of Boulaincourt; that the demons had discovered to
her a magical sword consecrated in the Church of St. Catherine,
to which she owed her victories; that by means of sorcery she had
gained the confidence of Charles VIII. Jeanne d'Arc was convicted
of all these crimes, aggravated by _heresy_: her revelations were
declared to be inventions of the devil to delude the people.[67]

[67] Shakspeare brings the fiends upon the stage: their work
is done, and they now abandon the enchantress. In vain La
Pucelle invokes in her extremity--

'Ye familiar spirits, that are cull'd
Out of the powerful regions under earth,
Help me this once, that France may get the field.
Oh, hold me not with silence over-long!

'Where I was wont to feed you with my blood,
I'll lop a member off, and give it you,
In earnest of a further benefit;
So you do condescend to help me now.

* * * * *

Cannot my body, nor blood-sacrifice,
Entreat you to your wonted furtherance?
Then take my soul; my body, soul, and all,
Before that England give the French the foil.
See! they forsake me.

* * * * *

My ancient incantations are too weak
And hell too strong for me to buckle with.'

But a worthier, if contradictory, origin is assigned for her
enthusiasm when she replies to the foul aspersion of her
taunting captors--

'Virtuous, and holy; chosen from above,
By inspiration of celestial grace,
To work exceeding miracles on earth,
I never had to do with wicked spirits.
But you--that are polluted with your lusts,
Stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents,
Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices--
Because you want the grace that others have,
You judge it straight a thing impossible
To compass wonders, but by help of devils.'

Her ecclesiastical judges then consigned their prisoner to the
civil power; and, finally, in the words of Hume, 'this admirable
heroine--to whom the more generous superstition of the ancients
would have erected altars--was, on pretence of heresy and magic,
delivered over alive to the flames; and expiated by that dreadful
punishment the signal services she had rendered to her prince and
to her native country.'[68]

[68] _History of England_, XX. Shak