retiring with the remains of his forces into Languedoc and
Dauphiny, and defending himself as long as possible in those remote
provinces. But it was fortunate for this good prince that, as he lay
under the dominion of the fair, the women whom he consulted had the
spirit to support his sinking resolution in this desperate extremity.
Mary of Anjou, his queen, a princess of great merit and prudence,
vehemently opposed this measure, which, she foresaw, would discourage
all his partisans, and serve as a general signal for deserting a prince
who seemed himself to despair of success. His mistress too, the fair
Agnes Sorel, who lived in entire amity with the queen, seconded all her
remonstrances, and threatened that, if he thus pusillanimously threw
away the sceptre of France, she would seek in the court of England a
fortune more correspondent to her wishes. Love was able to rouse in the
breast of Charles that courage which ambition had failed to excite: he
resolved to dispute every inch of ground with an imperious enemy, and
rather to perish with honor in the midst of his friends, than yield
ingloriously to his bad fortune; when relief was unexpectedly brought
him by another female of a very different character, who gave rise to
one of the most singular revolutions that is to be met with in history.

In the village of Domremi, near Vaucouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine,
there lived a country girl of twenty-seven years of age, called Joan
d'Arc, who was servant in a small inn, and who in that station had been
accustomed to tend the horses of the guests, to ride them without a
saddle to the watering-place, and to perform other offices which, in
well frequented inns, commonly fall to the share of the men servants.[*]

* Hall, fol. 107. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 42. Grafton, p.
534.

This girl was of an irreproachable life, and had not hitherto been
remarked for any singularity; whether that she had met with no occasion
to excite her genius, or that the unskilful eyes of those who conversed
with her had not been able to discern her uncommon merit. It is easy to
imagine, that the present situation of France was an interesting object
even to persons of the lowest rank, and would become the frequent
subject of conversation: a young prince, expelled his throne by the
sedition of native subjects, and by the arms of strangers, could
not fail to move the compassion of all his people whose hearts were
uncorrupted by faction; a