ngland and of France, published in 1516, heaped upon Joan
of Arc. Hall's and Holinshed's chronicles, from which the author of
the First Part of _King Henry VI._ borrowed so largely, sinned as
deeply. Hall's authorities among French writers were Monstrelet,
Bouchet, Mayer, Argentan, Gile Corozet, and the annals of France and
Aquitaine--and of English writers, Fabyan, Caxton, John Harding, Sir
Thomas More, Basset, Balantyne, and the Chronicle of London.

The annalist Stow, Hume's 'honest historian,' is less unjust and
bitter in his account of Joan of Arc than are Hall and Holinshed.
Thomas Fuller appears not to have settled to his satisfaction whether
Joan of Arc was a witch or a heroine.

In the seventeenth century we have only a handful of poor writers who
have treated more or less badly of the Maid, such as Daniel, Martyn,
and Sir Richard Baker. It is not until well into the eighteenth
century that a man of letters appears capable of giving an
unprejudiced and true history of the life of Joan of Arc: this
historian is Guthrie, who published, between the years 1744 and 1751,
a long history of England. M. Darmesteter has named this author 'a
village Bossuet.'

Coming to our own days we have quite a crowd of writers who have
written with enthusiasm on the Maid of Domremy. It is sufficient to
name the most prominent of these--Landor, Sir James Mackintosh, John
Sterling, Lord Mahon, De Quincey, and J.R. Green.

No. II.

_JOAN OF ARC IN POETRY._

The Maid of Orleans (though a more poetical figure cannot be found in
all history) has not been more fortunate at the hands of the poets
than at those of the historians.

To begin with her own countrywoman--for the first who sang of Joan of
Arc was appropriately enough a fellow-countrywoman--Christine de
Pisan.

As the name indicates, this poetess was an Italian by origin, but
appears to have lived most of her life in France. The latter part she
passed in a convent.

In the year 1429, Christine was sixty-seven years old; she had been
living in some conventual establishment for eleven years. Her verses
in praise of Joan of Arc--which number several hundred stanzas--were
undoubtedly written in the heroine's life-time. They are supposed to
have been the last lines she wrote. These stanzas were completed
shortly after the coronation of Charles VII. A manuscript copy of this
poem exists in which Joan of Arc is compared to Deborah, Judith, and
Queen Esther. These poem