English, had seen with joy their poor mad king
coming back amongst them, and had greeted him with thousand-fold shouts
of "Noel!" His body lay in state for three days, with the face
uncovered, in a hall of the hostel of St. Paul, and the multitude went
thither to pray for him, saying, "Ah! dear prince, never shall we have
any so good as thou Wert; never shall we see thee more. Accursed be thy
death! Since thou dost leave us, we shall never have aught but wars and
troubles. As for thee, thou goest to thy rest; as for us, we remain in
tribulation and sorrow. We seem made to fall into the same distress as
the children of Israel during the captivity in Babylon."

[Illustration: The Body of Charles VI. lying in State----84]

The people's instinct was at the same time right and wrong. France had
yet many evil days to go through and cruel trials to endure; she was,
however, to be saved at last; Charles VI. was to be followed by Charles
VII. and Joan of Arc.

CHAPTER XXIV.----THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR.--CHARLES VII. AND JOAN
OF ARC. 1422-1461.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JOAN OF ARC----85]

Whilst Charles VI. was dying at Paris, his son Charles, the _dauphin_,
was on his way back from Saintonge to Berry, where he usually resided.
On the 24th of October, 1422, at Mehun-sur-Yevre, he heard of his
father's death. For six days longer, from the 24th to the 29th of
October, he took no style but that of regent, as if he were waiting to
see what was going to happen elsewhere in respect of the succession to
the throne. It was only when he knew that, on the 27th of October, the
parliament of Paris had, not without some little hesitation and
ambiguity, recognized "as King of England and of France, Henry VI., son
of Henry V. lately deceased," that the _dauphin_ Charles assumed on the
30th of October, in his castle of Mehun-sur-Yevre, the title of king, and
repaired to Bourges to inaugurate in the cathedral of that city his reign
as Charles VII.

[Illustration: The Shepherdess of Domremy----90]

He was twenty years old, and had as yet done nothing to gain for himself,
not to say anything of glory, the confidence and hopes of the people. He
passed for an indolent and frivolous prince, abandoned to his pleasures
only; one whose capacity there was nothing to foreshadow, and of whom
France, outside of his own court, scarcely ever thought at all. Some
days before his accession he had all but lost his life at Rochelle by the