Joan of Arc (Southey)/Book 2

JOAN of ARC.

 

BOOK THE SECOND.

ARGUMENT.

 

Preternatural agency. JOAN and Dunois rest at a cottage. Their host speaks of the battle of Azincour and the massacre of the prisoners after that defeat. The siege of Rouen related and the miseries of the besieged. The useless inhabitants sent out of the town. Behaviour of Henry to them. Capture of Rouen and execution of Allain Blanchard its gallant defender.

JOAN of ARC.

 

BOOK THE SECOND.

 

NO more of Usurpation's doom'd defeat,
Ere we the deep preluding strain have pour'd
To the Great Father, Only Rightful King,
Eternal Father! King Omnipotent!
Beneath whose shadowy banners wide unfurl'd5
Justice leads forth her tyrant-quelling Hosts,
Such Symphony requires best Instrument.
Seize then my Soul! from Freedom's trophied Dome
The Harp which hanging high between the shields
Of Brutus and Leonidas, oft gives10
A fitful music to the breezy touch
Of patriot Spirits that demand their fame.
For what is Freedom, but the unfetter'd use

Of all the Powers which God for use had given?
But chiefly this, with holiest habitude15
Of constant Faith, him First, him Last to view
Thro' meaner powers and secondary things
Effulgent, as thro' clouds that veil his blaze.
For all that meets the bodily sense I deem
Symbolical, one mighty alphabet20
For infant minds; and we in this low world
Placed with our backs to bright Reality,
That we may learn with young unwounded ken
Things from their shadows. Know thyself my Soul!
Confirm'd thy strength, thy pinions fledged for flight25
Bursting this shell and leaving next thy nest
Soon upward soaring shalt thou fix intense
Thine eaglet eye on Heaven's eternal Sun!
But some there are who deem themselves most free,
When they within this gross and visible sphere30
Chain down the winged thought, scoffing ascent
Proud in their meanness: and themselves they cheat
With noisy emptiness of learned phrase,

Their subtle fluids^[1], impacts, essences,
Self-working Tools, uncaus'd Effects, and all35
Those blind Omniscients, those Almighty Slaves,
Untenanting Creation of its God.

But Properties are God: the naked mass
Acts only by its inactivity.
Here we pause humbly. Others boldlier think40
That as one body is the aggregate
Of atoms numberless, each organiz'd;
So by a strange and dim similitude,
Infinite myriads of self-conscious minds

Form one all-conscious Spirit, who directs45
With absolute ubiquity of thought
All his component monads, that yet seem
With various province and apt agency
Each to pursue its own self-centering end.
Some nurse the infant diamond in the mine;50
Some roll the genial juices thro' the oak;
Some drive the mutinous clouds to clash in air;
And rushing on the storm with whirlwind speed
Yoke the red lightning to their vollying car.
Thus these pursue their never-varying course,55
No eddy in their stream. Others more wild,
With complex interests weaving human fates,
Duteous or proud, alike obedient all,
Evolve the process of eternal good.

And what if some rebellious, o'er dark realms60
Arrogate power? yet these train up to God,
And on the rude eye unconfirm'd for day
Flash meteor lights better than total gloom.
As ere from Lieule-Oaive's vapoury head

The Laplander beholds the far-off sun65
Dart his slant beam on unobeying snows,
While yet the stern and solitary Night
Brooks no alternate sway, the Boreal Morn
With mimic lustre substitutes its gleam
Guiding his course, or by Niemi's lake70
Or Balda-Zhiok,^[2] or the mossy stone
Of Solfar-Kapper,^[3] while the snowy blast
Drifts arrowy by, or eddies round his sledge
Making the poor babe at its mother's back
Scream in its scanty cradle:^[4] he the while75

Wins gentle solace as with upward eye
He marks the streamy banners of the North,
Thinking, himself those happy spirits shall join
Who there in floating robes of rosy light
Dance sportively. For Fancy is the power80
That first unsensualizes the dark mind
Giving it new delights; and bids it swell
With wild activity; and peopling air,
By obscure fears of Beings invisible
Emancipates it from the grosser thrall85
Of the present impulse, teaching self controul
'Till Superstition with unconscious hand
Seat Reason on her throne. Wherefore not vain,
Nor yet without permitted power impressed,
I deem those legends terrible, with which90
The polar Ancient thrills his uncouth throng:
Whether of pitying Spirits that make their moan
O'er slaughter'd infants, or that Giant Bird

Vuokho, of whose rushing wings the noise
Is Tempest, when the unutterable Shape95
Speeds from the Mother of Death^[5] his destin'd way
To snatch the murderer from his secret cell!
Or if the Greenland Wizard in strange trance
Pierces the untravell'd realms of ocean's bed
(Where live the innocent, as far from cares100
As from the storms and overwhelming waves
Dark-tumbling on the surface of the deep)
Over the abysm even to that uttermost cave
By mishap'd Prodigies beleager'd, such
As Earth ne'er bred, nor Air, nor the upper Sea.105
There dwells the fury Form, whose unheard name
With eager eye, pale cheek, suspended breath
Unsleeping Silence guards, worn out with fear

Lest haply escaping on some treacherous blast
The fatal Sound let slip the Elements 110
And frenzy Nature. Yet the wizard her,
Arm'd with Torngarsuck's^[6] power, the Spirit of good,
Forces to unchain the foodful progeny
Of the Ocean stream. Wild phantasies! yet wise,
On the victorious goodness of high God 115
Teaching Reliance and medicinal Hope,
'Till, from Bethabra northward, heavenly Truth
With gradual steps winning her difficult way
Transfer their rude Faith perfected and pure.

If there be Beings of higher class than Man, 120
I deem no nobler province they possess
Than by disposal of apt circumstance
To rear some realm with patient discipline,
Aye bidding Pain, dark Error's uncouth child,
Blameless Parenticide! his snakey scourge 125
Lift fierce against his Mother! Thus they make
Of transient Evil ever-during Good

Themselves probationary, and denied
Confessed to view by preternatural deed
To overwhelm the will, save on some fated day130
Headstrong, or with petition'd might from God.

And such perhaps the guardian Power whose ken
Still dwelt on France. He from the Invisible World
Burst on the Maiden's eye, impregning Air
With Voices and strange Shapes, illusions apt,135
Shadowy of Truth. And first a landscape rose
More wild and waste and desolate, than where
The white bear drifting on a field of ice
Howls to her sunder'd cubs with piteous rage
And savage agony. Mid the drear scene140
A craggy mass uprear'd its misty brow,
Untouch'd by breath of Spring, unwont to know
Red Summer's influence, or the chearful face
Of Autumn; yet its fragments many and huge
Astounded ocean with the dreadful dance 145
Of whirlpools numberless, absorbing oft

The blameless fisher at his perilous toil.
Upon the topmost height the Maiden saw
A meteor-lighted dome: to every blast
Shook the wide fabric, tottering as to fall,150
For ever tottering; round the tempests yell'd
Tremendous, music hoarse! yet to the ear
Of him who there had rule, the Dynast stern,
Not undelightful. His perturbed flight
Anxious and gloomy, speeding hitherwards,155
She saw the dark-wing'd Shape: with all it's towers
The palace nods: such was Ambition's voice!
Obedient first, fierce servant of fierce Lord,
Cowl'd Superstition comes, her loosen'd robes
Float on the breeze and half exposed to view160
The rusted dagger. By her side crept on
Mitred Hypocrisy, with meekest mien
And step demure, and cross, which to his heart
He prest, and seem'd with heaven-ward eye to pour
The pious prayer; yet never prayer he pour'd165
Save when with secret glance he view'd the crowd

Admiring near. Revenge unwilling quits
The mangled corse; and prodigal of death
Next Slaughter strode; his falchion yet unsheath'd
Reeks from the wound, loose flow his long black locks,170
The wide roll of his eye is terrible,
And each limb quivers. Cruelty comes next,
With savage smile grasping a widowed dove.
And Fury next beating her own swoln breast
Rush'd at the call: and Envy hideous form175
Gnawing her flesh, and tearing from her head
The viper turn'd to bite: and Horror wild
With creeping flesh. Despair his sullen arms
Folded; aye muttering dark and half-form'd words
Of dreadful import. Aged Avarice next180
Hugg'd to his heart his bags, and cast around
(Unwilling tho' to lose the golden sight,)
The fearful look. And fitful Jealousy
Anxious for misery came: and feverish Lust
Hot from the convent. Palsied Fear fled on,185
And ever as he fled his ghastly eye

Reverts. Then stalk'd along the giant form
Of proud Oppression, on his crowned brow
Sate Desolation, and his pityless frown
Dispeopled countries: him behind a train190
Loathly and horrible, of nameless fiends
Outnumbering locusts. Last, as fill'd with fear
Suspicion ever-watchful clos'd the train:
Pale meagre spectre, ribb'd with iron plates,
Sleepless, and fearful of the friendly meal,195
Worn out with anxious vigilance of life.

These at the palace meet, there, porter fit,
Remorse for ever his sad vigils kept,
His heart the viper's feast: worn down his face,
If face it were when scarce the shrivell'd skin200
Wrap'd o'er the bone, proclaim'd the gnawing pang:
Inly he groan'd, or starting wildly, shriek'd,
Aye as the fabric tottering from its base
Threaten'd destruction, tho' oft announc'd withheld,
Tho' still withheld, expected.

These the Maid205
Mark'd as they steer'd their dusky flight along;
And lo! she was amidst them.
Paved with bones
The floor breath'd pestilence: the emblazon'd walls
With ensigns and with blood-stain'd arms were hung,
The trophies of Ambition.
On his throne210
That Form portentous rear'd his giant bulk,
More huge than he, who with his hundred arms
Scatter'd confusion o'er the host of Gods
Briareus: or the monster brethren twain,
Whose stature^[7] swelling every hour gave hopes215
Of equalling highest Heaven: nor larger he
Illusive, 'gainst whose head the thunderer Thor
Sped frustrate his full force^[8]. A sable helm
Shades his brown face, where glow'd thro' each dark tint
The fire of anger; in his hand he grasp'd 220

The desolating spear: his broad black brow
In thought contracted spake his brooding soul,
Sullenly silent.
"Maid beloved of Heaven!"
(To her the tutelary Power exclaimed)
"Of Chaos the adventurous progeny225
Thou seest; foul missionaries of foul sire,
Fierce to regain the losses of that hour
When Love rose glittering, and his gorgeous wings
Over the abyss flutter'd with such glad noise,
As what time after long and pestful Calms230
With slimy shapes and miscreated life
Pois'ning the vast Pacific, the fresh breeze
Wakens the merchant sail, uprising. Night
An heavy unimaginable moan
Sent forth, when she the Protoplast beheld235
Stand beauteous on Confusion's charmed wave.
Moaning she fled, and entered the Profound
That leads with downward windings to the Cave
Of darkness palpable, desart of Deaths,

Sunk deep beneath Gehenna's many roots.240
There many a dateless age the Beldame lurk'd
And trembled: till engender'd by fierce Hate,
Fierce Hate and gloomy Hope, a Dream arose
Shap'd like a black cloud mark'd with streaks of fire.
It rous'd the Hell-hag: she the dew-damps wip'd245
From off her brow, and thro' the uncouth maze
Retraced her steps; but ere she reach'd the mouth
Of that drear labyrinth, shudd'ring she paus'd
Nor dar'd re-enter the diminish'd Gulph.
As thro' the dark vaults of some moulder'd tower250
(Which fearful to approach, the evening hind
Circles at distance in his homeward way)
The winds breathe hollow, deem'd the plaining groan
Of prison'd spirits; with such fearful voice
Night murmur'd, and the sound thro' Chaos went.255
Leapt at the call her hideous-fronted brood!
A dark behest they heard, and rush'd on earth,
Since that sad hour in camps and courts adored
Rebels from God and Monarchs o'er Mankind!

These are the fiends that o'er thy native land 260
Spread Guilt and Horror. Maid belov'd of Heaven!
Dar'st thou inspir'd by the holy flame of Love
Encounter such fell shapes, nor fear to meet
Their wrath, their wiles? O Maiden, dar'st thou die?

"Father of Heaven! I will not fear, she said 265
My arm is weak, but mighty is thy sword.

She spake and as she spake the trump was heard
That echoed ominous o'er the streets of Rome,
When the first Cæsar totter'd o'er the grave
By Freedom delv'd: the Trump, whose chilling blast 270
On Marathon and on Platæa's plain
Scatter'd the Persian. From his obscure haunt
Shriek'd Fear, the ghastliest of Ambition's throng,
Fev'rish yet freezing, eager paced, yet slow;
As she that creeps from forth her swampy reeds 275
Ague, the biform Hag! when early Spring
Beams on the marsh-bred vapours. "Lo! she goes!

To Orleans lo! she goes—the Mission'd Maid!
The Victor Hosts wither beneath her arm!
And what are Crecy, Poictiers, Azincour280
But noisy echoes in the ear of Pride?"
Ambition heard and startled on his throne;
But strait a smile of savage joy illum'd
His grisly features, like the sheety Burst
Of Lightning o'er the awaken'd midnight clouds285
Wide-flash'd. For lo! a flaming pile reflects
Its red light fierce and gloomy on the face
Of Superstition and her goblin Son,
Loud-laughing Cruelty, who to the stake
A female fix'd, of bold and beauteous mien,290
Her snow-white Limbs by iron fetters bruis'd,
Her breast expos'd. JOAN saw, she saw and knew
Her perfect image. Nature thro' her frame
One pang shot shiv'ring; but, that frail pang soon
Dismiss'd, "Even so" (the exulting Maiden said)295
"The sainted Heralds of Good Tidings fell,
And thus they witness'd God! But now the Clouds

Treading, and Storms beneath their feet, they soar
Higher, and higher soar, and soaring sing
Loud Songs of Triumph! O ye Spirits of God,300
Hover around my mortal agonies!"
She spake: and instantly faint melody
Melts on her ear, soothing, and sad, and slow,
Such measures as at calmy midnight heard
By aged Hermit in his holy dream305
Foretell and solace death: and now they rise
Louder, as when with harp and mingled voice
The white-rob'd multitude of slaughter'd Saints
At Heaven's wide-open'd portals gratulant
Receive some martyr'd Patriot.^[9] The harmony310
Entranc'd the maid, 'till each suspended sense
Brief slumber seiz'd and confus'd extacy.
At length awak'ning slow she gaz'd around;
But lo! no more was seen the ice-pil'd mount.

And meteor-lighted dome. An Isle appear'd,315
It's high, o'erhanging, rough, broad-breasted cliffs
Glass'd on the subject ocean. A vast plain
Stretch'd opposite, where ever and anon
The Ploughman following sad his meagre team
Turn'd up fresh skulls unstartled, and the bones320
Of fierce, hate-breathing Combatants, who there
All mingled lay beneath the common earth,
Death's gloomy reconcilement! O'er the fields
Stepp'd a fair Form repairing all she might,
Her temples olive-wreath'd; and where she trod,325
Fresh flowrets rose and many a foodful herb.
But wan her cheek, her footsteps insecure,
And anxious pleasure beam'd in her faint eye,
As she had newly left a couch of pain,
Pale Convalescent! (Yet some time to rule330
With power exclusive o'er the willing world,
That blest prophetic Mandate then fulfill'd,
Peace be on earth!) An happy while but brief
She seem'd to wander with assiduous feet,

And heal'd the recent harm of chill or blight,335
And nurs'd each plant that fair and virtuous grew.
But soon a deep precursive sound moan'd hollow:
Black rose the clouds, and now, (as in a dream)
Their red'ning shapes transform'd to warrior hotss,
Cours'd o'er the Sky, and battled in mid air.340
The Sea meantime his Billows darkest roll'd,
And each stain'd wave dash'd on the shore a corse.
Nor did not the large blood-drops fall from Heaven
Portentous! while aloft were seen to float,
His hideous features blended with the mist,345
The long black locks of Slaughter. Peace beheld,
And o'er the plain with oft-reverted eye
Fled, till a place of Tombs she reach'd, and there
Within a ruin'd sepulchre obscure
Found hiding-place.
The delegated Maid 350
Gaz'd thro' her tears, then in sad tones exclaim'd,
"Thou mild-ey'd Form! wherefore ah! wherefore fled?
The name of Justice written on thy brow

Resplendent shone; but all they, who unblam'd
Dwelt in thy dwellings, call thee Happiness.355
Ah! why uninjurd and unprofited
Should multitudes against their brethren rush?
Why sow they guilt, still reaping misery!
Lenient of care, thy songs, O Peace! are sweet,
As after showers the perfum'd gale of Eve,360
That plays around the sick man's throbbing temples;
And gay thy grassy altar pil'd with fruits.
But boasts the shrine of Daemon War one charm?
Save that with many an orgie strange and foul
Dancing around with interwoven arms365
The Maniac Suicide and Giant Murder
Exult in their fierce union! I am sad,
And know not why the simple Peasants croud
Beneath the Chieftain's standard!" Thus the Maid.
To her the tutelary Spirit reply'd,370
"When Luxury and Lust's exhausted stores
No more can rouse the appetites of Kings;
When the low Flattery of their reptile Lords

Falls flat and heavy on the accustomed ear;
When Eunuchs sing, and Fools buffoon'ry make,375
And Dancers writhe their harlot limbs in vain:
Then War and all its dread vicissitudes
Pleasingly agitate their stagnant hearts,
Its hopes, its fears, its victories, its defeats,
Insipid Royalty's keen Condiment.380
Therefore, uninjur'd and unprofited
(Victims at once and executioners)
The congregated Husbandmen lay waste
The Vineyard and the Harvest: as along
The Bothnic Coast or southward of the Line385
Though hush'd the Winds, and cloudless the high Noon,
Yet if Leviathan, weary of ease,
In sports unwieldy toss his island bulk,
Ocean behind him billows, and, before,
A storm of Waves breaks foamy on the strand.390
And hence for times and seasons bloody and dark
Short Peace shall skin the wounds of causeless War,
And War, his strained sinews knit anew,

Still violate th' unfinished Works of Peace.
But yonder look—for more demands thy view."395

He said; and straightway from the opposite Isle
A Vapor rose, pierc'd by the Maiden's eye.
Guiding its course Oppression sate within,
With terror pale and rage, yet laugh'd at times
Musing on Vengeance: trembled in his hand 400
A Sceptre fiercely-grasp'd. O'er ocean westward
The Vapor sail'd, as when a Cloud exhal'd
From Ægypt's fields, that steam hot Pestilence,
Travels the sky for many a trackless league,
'Till o'er some death-doom'd Land distant in vain 405
It broods incumbent. Forthwith from the Plain
Facing the Isle, a brighter Cloud arose
And steer'd its course which way the Vapor went.
Envy sate guiding—Envy, hag abhorr'd!
Like Justice mask'd, and doom'd to aid the fight 410
Victorious 'gainst Oppression. Hush'd awhile
The Maiden paus'd, musing what this might mean;

But long time pass'd not, ere that brighter Cloud
Returned more bright: along the Plain it swept;
And soon from forth its bursting sides emerg'd415
A dazzling Form, broad-bosom'd, bold of Eye,
And wild her hair save where by Laurels bound.
Not more majestic stood the healing God
When from his Bow the arrow sped, that slew
Huge Python. Shriek'd Ambition's ghastly throng,420
And with them those, the locust Fiends that crawl'd
And glitter'd in Corruption's slimy track.
Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign.
And such Commotion made they and Uproar
As when the mad Tornado bellows thro'425
The guilty Islands of the western main,
What time departing for their native shores,
Eboe,^[10] or Koromantyn's plain of Palms,
The infuriate Spirits of the Murder'd make

Fierce merriment, and vengeance ask of Heaven.430
Warm'd with new Influence the unwholsome Plain
Sent up its foulest fogs to meet the Morn:
The Sun, that rose on Freedom, rose in blood!

"Maiden beloved, and Delegate of Heaven!
(To her the tutelary Spirit said)435

Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day,
The stormy Morning into cloudless Noon.
Much hast thou seen, nor all can'st understand—
But this be thy best Omen, Save thy Country!"
Thus saying, from the answering Maid he pass'd,440
And with him disappear'd the goodly Vision.

"Glory to thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!
All-conscious Presence of the Universe!
Nature's vast ever-acting Energy!
In will, in deed, Impulse of All to all;445
Whether thy Law with unrefracted Ray
Beam on the Prophet's purged Eye, or if
Diseasing Realms the Enthusiast wild of thought
Scatter new frenzies on the infected Throng,
Thou Both inspiring, and predooming Both,450
Fit Instruments and best of perfect End.
Glory to thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!"

Return, adven'trous Song! to where Dunois

With eager ear heard from the Maid her tale
Of early youth and Mission from on high.455
And now beneath the Horizon west'ring slow
Had sunk the orb of Day: a milder Light
Soften'd the scene, fading thro' every hue
'Till twilight's deep'ning mists o'ershadow'd all.
The trav'llers wend, beguiling the long way460
With converse, 'till the dewy Damps of Night
Rose round. Far off a glimm'ring taper's ray
Gleam'd thro' the embowered gloom: to that they turn.
An aged man came forth; his scant grey locks
Waved on the night breeze. Time had written deep465
On his shrunk face the characters of age.
Them louting low with rustic courtesy
He welcom'd in, on the white-ember'd hearth
Then heapt fresh fuel, and with friendly care
Spread out the homely board: fatigued they eat470
The country cakes and quaff the nut-brown bowl.

"Strangers, your fare is homely," said their Host,

But such as we poor men earn with hard toil:
In faith ye are welcome to it. I do love
A soldier, my old heart seems young again.475
Poor and decrepit as I am, my arm
Once grasp'd the sword full firmly, and my limbs
Were strong as thine, Sir Warrior! God be with thee
And send thee better fortune than old Bertram!
I would that I were young again to meet480
These haughty English in the field of fight.
Such as I was when on the fatal plain
Of Azincour I met them."
"Wert thou then
A sharer in that dreadful day's defeat?"
Exclaim'd the Bastard, "didst thou know the chief485
Of Orleans?"
"Know him! the old veteran cried,
I saw him ere the bloody fight began
Riding from rank to rank, his beaver up,
The long lance quivering in his mighty grasp.
Full was his eye and fierce, yet beaming still490

On all his countrymen chearful and mild
Winning all hearts. Looking at thee Sir Knight
Methinks I see him now, such was his eye
So mild in peace, such was his manly brow.
Beshrew me but I weep at the remembrance."495

"Full was his eye," exclaim'd the Bastard Son
Of Orleans, "yet it beam'd benevolence.
I never yet saw love so dignified!
There lived not one his vassal but adored
The good the gallant Chief. Amid his halls500
High blazed the hospitable hearth, the pilgrim
Of other countries seeing his high towers^[11]
Rejoiced, for he had often heard of Orleans:
He lives, my brother! bound in the hard chain
He lives most wretched."
The big tear roll'd down 505
The Warriors cheeks, "but he shall live, Dunois,"
Exclaim'd the Mission'd Maid, "but he shall live

To hear good tidings; hear of Liberty,
Of his own liberty by his brother's arm
Atchiev'd in hard fought battle. He shall live510
Happy. The memory of his prison'd years
Shall heighten all his joys, and his grey hairs
Go to the grave in peace."
"I would fain live
To see that day," replied their aged hoft,
How would my heart leap once more to behold515
The gallant generous chieftain! I fought by him
When all the hopes of victory were lost,
And down his batter'd arms the blood stream'd fast
From many a wound. Like wolves they hemm'd us in
Fierce in unhoped for conquest: all around520
Our dead and dying countrymen lay heap'd.
Yet still he strove, I wondered at his valour!
Was not a man that on that fatal day

Fought bravelier."
"Fatal was that day to France,"
Exclaim'd the Bastard, "there Alencon died525
Valiant in vain; and he the haughty chief
D'Albert, who rashly arrogant of strength
Impetuous rush'd to ruin. Brabant fell,
Vaudemont and Marie, and Bar, and Faquenberg,
Her noblest warriors, daring in despair530
Fought the fierce foe—ranks fell on ranks before them;
The prisoners of that shameful day out-summ'd
Their victors!"^[12]
"There are those," old Bertram cried,
"Who for his deeds will honor Henry's name.
That honor that a conqueror may deserve535
He merits, for right valiantly he fought
On that disastrous day; but when the field

Was won, and those who had escaped the carnage
Had yielded up their arms, it was most foul
On his defenceless prisoners to glut^[13]540
The blunted sword of conquest. Girt around
I to their mercy had surrendered me,
When lo! I heard the dreadful groan of death—
Not as amid the fray, when man met man
And in fair combat gave the mortal blow;545
Here the poor captives, weaponless and bound
Saw their stern victors draw again the sword,
And groan'd and strove in vain to free their hands
And bade them think upon their plighted faith
And pray'd for mercy in the name of God550
In vain: Their King had bade them massacre,
And in their helpless prisoners' naked breasts
They drove the sword. Then I expected death
And at that moment death was terrible;

For the heat of flight was over; of my home555
I thought, and of my wife and little ones
In bitterness of heart. The gallant man,
Whose by the chance of war I had become,
Had pity, and he loos'd my hands and said,
Frenchman! I would have killed thee in the battle560
But my arm shrinks at murder—get thee hence."
"It was the will of heaven that I should live
Childless and old to think upon the past
And wish that I had perish'd!"
The old man
Wept as he spake. "Ye may perhaps have heard565
Of the hard siege so long by Rouen endur'd.
I dwelt there strangers, I had then a wife
And I had children tenderly beloved,
Who I did hope should cheer me in old age
And close mine eyes. The tale of Misery570
May-hap were tedious, or I could relate
Much of that dreadful siege."
The Maid replied

Anxious of that devoted town to learn.
Thus then the veteran—
"From that field of shame
To France so fatal, Azincour, escap'd;575
I speeded homewards and abode in peace.
Henry as wise as brave had back to England^[14]
Led his victorious army; well aware
That France was mighty, that her warrior sons,
Impatient of a foreign victor's sway,580
Might rise impetuous, and with multitudes
Tread down the invaders. Wisely he return'd,
For the proud Barons in their private broils
Wasted the strength of France. I dwelt at home
Peaceful though lowly, with my little store585
Content. I lov'd around the cheerful hearth
To tell of all the perils I had known:

My children they would sit and listen eager,
And bless the all-good Father who preserv'd me.

"Ah me—when war the masters of mankind,590
Woe to the poor man! If he sow the field,
He shall not reap the harvest: if he see
His blooming children rise around, his heart
Aches at the thought that they are multiplied
To the sword! Again from England the fierce foe 595
Rush'd on our ravag'd coasts. In battle bold,
Savage in conquest, their victorious King
Swept like the desolating tempest round.
Dambiere's submits—on Caen's subjected walls
Proudly in conquest wav'd the English flag.600
Bulwark of Normandy, Rouen still remain'd;
Nor unresisted round our massy walls
Fix'd they their camp. I need not tell Sir Knight
How oft and boldly on th' invading host
We burst with fierce assault impetuous forth;605
For many were the warrior Sons of Rouen.^[15]

O'er all that gallant Citizen was fam'd
For virtuous hardihood praeminent
Blanchard. He, gathering his compatriots round,
With his own courage kindling every breast,610
Had bade them vow before Almighty God
Never to yield them to the usurping foe^[16]
While yet their arms could lift the spear; while yet
Life was to think of every pledge that man
Most values. To the God of Hosts we vow'd;615
And we had baffled the besieging power,
But our cold-hearted Foeman drew around
His strong entrenchments. From the watch-tower's top
In vain with fearful hearts along the Seine
We strain'd the eye, and every distant wave620
That in the sun-beam glitter'd, fondly thought

The white sail of supply. Ah me! no more
Rose on our aching sight the food-fraught bark;
For guarded was the Seine, and our stern foe
Had made a league with Famine. How my heart^[17] 625
Sunk in me when at night I carried home
The scanty pittance of to-morrow's meal!
You know not, strangers! what it is to see
The asking eye of hunger!
"Still we strove
Expecting aid, till sickening Expectation630
Felt never hope, and yet most keen the pang
Of disappointment. Tho' with christian zeal
Ursino would have pour'd the balm of peace^[18]

Into our wounds, ambitious ear best pleas'd
With the War's clamor and the groan of Death,635
Was deaf to prayer. Day after day fled on;
We heard no voice of comfort; never aid
Arriv'd. And now the loathliest food was sought,
And now the wretched ones lay in our streets
Crying for food, and dying as they cry'd—640
Oh God it was a dreadful sight to see!
Yet still we struggled nobly. Blanchard still
Spoke of the savage fury of the foe,
Of captives massacred at Azincour,
Of ravaged Caen, and of her gallant sons645
In cold blood murder'd. Then his scanty food^[19]

Sharing with the most wretched, he would bid us
Bear with our miseries cheerly.
"Thus distress'd
Lest all should perish thus, our chieftains doom'd
The helpless ones—dreadful alternative,650
To seek their fates. I never shall forget
The horrors of that hour! Oh God forbid
That my worst foe should ever feel such pangs.
Then as our widow wives clung round our necks,
And the deep sob of anguish interrupted655
The prayer of parting—even the pious priest
As he implor'd his God to strengthen us,
And told us we should meet again in Heaven,
He groan'd and curs'd in bitterness of heart^[20]
That merciless man—The wretched crowd pass'd on: 660
My wife—my children—thro' the gates they pass'd—
Then the gates clos'd Would I were in my grave
That I might lose remembrance.
"What is man

That he can hear the groan of wretchedness
And feel no fleshly pang! Why did the All-Good665
Create these warrior scourges of mankind,
These who delight in slaughter? I did think
There was not on this earth a heart so hard
Could hear a famish'd woman cry For bread,
And know no pity. As the outcast train 670
Drew near, the English Monarch bade his troops
Force back the miserable multitude.^[21]
They drove them to the walls—it was the depth
Of Winter—we had no relief to grant.
The aged ones groan'd to our foe in vain,675
The mother pleaded for her dying child
And they felt no remorse!"
The Mission'd Maid
Starts from her seat—"The old and the infirm

The mother and her babes—and yet no lightning
Blasted this man!"
"Aye Lady," Bertram cried, 680
"And when we sent the herald to implore^[22]
His mercy on the helpless, he relax'd
His stern face into savage merriment,
Scoffing their agonies. On the high wall
I stood and mark'd the miserable outcasts,685
And every moment thought that Henry's heart,
Hard as it was, must feel. All night I stood—
Their deep groans sounded on the midnight gale.

Fainter they grew, for the cold wintry wind
Blew bleak; fainter they grew, and at the last690
All was still, save that ever and anon
Some mother shriek'd o'er her expiring child
The shriek of frenzying anguish.
"From that hour
On all the busy turmoil of the world
I gaz'd with strange indifference; bearing want695
With the sick patience of a mind worn out.
Nor when the Traitor yielded up our town^[23]
Ought heeded I as through our ruin'd streets,
Thro' putrid heaps of famish'd carcasses
Pass'd the long pomp of triumph. One keen pang700
I felt, when by that bloody King's command
The gallant Blanchard died. Calmly he died,^[24]
And as he bow'd beneath the axe, thank'd God
That he had done his duty.

"I survive,
A solitary friendless wretched one,705
Knowing no joy save in the faith I feel
That I shall soon be gather'd to my sires,
And soon repose there where the wicked cease
From troubling, and the weary are at rest.

"And happy, cried the delegated Maid,710
And happy they who in that holy faith
Bow meekly to the rod! a little while
Shall they endure the proud man's contumely,
The hard wrongs of the great. A little while
Tho' shelterless they feel the wintry wind,715
The wind shall whistle o'er their turf-grown grave,
And all beneath be peace. But woe to those,
Woe to the Mighty Ones who send abroad
Their train'd assassins, and who give to Fury
The flaming firebrand; these indeed shall live720
The heroes of the wand'ring minstrel's song,
But they have their reward: the innocent blood

Steams up to Heaven against them.—God shall hear
The widow's groan."
So spake she and arose,
And they betook them to their homely rest.725

1. Line 34 Sir Isaac Newton at the end of the last edition of his Optics, supposes that a very subtile and elastic fluid, which he calls æther, is diffused thro' the pores of gross bodies, as well as thro' the open spaces that are void of gross matter; he supposes it to pierce all bodies, and to touch their least particles, acting on them with a force proportional to their number or to the matter of the body on which it acts. He supposes likewise, that it is rarer in the pores of bodies than in open spaces, and even rarer in small pores and dense bodies, than in large pores and rare bodies; and also that its density increases in receding from gross matter; so for instance as to be greater at the 1/100 of an inch from the surface of any body, than at its surface; and so on. To the action of this æther he ascribes the attractions of gravitation and cohæsion, the attraction and repulsion of electrical bodies, the mutual influences of bodies and light upon each other, the effects and communication of heat, and the performance of animal sensation and motion. David Hartley from whom this account of æther is chiefly borrowed, makes it the instrument of propagating those vibrations or configurative motions which are ideas. It appears to me, no hypothesis ever involved so many contradictions; for how can the same fluid be both dense and rare in the same body at one time? yet in the Earth as gravitating to the Moon, it must be very rare; and in the Earth as gravitating to the Sun, it must be very dense. For, as Andrew Baxter well observes, it doth not appear sufficient to account how this fluid may act with a force proportional to the body to which another is impelled, to assert that it is rarer in great bodies than in small ones: it must be farther asserted that this fluid is rarer or denser in the same body, whether small or great, according as the body to which that is impelled is itself small or great. But whatever may be the solidity of this objection, the following seems unanswerable:
   If every particle thro' the whole solidity of a heavy body receive its impulse from the particles of this fluid, it should seem that the fluid itself must be as dense as the very densest heavy body, gold for instance; there being as many impinging particles in the one, as there are gravitating particles in the other which receive their gravitation by being impinged upon: so that, throwing gold or any heavy body upward, against the impulse of this fluid, would be like throwing gold thro' gold; and as this æther must be equally diffused over the whole sphere of its activity, it must be as dense when it impels cork as when it impels gold: so that to throw a piece of cork upward, would be as if we endeavoured to make cork penetrate a medium as dense as gold: and tho' we were to adopt the extravagant opinions which have been advanced concerning the progession of pores, yet however porous we suppose a body, if it be not all pore, the argument holds equally; the fluid must be as dense as the body in order to give every particle its impulse.
   It has been asserted that Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy leads in its consequences to Atheism: perhaps not without reason. For if matter by any powers or properties given to it, can produce the order of the visible world, and even generate thought; why may it not have possessed such properties by inherent right? and where is the necessity of a God? matter is, according to the mechanic philosophy capable of acting most wisely and most beneficently without Wisdom or Benevolence; and what more does the Atheist assert? if matter possess those properties, why might it not have possessed them from all eternity? Sir Isaac Newton's Deity seems to be alternately operose and indolent; to have delegated so much power as to make it inconceivable what he can have reserved. He is dethroned by Vice-regent second causes.
   We seem placed here to acquire a knowledge of effects. Whenever we would pierce into the Adyta of Causation, we bewilder ourselves; and all, that laborious Conjecture can do, is to fill up the gaps of imagination. We are restless, because invisible things are not the objects of vision—and philosophical systems, for the most part, are received not for their Truth, but in proportion as they attribute to Causes a susceptibility of being seen, whenever our visual organs shall have become sufficiently powerful.
2. Line 71 Balda-Zhiok. i.e. mons altudinis, the highest mountain in Lapland.
3. Line 72 Solfar-Kapper: capitium Solfar, hic locus omnium, quotquot veterum Lapponum superstitio sacrificiis religiosoque cultui dedicavit, celebratissimus erat, in parte sinus australis situs, semimilliaris spatio a mari distans. Ipse locus, quern curiositatis gratia aliquando me invisisse memini, duabus præaltis lapidibus, sibi invicem oppositis, quorum alter musco circumdatus erat, constabat.
   

   Leemius de Lapponibus.

4. Line 75 The Lapland women carry their infants at their backs in a piece of excavated wood which serves them for a cradle; opposite to the infant's mouth there is a hole for it to breathe thro'.
   Mirandum prorsus est & vix credibile nisi cui vidisse contigit. Lappones hyeme iter facientes per vastos montes, perque horrida et invia tesqua, eo præsertim tempore quo omnia perpetuis nivibus obtecta sunt et nives ventis agitantur et in gyros aguntur, viam ad destinata loca absque errore invenire posse, lactantem autem infantem, si quem habeat, ipsa mater in dorso bajulat, in excavato ligno (Gieed'k ipsi vocant) quod pro cunis utuntur, in hoc infanspannis et pellibus convolutus colligatus jacet.
   

   Leemius de Lapponibus.

5. Line 96 Jaibme Aibmo.
6. Lin 112 They call the Good Spirit, Torngarsuck the other great but malignant spirit is a nameless female; she dwells under the sea in a great house where she can detain in captivity all the animals of the ocean by her magic power. When a dearth befalls the Greenlanders, an Angekok or magician must undertake a journey thither: he passes thro' the kingdom of souls, over an horrible abyss into the palace of this phantom, and by his enchantments causes the captive creatures to asceed directly to the surface of the ocean.

   See Crantz. Hist, of Greenland, Vol. i, 206.

7. Line 215 Otus and Ephialtes.
8. Line 218 See the Edda. Fab. 24th of the illusions practised upon Thor by Skrymner.
9. Line 310. Revel. vi. 9, 11. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held. And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little Season, until their fellow-servants also, and their Brethren that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled.
10. Line 428. The Slaves in the West-India Islands consider Death as a passport to their native Country.—This Sentiment is thus expressed in the Introduction to a Greek Prize Ode on the Slave-Trade, of which the Ideas are better than the Language or Metre, in which they are conveyed:
    

    Ω σκοτου πυλας, Θανατε, προλειπων
    Ες γενος σπευδοις υποζευχθεν Ατᾳ.
    Ου ξενισθησῃ γενυων σπαραγμοις
    Ουδ' ολολυγμω,
    
    Αλλα και κυκλοισι χοροιτυποισι
    Κ'ασματων χαρα· φοβερος μεν εσσι,
    Αλλ' ομως Ελευθεριᾳ συνοικεῖς,
    Στυγνε Τυραννε!
    
    Δασκιοις επει πτερυγεσσι σησι
    Α! θαλασσιον καθορωντες οιδμα
    Αιθεροπλαγτοις υπο ποσσ' ανεισι
    Πατριδ' επ' αιαν.
    
    Ενθα μαν Εραςαι Ερῳμενησιν
    Αμφι πηγησιν κιτρινων υπ' αλσων,
    Οσσ' υπο βροτοις επαθον βροτοι, τα
    Δεινα λεγοντι.

    LITERAL TRANSLATION.

    Leaving the gates of Darkness, O Death! hasten thou to a Race yoked to Misery! Thou wilt not be received with lacerations of Cheeks, nor with funereal Ululation—but with circling Dances and the joy of Songs. Thou art terrible indeed, yet thou dwellest with Liberty, stern Genius! Borne on thy dark pinions over the swelling of Ocean they return to their native Country. There by the side of fountains beneath Citron Groves the Lovers tell to their Beloved, what horrors being Men they had endured from Men! S. T. C.
11. Line 502 The Maid declared upon her trial, that God loved the Duke of Orleans, and that she had received more revelations concerning him, than any person living, except the King.

    Rapin.

    Orleans during his long captivity "had learnt to court the fair ladies of England in their native strains," among the Harleian M.S.S. is a collection of "love poems, roundels and songs," composed by the French Prince during his confinement,

12. Line 533 According to Holinshed the English army consisted of only 15,000 men, harrassed with a tedious march of a month, in very bad weather, through an enemy's country, and for the most part sick of a flux. He states the number of the French at 60,000, of whom 10,000 were slain and 1500 of the higher order taken prisoners. Some historians make the disproportion in numbers still greater. Goodwin says, that among the slain there were one Archbishop, three Dukes, six Earls, ninety Barons, fifteen hundred Knights, and seven thousand Esquires or Gentlemen.
13. Line 540 A company of fugitives, headed by Robert de Bournonville, who had retired by times out of the battle, knowing the English camp was but weakly guarded, pillaged it during the engagement; in consequence of this alarm, Henry ordered the prisoners to be slain, except the most eminent.
14. Line 577 Henry judged, that by fomenting the troubles of France, he should procure more certain and lasting advantages, than by means of his arms. The truth is, by pushing the French too vigorously, he ran the risk of uniting them all against him; in which case, his advantages, probably, would have been inconsiderable, but by granting them some respite, he gave them opportunity to destroy one another; therefore, contrary to every one's expectation, he laid aside his military affairs for near eighteen months, and betook himself entirely to negotiation, which afforded him the prospect of less doubtful advantages.Rapin.
15. Line 606 "Yet although the armie was strong without, there lacked not within both hardie capteins and manfull soldiers, and as for people, they had more than inough: for as it is written by some that had good cause to know the truth, and no occasion to erre from the same, there were in the citie at the time of the siege 210,000 persons. Dailie were issues made out of the citie at diverse gates, sometime to the losse of the one partie and sometimes of the other, as chances of warre in such adventures happen. Holinshed. 566.
16. Line 612 The Frenchmen indeed preferring fame before worldlie riches, and despising pleasure (the enemy to warlike prowesse) sware ech to other never to render or deliver the citie, while they might either hold sword in hand or speare in rest. Holinshed. 566.
17. Line 625 "The King of England advertised of their hautie courages, determined to conquer them by famine which would not be tamed by weapon. Wherefore he stopped all the passages, both by water and land, that no vittels could be conveied to the citie. He cast trenches round about the walls, and set them full of stakes, and defended them with archers, so that there was left neither waie for them within to issue out, nor for anie that were abroad to enter in without his license.—The King's coosine germane and alie (the King of Portugale) sent a great navie of well-appointed ships unto the mouth of the river of Seine, to stop that no French vessel should enter the river and passe up the same, to the aid of them within Rouen.
    Thus was the faire citie of Rouen compassed about with enemies, both by water and land, having neither comfort nor aid of King, Dauphin, or Duke.Holinshed. 566.
18. Line 633 After he had prosecuted the siege of this place for some time, the Cardinal Ursino repaired to his camp, and endeavoured to persuade him to moderate his terms, and agree to an equitable peace; but the King's reply plainly evinced his determination of availing himself of the present situation of public affairs, "Do you not see", said he, "that God has brought me hither, as it were by the hand? The throne of France may be said to be vacant; I have a good title to that crown; the whole kingdom is involved in the utmost disorder and confusion; few are willing, and still fewer are able, to resist me. Can I have a more convincing proof of the interposition of heaven in my favour, and that the Supreme Ruler of all things has decreed that I should ascend the throne of France?"

    Hist. of England, by Hugh Clarendon.

19. Line 646 Henry, not satisfied with the reduction of Caen, put several of the inhabitants to death, who had signalized their valour in defence of their liberty and property.
    

    H. Clarendon.

20. Line 659 After the capture of the city "Luca Italico, the Vicar Generall of the archbishop- rike of Rouen for denouncing the King accursed was delivered to him and deteined in prison till he died.Holinshed. Titus Livius.
21. Line 672 "A great number of poore sillie creatures were put out of the gates, which were by the Englishmen that kept the trenches, beaten and driven back againe to the same gates, which they found closed and shut against them, and so they laie betweene the wals of the citie and the trenches of the enemies, still crieing for help and releefe, for lack whereof great numbers of them dailie died.Holinshed.
22. Line 681 One of the deputed citizens shewing himself more rash than wise, more arrogant than learned, took upon him to shew wherein the glorie of victorie consisted; advising the King not to shew his manhood in famishing a multitude of poore simple and innocent people, but rather suffer such miserable wretches as laie betwixt the walls of the citie and the trenches of his siege, to passe through the camp, that theie might get their living in other places, then if he durst manfullie assault the place, and by force subdue it, he should win both worldlie fame, and merit great meed from the hands of almightie God, for having compassion of the poore needie and indigent people. When this orator had said, the King with a fierce countenance and bold spirit, reproved them for their malapert presumption, in that they should seeme to go about to teach him what belonged to the dutie of a conqueror, and therefore since it appeared that the same was unknown to them, he declared that the Goddesse of Battell called Bellona had three handmaidens, ever of necessitie attending upon her, as Blood, Fire, and Famine, and whereas it laie in his choice to use them all three, he had appointed onelie the meekest maid of those three damsels to punish them of that citie till they were brought to reason. This answer put the French ambassador in a great studie, musing much at his excellent wit and hawtinesse of courage.
    

    Holinshed.

23. Line 697 Roan was betrayed by its Burgundian Governor Bouthellier. During this siege fifty thousand men perished through fatigue and the use of unwholesome provisions.
24. Line 702 Roy d'Angletterre fist coupper la teste a Allain Blanchart cappitaine du commun. Monstrellet. Feuillet CXCVII.