perilous path. She succeeded in carrying with her a convoy of
provisions to the besieged.

The entry of Joan of Arc into Orleans, at the end of April, was itself
a triumph. The hearts of the besieged were raised from despair to a
fanatical confidence of success; and the English, who in every
encounter had defeated the French, felt their courage paralyzed by the
coming of this simple girl. We cannot give the details of the
wonderful events that followed; it must suffice to say, that the
French were inspired with the utmost courage, and after a series of
great achievements, in which the wonderful maiden took the lead, the
siege was raised. Thus, in one week after her arrival, the beleaguered
city was relieved. The most incredible of her promises was now
fulfilled, and she henceforth received the title of "Maid of
Orleans."

The French now carried all before them, under the guidance of this
maiden leader; and, in three months after she came to the relief of
Charles, he was crowned at Rheims, which had surrendered to his arms.
After a series of successes, she was in one instance defeated, and
finally was captured in a sally against the enemy, May, 1430. She was
now handed over to the English partisans in France, brought to trial
on the charge of sorcery, and condemned to death. A pile of wood was
prepared in the market-place at Rouen, and, encircled by a body of
judges and ecclesiastics, she was then burned to death, and her ashes
thrown into the Seine. This took place in May, 1431. Thus perished one
of the most pure, lovely, and exalted beings that ever lived. In 1454,
a revision of her sentence took place, and a monument was erected to
her honor, on the spot where she had been inhumanly put to death.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes

The author's original spelling preserved, e.g. medalion, Shakspeare
and Shakspere.

Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lives of Celebrated Women, by
Samuel Griswold Goodrich

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF CELEBRATED WOMEN ***

***** This file should be named 33273.txt or 33273.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/2/7/33273/

Produced by Katherine Ward and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
produced from scanned images of public domain material
from