r she had thrown herself down,
she answered, that some said that she was dead; and as soon as the
Burgundians saw that she was not dead, they told her that she had thrown
herself down. Asked, if she had said that she would rather die than fall
into the hands of the English, she answered, that she would much rather
have rendered her soul to God than have fallen into the hands of the
English. Asked, if she was not in a great rage, and if she did not
blaspheme the name of God, she answered, that she never said evil of
any saint, and that it was not her custom to swear. Asked respecting
Soissons, when the captain had surrendered the town, whether she had
not cursed God, and said that if she had gotten hold of the captain, she
would have cut him into four pieces; she answered, that she never swore
by any saint, and that those who said so had not understood her.

*****

At this point the public trial of Jeanne came to a sudden end. Either
the feeling produced in the town, and even among the judges, by her
undeviating, simple, and dignified testimony had begun to be more than
her persecutors had calculated upon; or else they hoped to make shorter
work with her when deprived of the free air of publicity, the sight no
doubt of some sympathetic faces, and the consciousness of being still
able to vindicate her cause and to maintain her faith before men. Two
or three fierce Inquisitors within her cell, and the Bishop, that man
without heart or pity at their head, might still tear admissions
from her weariness, which a certain sympathetic atmosphere in a large
auditory, swept by waves of natural feeling, would strengthen her to
keep back. The Bishop made a proclamation that in order not to vex and
tire his learned associates he would have the minutes of the previous
sittings reduced into form, and submitted to them for judgment, while
he himself carried on apart what further interrogatory was necessary.
We are told that he was warned by a counsellor of the town that secret
examinations without witnesses or advocate on the prisoner's side, were
illegal; but Monseigneur de Beauvais was well aware that anything would
be legal which effected his purpose, and that once Jeanne was disposed
of, the legality or illegality of the proceedings would be of small
importance. I have thought it right to give to the best of my power a
literal translation of these examinations, notwithstanding their great
length; as, except in one book, now out of