make them put on their spurs so hastily that they will not
know where to take them and so quickly that it shall be very
soon. Other things I will not write unto you now, save that
ye be always good and loyal. I pray God to have you in his
keeping. Written at Sully, the 16th day of March.

I would announce unto you other tidings at which ye would
mightily rejoice; but I fear lest the letters be taken on
the road, and the said tidings be seen.

Signed. Jehanne.

_Addressed_ to my dear friends and beloved, churchmen,
burgesses and other citizens of the town of Rains."[1908]

[Footnote 1908: _Trial_, vol. v, p. 160, according to Rogier's copy. H.
Jadart, _Jeanne d'Arc a Reims_, proofs and illustrations xv. Facsimile
in Wallon, 1876 edition, p. 200. The original of this letter exists,
likewise the original of the letter addressed on the 9th of November,
1429, to the citizens of Riom. These two letters, about one hundred
and twenty-six days apart, are not written by the same scribe. The
signature of neither one nor the other can be attributed to the hand
which indited the rest of the letter. The seven letters of the name
_Jehanne_ seem to have been written by some one whose hand was being
held, which is not surprising, seeing that the Maid did not know how
to write. But a comparison of the two signatures reveals their close
similarity. In both the stem of the J slopes in the same direction and
is of identical length; the first _n_ through one letter being written
on the top of another has three pothooks instead of two; the second
pothook of the second _n_ obviously written in two strokes is too
long, in short the two signatures correspond exactly. We must conclude
therefore that having once obtained the Maid's signature by guiding
her hand, an impression was taken to serve as a model for all her
other letters. To judge from the two missives of the 9th of November,
1429 and the 16th of March, 1430, this impression was most faithfully
reproduced. Cf. _post_, p. 117, note 2.]

There can be no doubt that the scribe wrote this letter faithfully as
it was dictated by the Maid, and that he wrote her words as they fell
from her lips. In her haste she now and again forgot words and
sometimes whole phrases; but the sense is clear all the same. And what
confidence! "You will have no siege if I encounter the enemy." How
completely is this the language of chivalry! On the eve of Pata