years were subtracted from her age; and all
the sentiments of love and of chivalry were thus united to those of
enthusiasm, in order to inflame the fond fancy of the people with
prepossessions in her favor.

When the engine was thus dressed up in full splendor, it was determined
to essay its force against the enemy. Joan was sent to Blois, where a
large convoy was prepared for the supply of Orleans, and an army of ten
thousand men, under the command of St. Severe, assembled to escort it.
She ordered all the soldiers to confess themselves before they set out
on the enterprise: she banished from the camp all women of bad fame: she
displayed in her hands a consecrated banner, where the Supreme Being was
represented, grasping the globe or earth, and surrounded with flower
de luces. And she insisted, in right of her prophetic mission, that the
convoy should enter Orleans by the direct road from the side of Beausse:
but the count of Dunois, unwilling to submit the rules of the military
art to her inspirations, ordered it to approach by the other side of the
river, where he knew the weakest part of the English army was stationed.

Previous to this attempt, the maid had written to the regent, and to
the English generals before Orleans, commanding them, in the name of the
omnipotent Creator, by whom she was commissioned, immediately to
raise the siege; and to evacuate France; and menacing them with divine
vengeance in case of their disobedience. All the English affected to
speak with derision of the maid, and of her heavenly commission; and
said, that the French king was now indeed reduced to a sorry pass,
when he had recourse to such ridiculous expedients: but they felt their
imagination secretly struck with the vehement persuasion which prevailed
in all around them; and they waited with an anxious expectation, not
unmixed with horror, for the issue of these extraordinary preparations.

As the convoy approached the river, a sally was made by the garrison
on the side of Beausse, to prevent the English general from sending any
detachment to the other side: the provisions were peaceably embarked in
boats, which the inhabitants of Orleans had sent to receive them: the
maid covered with her troops the embarkation: Suffolk did not venture
to attack her: and the French general carried back the army in safety
to Blois; an alteration of affairs which was already visible to all the
world, and which had a proportional effect on the minds