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foot, and chamber men,” independently of the noble maidens who
tended her, and who seem to have been equally served by three
“valets de main, de pied, et de chambre.”
But short-lived was the glory; no, I will not say that, let me rather
remark that short-lived was the worldly splendor of the chivalrous
my-lady countess. She had rendered all the service she could, when
she fell wounded before Paris, and was basely abandoned for a
while by her own party. She was rescued, ultimately, by D’Alençon,
but only to be more disgracefully abandoned on the one side, and
evilly treated on the other. When as a bleeding captive she was
rudely dragged from the field at Compiègne; church, court, and
chivalry, ignobly abandoned the poor and brave girl who had served
all three in turn. By all three she was now as fiercely persecuted; and
it may safely be said, that if the English were glad to burn her as a
witch, to account for the defeat of the English and their allies, the
French were equally eager to furnish testimony against her.
Her indecision and vacillation after falling into the hands of her
enemies, would seem to show that apart from the promptings of
those who had guided her, she was but an ordinary personage. She,
however, never lost heart, and her natural wit did not abandon her.
“Was St. Michael naked when he appeared to you?” was a question
asked by one of the examining commissioners. To which Jeanne
replied, “Do you think heaven has not wherewith to dress him?” “Had
he any hair on his head?” was the next sensible question. Jeanne
answered it by another query, “Have the goodness to tell me,” said
she, “why Michael’s head should have been shaved?” It was easy, of
course, to convict a prejudged and predoomed person, of desertion
of her parents, of leading a vagabond and disreputable life, of
sorcery, and finally, of heresy. She was entrapped into answers
which tended to prove her culpability; but disregarding at last the
complicated web woven tightly around her, and aware that nothing
could save her, the heart of the knightly maiden beat firmly again,
and as a summary reply to all questions, she briefly and emphatically
declared: “All that I have done, all that I do, I have done well, and do
well to do it.” In her own words, “Tout ce que j’ai fait, tout ce que je
fais, j’ai bien fait, et fais bien de le faire;” and it was a simply-
dignified resume in presence of high-born ecclesiastics, who did not
scruple to give the lie to each other like common ploughmen.
She was sentenced to death, and suffered the penalty, as being
guilty of infamy, socially, morally, religiously, and politically. Not a
finger was stretched to save her who had saved so many. Her
murder is an indelible stain on two nations and one church; not the
less so that the two nations unite in honoring her memory, and that
the church has pronounced her innocent. Never did gallant
champion meet with such base ingratitude from the party raised by
her means from abject slavery to triumph; never was noble enemy
so ignobly treated by a foe with whom, to acknowledge and admire
valor, is next to the practice of it; and never was staff selected by the
church for its support, so readily broken and thrown into the fire
when it had served its purpose. All the sorrow in the world can not
wash out these terrible facts, but it is fitting that this sorrow should
always accompany our admiration. And so, honored be the memory
of the young girl of Orleans!
After all, it is a question whether our sympathies be not thrown away
when we affect to feel for Jeanne Darc. M. Delepierre, the Belgian
Secretary of Legation, has printed, for private circulation, his “Doute
Historique.” This work consists chiefly of official documents, showing
that the “Maid” never suffered at all, but that some criminal having
been executed in her place, she survived to be a pensioner of the
government, a married lady, and the mother of a family! The work in
which these documents are produced, is not to be easily procured,
but they who have any curiosity in the matter will find the subject
largely treated in the Athenæum. This “Historical Doubt” brings us so
closely in connection with romance, that we, perhaps, can not do
better in illustrating our subject, than turn to a purely romantic
subject, and see of what metal the champions of Christendom were
made, with respect to chivalry.
THE CHAMPIONS OF CHRISTENDOM
GENERALLY
AND HE OF ENGLAND IN PARTICULAR.
“Are these things true?
Thousands are getting at them in the streets.”
Sejanus His Fall.
“If Cottington outdo me,” says the son, “he be-whipt.” And so, after
the election of St. George as the seventh champion of Christendom,
ends one of the longest acts that Bull or Cockpit was ever asked to
witness and applaud.
The next act is briefer but far more bustling. We are in that
convenient empire of Trebizond, where everything happened which
never took place, according to the romances. The whole city is in a
state of consternation at the devastations of a detestable dragon,
and a lion, his friend and co-partner. The nobles bewail the fact in
hexameters, or at least in lines meant to do duty for them; and the
common people bewail the fact epigrammatically, and describe the
deaths of all who have attempted to slay the monsters, with a
broadness of effect that doubtless was acknowledged by roars of
laughter. Things grow worse daily, the fiends look down, and general
gloom is settling thick upon the empire, when Andrew of Scotland
and Anthony of Italy arrive, send in their cards, and announce their
determination to slay both these monsters.
Such visitors are received with more than ordinary welcome. The
emperor is regardless of expense in his liberality, and his daughter
Violetta whispers to her maid Carinthia that she is already in love
with one of them, but will not say which; a remark which is answered
by the pert maid, that she is in love with both, and would willingly
take either. All goes on joyously until in the course of conversation,
and it is by no means remarkable for brilliancy, the two knights let fall
that they are Christians. Now, you must know, that the established
Church at Trebizond at this time, which is at any period, was
heathen. The court appeared to principally affect Apollo and Diana,
while the poorer people put up with Pan, and abused him for
denouncing may-poles! Well, the Christians had never been
emancipated; nay, they had never been tolerated in Trebizond, and it
was contrary to law that the country should be saved, even in its dire
extremity, by Christian help. The knights are doomed to die, unless
they will turn heathens. This, of course, they decline with a dignified
scorn; whereupon, in consideration of their nobility, they are
permitted to choose their own executioners. They make choice of the
ladies, but Violetta and Carinthia protest that they can not think of
such a thing. Their high-church sire is disgusted with their want of
orthodoxy, and he finally yields to the knights their swords, that they
may do justice on themselves as the law requires. But Andrew and
Anthony are no sooner armed again than they clear their way to
liberty, and the drop scene falls upon the rout of the whole empire of
Trebizond.
The third act is of gigantic length, and deals with giants. There is
mourning in Tartary. David has killed the king’s son in a tournament,
and the king remarks, like a retired apothecary, that “Time’s plaster
must draw the sore before he can feel peace again.” To punish
David, he is compelled to undertake the destruction of the enchanter
Ormandine, who lived in a cavern fortress with “some selected
friends.” The prize of success is the reversion of the kingdom of
Tartary to the Welsh knight. The latter goes upon his mission, but he
is so long about it that our old friend Chorus enters, to explain what
he affirms they have not time to act—namely, the great deeds of St.
George, who, as we learn, had slain the never-to-be-forgotten
dragon, rescued Sabrina, been cheated of his reward, and held in
prison seven years upon bread and water. His squire, Suckabus,
alludes to giants whom he and his master had previously slain, and
whose graves were as large as Tothill Fields. He also notices
“Ploydon’s law,” and other matters, that could hardly have been
contemporaneous with the palmy days of the kingdom of Tartary.
Meanwhile, David boldly assaults Ormandine, but the enchanter
surrounds him with some delicious-looking nymphs, all thinly clad
and excessively seductive; and we are sorry to say that the Welsh
champion, not being cavalierly mounted on proper principles, yields
to seduction, and after various falls under various temptations, is
carried to bed by the rollicking nymph Drunkenness.
But never did good, though fallen, men want for a friend at a pinch.
St. George is in the neighborhood; and seedy as he is after seven
years in the dark, with nothing more substantial by way of food than
bread, and nothing more exhilarating for beverage than aqua pura,
the champion of England does David’s work, and with more
generosity than justice, makes him a present of the enchanter’s
head. David presents the same to the King of Tartary, that, according
to promise pledged in case of such a present being made, he may
be proclaimed heir-apparent to the Tartarian throne. With this bit of
cheating, the long third act comes to an end.
The fourth act is taken up with an only partially successful attack by
James, David, and Patrick, on a cruel enchanter, Argalio, who at
least is put to flight, and that, at all events, as the knights remark, is
something to be thankful for. The fifth and grand act reveals to us the
powerful magician, Brandron, in his castle. He holds in thrall the King
of Macedon—a little circumstance not noted in history; and he has in
his possession the seven daughters of his majesty transformed into
swans. The swans contrive to make captives of six of the knights as
they were taking a “gentle walk” upon his ramparts. They are
impounded as trespassers, and Brandron, who has some low
comedy business with Suckubus, will not release them but upon
condition that they fight honestly in his defence against St. George.
The six duels take place, and of course the champion of England
overcomes all his friendly antagonists; whereupon Brandron, with his
club, beats out his own brains, in presence of the audience.
At this crisis, the King of Macedon appears, restored to power, and
inquires after his daughters. St. George and the rest, with a use of
the double negatives that would have shocked Lindley Murray,
declare
The swans, however, soon take their pristine form, and the three
daughters appear fresh from their plumes and their long bath upon
the lake. Upon this follows the smart dialogue which we extract as a
sample of how sharply the King of Macedon looked to his family
interests, and how these champion knights were “taken in” before
they well knew how the fact was accomplished.
And, fore George, as our fathers used to say, they make a night of it.
The piece ends with a double military reel, and the audiences at the