9: _Ibid._, vol. v, p. 130 (letter of the 17th of July,
1429), vol. i, p. 298. "Et hoc sciebar per revelationem." Cf. vol. i,
pp. 57, 260, 288 in contradiction.]

[Footnote 1770: _Journal du siege_, p. 89.]

True it is that afterwards, at Montepilloy, she had engaged in a
skirmish on the Day of the Assumption, and thus scandalized the
masters of the University. She acted according to the counsel of her
Voices and her decisions depended on the vaguest murmurings in her
ear. Nothing is more inconstant and more contradictory than the
inspirations of such visionaries, who are but the playthings of their
dreams. What is certain at least is that Jeanne now as always was
convinced that she was doing right and committing no sin.[1771] Arrayed
on the height of Les Moulins, in front of Paris with its grey
fortifications, the French had immediately before them the outermost
of the trenches, dry and narrow, some sixteen or seventeen feet deep,
separated by a mound from the second trench, nearly one hundred feet
broad, deep and filled with water which lapped the walls of the city.
Quite close, on their right, the road to Roule led up to the Saint
Honore Gate, also called the Gate of the Blind because it was near the
Hospital of Les Quinze Vingts.[1772] It opened beneath a castlet
flanked by turrets, and for an advanced defence it had a bulwark
surrounded by wooden barriers, like those of Orleans.[1773]

[Footnote 1771: _Trial_, vol. i, pp. 147, 148.]

[Footnote 1772: In 1254 Saint Louis founded this hospital for three
hundred blind knights whose eyes had been put out by the Saracens.
(W.S.)]

[Footnote 1773: Le Roux de Lincy and Tisserand, _Paris et ses
historiens_, pp. 205 and 231, note 4. Adolphe Berty, _Topographie
historique du vieux Paris, region du Louvre et des Tuileries_, p. 180,
and app. vi, p. ix. E. Eude, _L'attaque de Jeanne d'Arc contre Paris,
1429_, in _Cosmos_, nouv. serie, xxix (1894), pp. 241, 244.]

The Parisians did not expect to be attacked on a feast day.[1774] And
yet the ramparts were by no means deserted, and on the walls standards
could be seen waving, and especially a great white banner with a Saint
Andrew's cross in silver gilt.[1775]

[Footnote 1774: _Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris_, p. 246.]

[Footnote 1775: _Chronique de la Pucelle_, pp. 332, 333. Jean Chartier,
_Chronique_, vol. i, p. 108.]

The French arrayed themselves slightly behind the Moulin hill, which
was to protect them from the st