gaze of the immense multitude assembled upon this solemn occasion in the sacred structure which had witnessed the consecration of so many Gallic sovereigns. Upon this occasion, all the ancient forms.

• Chaussard, vol. i. pp. 42, 43, 45, and 46, adverting to all the prior actions of La Pucelle and the coronation of Charles,

says:

"We need not feel astonished after so many events of this nature, and the testimonies delivered relative to these exploits by upwards of an hundred witnesses, consisting of ecclesiastics, men of the long robe, military commanders, citizens, and peasants, that they all felt a conviction God had despatched Jeanne d'Arc to rescue Orleans, and to save France; and that her inspirations were due to Divine Providence, rather than the result of human foresight.

"But that which, above all, determined them to cherish such an opinion, was the moral and spotless conduct of Jeanne, of which they were witnesses; their testimonies on this head forming part of their depositions. Chastity was the predominant characteristic of Jeanne d'Arc; she detested words as well as actions of a disgusting tendency, neither would she suffer the utterance of an improper speech in her presence: no man ever held converse with her at night, and she had always a girl or a woman to sleep in her chamber.

"All the knights and their squires who saw her, unanimously testified, that although they were for the most part young, they felt for her the greatest respect, and that no one of them had ever felt the least desire or temptation in regard to that extraordinary girl.

"She confessed to captain Daulon, structed her in all that she should do;

That her council in

that it was composed of

three counsellors, one of whom was always with her, the other

adopted at the ceremony of crowning were punctually observed; and after the king had received the holy oil, Jeanne d'Arc, advancing towards him, knelt and embraced his knees, shedding tears while she thus addressed him: "Gentil roy, ores est exécuté le plaisir de Dieu, qui voulait que levasse le siege d'Orléans, et que vous amenasse en ceste cité de Rheims, recepvoir vostre sainct sacre, en montrant que vous estes vray roy, et cellui auquel le royaulme de France doibt appertenir. Comely king, thus is executed the pleasure of God, who willed that I should cause the siege of Orleans to be raised, and conduct you to this city of Rheims to receive your holy coronation; thus showing that you are true king, and he to whom the kingdom of France ought to belong." In answer to which, Charles testified his gratitude. It seems at this period the monarch caused a medal to be struck in honour of Jeanne d'Arc, on one side.

going and coming, and that the third was the one with whom the other two deliberated.' Daulon earnestly entreated that Jeanne would procure him a sight of her council; but she replied, that he was not as yet worthy nor sufficiently virtuous, which determined him to address her no more upon the subject.

"She had no assurance whatsoever in regard to the safety of her life in battle; running equal risks with the other combatants. Indeed, so little certain was she of personal safety, that she several times charged her confessor to entreat the king, that in the event of her death, he would cause prayers to be offered up for her and all those who had died in so just a war, which had been supported for the defence of the kingdom."

of which was represented her effigy, and on the reverse a hand bearing a sword accompanied by this inscription: "Consilio firmata Dei.*

La Pucelle must have felt exceeding joy at witnessing this long-predicted ceremony. Her uncle, Durand Laxart, and her father, arrived in the city nearly at the same time as herself. Her two brothers, Pierre and Jean d'Arc, had accompanied her during all her famous expedition; so that this extraordinary girl might, for a short interval, have regarded herself as restored to her family and the country to which she owed her birth. It is affirmed that Charles took delight in hearing Laxart recapi

Speaking of the success attending the king's expedition to and coronation at Rheims, Luchet, at p. 24, thus expresses himself: "At length the monarch arrived at Rheims, where he was crowned, and recognised legitimate possessor of the kingdom of France, and then performed his (neuvieme) ninth to possess the power of curing the evil. What could then be the feeling of the nation? A girl had just restored to him his glory,—she is regarded as inspired,—and yet no altar is raised to her, neither does she receive any recompense. The city of Rheims performs no one act to hand down to posterity the exploits and the courage of Jeanne d'Arc. There exists among men a certain line of conduct so strongly impregnated with the spirit of the period when they exist, that one is almost tempted to question those statements which tend to its subversion."

Charles performed his ninth at St. Marcou, and obtained the gift of healing the scrofula, or king's evil.—Lenglet, vol. i. p. 111.

tulate all the difficulties which Jeanne had to surmount before her arrival at Chinon.

Jaques d'Arc, and in all probability Laxart, were remunerated by the city during their continuance at Rheims. The sum paid to Alis, widow Rolin Moriau, the hostess of l'Ane Rayé, with whom Jeanne d'Arc was lodged, amounted, according to an ancient account of expenditures of the city, to twenty-four livres Parisis, and it is there stated that the father of La Pucelle was honoured to associate with the king.

While France and Europe re-echoed with the glory of Jeanne's exploits, that heroine aspired only to the enjoyment of peaceful solitude and the pleasures of obscurity. To obtain this desired end, she made repeated applications for permission to retire from the bustle of active life; and she at length consented to remain only from respect to the orders of Charles and the prayers of the major part of the nobility, who had witnessed the wonderful effect of her presence in spurring on the troops to victory. Thus in a manner compelled to yield to the wishes of her sovereign, it was remarked, that Jeanne from that moment never opposed her advice to that of his ministers and generals liberty she had almost invariably taken until that time; but contented herself with giving the soldiers an example of intrepid valour.

a

The king continued only three days at Rheims,

VOL. II.

e

when he left that city for Corbény, and thence advanced to the small town of Vailly; all which places opened their gates to receive him. At the lastmentioned city the monarch wished to await the return of the heralds whom he had despatched to Laon and to Soissons to summon their respective inhabitants to surrender. The deputies from Soissons soon arrived at the camp, and presented the keys of their city to the king, and their example was speedily followed by the people of Laon. Charles then marched to Soissons, and continued there three days, during which he received the welcome intelligence that Provins, Coulommiers, Crécy-en-Brie, and many other places of less importance, had voluntarily recognised his authority. A division of the army, headed by La Pucelle, directed its course for Château Thierry; when the nobles, who had shut themselves up in that town, on beholding the French troops, demanded a capitulation. At this juncture it was announced that the English were advancing in great force with the design of attacking the royal army; which news, suddenly disseminated throughout the camp, created some degree of consternation and tumult. Ever a stranger to fear, Jeanne d'Arc, by her strenuous endeavours, rẹestablished order among the forces, and it was soon after ascertained that the report was merely a false alarm. The negotiation for the surrender of Château Thierry was then renewed, by which it was