OR,

THE MAID OF ORLEANS.

FROM MICHELET'S HISTORY OF FRANCE.

STANFORD LIBRAD

NEW YORK:

SHELDON & COMPANY.

1860.

PREFACE.

OUR prosy American homes need to be illuminated by the presence of heroines and of heroes. Long enough have the shadows of the bloodless personages of mere fiction rested upon the hearthstone. Life and history are always stranger than the day-dreams. of fancy; they can satisfy the cravings of imagination, while they feed the heart and instruct the mind. We hunger for the real, and our souls grow strong when nourished with "deeds sublime."

In our little "Household Library," we offer to all, portraits of the world's most heroic spirits, drawn by the most skilful hands. We begin with a woman, Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans. Her Life is the most (iii)