orted her in the midst of
the raging multitude, both on the scaffold where she was interrogated
and at the stake.

Twenty years afterward, the two venerable friars, simple monks, vowed to
poverty and having nothing to hope or fear in this world, bear witness
to the scene we have just described: "We heard her," they say, "in the
midst of the flames invoke her saints, her archangel; several times she
called on her Saviour. At the last, as her head sunk on her bosom, she
shrieked, 'Jesus!'"

"Ten thousand men wept. A few of the English alone laughed, or
endeavored to laugh. One of the most furious among them had sworn that
he would throw a fagot on the pile. Just as he brought it she breathed
her last. He was taken ill. His comrades led him to a tavern to recruit
his spirits by drink, but he was beyond recovery. 'I saw,' he exclaimed,
in his frantic despair, 'I saw a dove fly out of her mouth with her last
sigh.' Others had read in the flames the word 'Jesus,' which she so
often repeated. The executioner repaired in the evening to Brother
Isambart, full of consternation, and confessed himself; he felt
persuaded that God would never pardon him. One of the English King's
secretaries said aloud, on returning from the dismal scene: 'We are
lost; we have burned a saint.'"

Though these words fell from an enemy's mouth, they are not the less
important, and will live, uncontradicted by the future. Yes, whether
considered religiously or patriotically, Jeanne d'Arc was a saint.

Where find a finer legend than this true history? Still, let us beware
of converting it into a legend; let us piously preserve its every trait,
even such as are most akin to human nature, and respect its terrible and
touching reality.[83]

CHARLES VII ISSUES HIS PRAGMATIC SANCTION

EMANCIPATION OF THE GALLICAN CHURCH

A.D. 1438

W. H. JERVIS R. F. ROHRBACHER

"No two words," says Smedley, "convey less distinct meaning
to English ears than 'pragmatic sanction.' Perhaps 'a
well-considered ordinance' may in some degree represent
them, _i.e._, an ordinance which has been fully discussed by
men practised in state affairs." Carlyle defines "pragmatic
sanction" as "the received title for ordinances of a very
irrevocable nature, which a sovereign makes in affairs that
belong wholly to himself, or what he reckons his own
rights." A dictionary definition calls it "an imperial edict
operating as a fundamental law." The term was