"And with a piteous moaning vainly seek "The peasant's meal, and seen it wrapt in flames; "Was as a pilgrim.-Conrade! rouse thyself! hamlets were fortified by these robbers, English, Bourguegnons and French, every one striving to do his worst: All men of war were well agreed to spoile the countryman and merchant. Even the cattell, accustomed to the larume bell, the signe of the enemy's approach, would run home of themselves without any guide by this accustomed misery This is the perfect description of those times, taken out of the lamentations of our ancestors, set down in the original, says De Serres. But amidst this horrible calamity, God did comfort both the King and realme, for about the end of the goodly sonne by Queen Mary his wife.” yeere, he gave Charles a † O my people, hear my word: make you ready to the battle, and in those evils, be even as pilgrims upon the earth. 2 Esdras, xvi. 40. Cast the weak *nature off! a time like this "Is not for gentler feelings, for the glow He answer'd not, But clasping to his heart the Virgin's hand, Let go from thee mortal thoughts, cast away the burdens of man, put off now the weak nature, And set aside the thoughts that are most heavy unto thee, and haste thee to flee from these times. 2 Esdras, xiv. 14, 15. Awhile she wandered, then upon the bank She laid her down, and watch'd the tranquil stream The ceaseless murmuring, lull'd her to such dreams Most loves. The wonted scenes of Arc arose ; She saw the forest brook, the weed that waved crag "Where I might meet that Heaven-commission'd Maid, "Call'd to deliver France." The well-known tones Thrill'd her; her heart throbb'd fast, she started up, And fell upon the neck of Theodore. "Oh! I have found thee !" cried the enraptur'd youth, " And I shall dare the battle by thy side, "And shield thee from the war! but tell me, JOAN, "Why didst thou brood in such strange mystery, "Over thy Heaven-doom'd purpose? trust me, Maiden "I have shed many tears for that wild gloom "That so estranged thee from thy Theodore! "If thou couldst know the anguish I endur'd "When thou wert gone! in sooth it was unkind "To leave us thus !" Mindless of her high call, Again the lowly shepherdess of Arc, Express'd her joy. Of Elinor she ask'd, How from a doting mother he had come In arms array'd. "Thou wakest in my mind "A thought that makes me sad," the youth replied, "For Elinor wept much at my resolve, "And, eloquent with all a mother's fears, Urged me to leave her not. My wayward heart "Smote me, as I look'd back and saw her wave "Adieu! but high in hope I soon beguil'd "These melancholy feelings, by the thought "That we should both return to cheer her age, Thy mission well fulfill'd, and quit no more "The copse-embosom'd cottage." But the Maid Soon started from her dream of happiness, Feeble and faint she hung. His eager eye And strain'd in anxious love, on her wan cheek Fearfully silent gazed. But by the thought |