But she replied: 'No deed so glorious
Which may not be achieved by virgin pure,
Whose heart against all earthly love is steel'd.
Behold myself! like thou a maiden chaste,
I to the Lord gave birth, the Lord divine,
And am myself divine.' With that she touched
Mine eyelids, and as I did upwards cast
My look, the heaven fill'd with angel-boys
bearing white lilies in their hands,
While music sweet was floating through the air.
And thus on three successive nights appeared
The holy One and said: 'Arise, Joanna!
The Lord doth call thee to another work.'
But on the third night, lo, her countenance

I saw,

MR. THOMPSON.

Instant rejoined: "A pure and stainless virgin

Accomplishes the mightiest deeds on earth,

Where she resists the lures of earthly
passion.

Look upon me: like thee, a maiden chaste,
I had the grace to bear a birth divine,
And am divine myself." And then she
touched

My drooping lids; and, as I upward
gazed,

All heaven was full of quiring cheru-
bim,

Bearing white lilies in their gentle hands,
While notes celestial floated in the air.
And thus on three successive nights ap-
peared

The holy maid, and cried, "Arise, Jo

Was wroth, and sharp rebuking thus she spake :
'Obedience is on earth the woman's duty,
And hard endurance her oppressive lot;
By service stern she must be purified ;
And great above is she, who served below.'
Thus speaking she her shepherdly attire
Let fall, and in her royal robes, as Queen
Of heaven radiant like the sun she stood.
And thence uplifted to the realms of bliss

She slowly vanished, borne on clouds of gold."

This narrative of Joanna is followed by a long pause, which the archbishop interrupts by declaring the divine attestation of her mission sufficient to put to silence all doubts of earthly prudence; she is then invested by Charles with the command of his army, and on the arrival of a herald from the enemy she sends a message of summons and defiance, which is a versified rendering, though in very different taste from that of M. Soumet, of the letter to the king and the Duke of Bedford, before quoted among the historical documents.

With this the first act is brought to a close, and the second act introduces us to the British camp. Discussions and disputes between the English generals, Talbot and Lionel, the Duke of

MISS SWANWICK.

She seem'd displeased, and chiding
spoke these words:

"Obedience is the woman's duty here,
Endurance is her destiny on earth.
She must be purified through discipline;
Who serveth here is glorified above."
While thus she spoke she let her shep-
herd's garb

Fall from her, and as Queen of heaven
stood forth,

Enshrined in radiant light, while golden clouds

Upbore her slowly to the land of joy."

MR. THOMPSON.

With wrathful chiding thus did she rebuke me:

"Obedience is the woman's part on earth, And patient suffering her appointed state;

By service hard must she approve her worth:

Who serves below, shall there above be great."

And therewith from her fell the pastoral garb,

And in the splendour of the sunlight there

She stood, the queenly majesty of heaven; And golden clouds enwrapped her, and she vanished,

Gradual ascending to the land of bliss."

Da zürnte sie, und scheltend sprach sie dieses Wort:
'Gehorsam ist des Weibes Pflicht auf Erden,

Das harte Dulden ist ihr schweres Loos;
Durch strengen Dienst muss sie geläutert werden ;
Die hier gedienet, ist dort oben gross.'

Und also sprechend liess sie das Gewand

Der Hirtinn fallen, und als Königinn

Der Himmel stand sie da im Glanz der Sonnen,

Und goldne Wolken trugen sie hinauf

Langsam verschwindend in das Land der Wonnen."

Burgundy and Isabel of Bavaria, which disclose both the internal state of their league, and the effect produced upon the confederate army by the appearance of Joanna, take up the former half of the act; the latter part consists of battle scenes, in which Joanna appears, first, by her refusal to give quarter to the Welshman, Montgomery, who sues hard to her for his life, in the character of the merciless championess of heaven, in whom to show compassion would be sin; and, secondly, in the character of peacemaker, by her persuading the Duke of Burgundy to withdraw from the English alliance, and to be reconciled to France; an event which, it is well known, did not, as a matter of history, take place till long after the death of Joanna, but which is admirably suited to the purpose of the drama, and therefore introduced into it by an allowable poetic licence.

The third act is taken up chiefly with the meeting between Charles and the Duke of Burgundy, at which Joanna also is present after the settlement of the high affairs of state the discourse is skilfully turned upon the Maid, whom the king ennobles, and for whose hand two competitors start up in the persons of Dunois and La Hire, which affords an opportunity of eliciting in the fullest manner the incompatibility of any thought of earthly love with Joanna's mission, and so prepares the way for the catastrophe which follows. The passage in which Joanna abjures all the softer emotions of her sex, is thus rendered by Miss Swanwick:

"Art weary, Dauphin, of the heavenly vision,

That thou its vessel wouldst annihilate ?
The holy maiden sent to thee by God
Degrade, reducing her to common dust?
Ye blind of heart! O ye of little faith!
God's
's glory shines around you; to your gaze
He doth reveal his wonders; and ye see
Nought but a woman in me. Dare a woman
Invest her tender frame in polish'd steel,
And boldly mingle in the rush of war?
Woe, woe is me, if bearing in my hand
God's sword of vengeance, I in my vain heart
Cherish'd affection to a mortal man!

'Twere better for me I had ne'er been born.

I do conjure you, speak no more of this,

If thou wouldst not provoke the Spirit's wrath
Who in me dwells. The eye desiring me

To me is horror and profanity."

At the close of this scene the action of the drama returns to the battle-field, when after the short but highly tragic episode of Talbot's death, Joanna is engaged in combat, first with a phantom

of hell, which appears to her in the shape of a black knight, and gives her an oracular intimation that the tide of her power and greatness will turn at the coronation at Rheims; and afterwards with the English leader Lionel, whom she defeats, and is on the point of slaying, when, suddenly struck by the beauty of his countenance, as she tears down his helmet, she feels the weakness of earthly affection rising in her breast. This is the point on which, in the arrangement of Schiller's drama, the whole destiny of Joanna turns. She proceeds with the army to Rheims, but her heart is distracted by love and remorse. Feeling that she has proved faithless to her vow, and to the stern duty of her high mission, conscious, moreover, that he whom she loves, is the enemy of the cause for which she is sent to fight, she accuses herself of impiety to her God, and of base treason to her king and country. The pitiless slaughter which she has committed in the hour of her strength, rises up against her like the guilt of murder. She dares not to hold communion with her own heart, nor to meet the eye of those who surround her with every mark of love and reverence, and above all she has lost her confidence in the heavenly support in which she had hitherto felt so strong and so secure; the remembrance of her connexion with the invisible world fills her with a fearful anticipation of coming vengeance. It is in this mood that we find her at the opening of the fourth act, plunged into a state of deep melancholy, amid the festive preparations for the approaching coronation. The lyrics in which she pours forth her meditations and her grief, are replete with exquisite beauty and touches of deepest feeling, rendered but feebly even in Miss Swanwick's translation; but on this we have not room to dwell. Joanna is forced to take her place in the coronation procession, among the spectators of which her family and her neighbours appear. In the middle of the ceremony, Joanna, overpowered by her feelings, rushes forth from the cathedral, and being received in the arms of her sisters, the recollection which this meeting calls up, increases the agitation of her mind till it is raised to a state bordering on delirium. Meanwhile the ceremony being concluded, the procession returns from the cathedral; all eyes are now turned upon Joan, and at the moment when, amidst the acclamations of the multitude, the king addresses her in the language of worship rather than of human gratitude, she utters a piercing cry, having recognized her father in the crowd. The old man, who had always been suspicious of the character of her supernatural power, and whose misgivings have been confirmed by the agitation in which he has seen her hurrying from the house of God, now openly accuses her of being the confederate of hell. Joanna herself is silent;

neither to the challenges of her father, nor to the entreaties of her friends, nor to the adjuration of the archbishop, does she answer one word; and the scene, the stage effect of which is heightened by a succession of thunderclaps, closes with the announcement made to Joanna, on the part of the king, that she is at liberty to depart unmolested.

The multitude has been dispersed, Joanna is left alone, with but one companion, who does not doubt, and will not forsake her, Raimond, the lover of her youth. She allows herself to be conducted by him, an excommunicated outcast, shunned wherever she flies; but in the solitude of the Ardennes her fortitude and her faith return, and she, who was speechless before her accusers, gives assurance to her humble and faithful companion that her disgrace was but a trial imposed upon her by heaven, from which He who sent it will provide an escape for her. During her flight she falls into the hands of Isabel, who carries her to the English camp as her prisoner, while Raimond makes his escape to the French army, where a reaction in her favour has taken place, and where the earnest protestations and the simple narrative of the shepherd youth, speedily avail to arouse the leaders of the host, and foremost among them Dunois, to hasten to her rescue.

Meanwhile Joanna in captivity atones for the momentary weakness of her feelings. Lionel, in whose mind likewise a strong interest for her had been excited by the scene in which she refused to take his life, offers her freedom and his hand; but she is deaf to all his entreaties, and answers him only in the character of a heavenly messenger, bidding him repair the injuries inflicted on France by the English invaders. the English invaders. The fierce attack of the French, who have collected their forces under Dunois for her deliverance, compels Lionel to take the field, and Joanna remains in the custody of Isabel, in chains, and under a strong guard. A soldier from the top of the tower in which she is confined, informs the queen of the progress of the battle; and when Joanna hears that the French are routed, that Dunois is wounded, and the king himself in imminent danger, she sinks upon her knees, in fervent prayer, for a miraculous interposition of heaven. At this moment a shout of triumph resounds in the English camp; Charles is taken prisoner; when Joanna, with giant strength, bursts her fetters, and escaping through the midst of her astonished guards, once more rushes forth to the battle, and on the instant brings back victory to the host of France. But Joanna is mortally wounded, and expires on the field, in the arms of the king and the Duke of Burgundy.

We cannot resist the temptation of transcribing the closing lines