAL FESTIVAL

CELEBRATED AT ORLEANS,

On the 8th of May,

TO COMMEMORATE THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE OF THAT CITY

BY

JEANNE D'ARC,

SURNAMED

LA PUCELLE D'ORLEANS.

DESCRIPTION,

ETC. ETC.

THIS ceremony, which had been regularly observed at Orleans from the time of Charles VII., was, together with many other customs that had prevailed under the French monarchy, discontinued during the stormy period of the Revolution; but on Napoleon's accession to power, the festival was revived, and is now observed with all possible éclat. The following account, translated from the verbal process written by the Count de Rocheplatte, who presided at the fête in his capacity of mayor of Orleans, in 1817, may give the reader some idea of the ceremony.

"On the 7th of May, at eleven in the morning, young Morin, (Etienne Hippolite Léon,) nine years of age, son of Philippe Antoine Pascal Morin, cooper, and Elizabeth Pierron, who had been selected by the mayor, a month previous, to be the representative of Jeanne d'Arc, was conducted to the town house of Orleans, by his parents; he was there dressed in the ancient costume which had been regularly adopted on these occasions, consisting of an under vest of red silk slashed with yellow, short breeches of the same colour with long openings, yellow silk hose, grey shoes with red and yellow roses, a bonnet

of grey felt, turned up à la Henri IV., surmounted by a plume of red and yellow feathers; and at his side he wore an antique sword, with a girdle of scarlet cloth edged with gold.

"At twelve o'clock precisely, the youthful representative of La Pucelle, bearing a white banner powdered with golden fleurs-de-lis, accompanied by a detachment of troops, preceded by the drummers and trumpeters of the national guard, marched to the tower of the belfry of Orleans, parading through the streets d'Escures, le Martroi, la Barillerie, and l'Aguillerie, to the principal gateway of the old town house. At this station, during the space of one hour, the drums and trumpets continued to send forth strains of martial music, and at stated intervals the great bell of the belfry sounded, and so continued every quarter of an hour until sunset.

"At the same period of midday, twenty-four cannons were discharged from one of the towers of the great wall, by the cannoneer company of the national guard, two reports being heard every five minutes.

"At one o'clock, the youth personating Jeanne d'Arc, being reconducted in the same order to the town house, was committed to the prison prepared for his reception.

"At half past three, the mayor, and all persons connected with the mayoralty, and the municipal council, escorted by a detachment of the national guard under arms, headed by the supposed Jeanne d'Arc, with her banner and standard proceeded to the cathedral, preparatory to the matins of the ensuing day.

"After the service there performed, the municipal corps returned to the town house, and the youth personating