The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-31 00:00:00

TILE _MAID OF ORLEANS ; a Romantic
Chronicle. By the Author of " Whitcfriars." 3
Vats.
The hi:story of Joan of Arc is one of those strange
and startling truths for which fiction can present no
parallel—a history more marvellous than the brain of
novelist ever devised—a picture more soul subduing
than the pen of poet ever depict,s d. Few names illustr i-
ons in the annals of their day have been cherish( d
with such universal retnenibrence as that of the mar-
vellous Maid of Orleans. Not only in her own
country, but here, in England, among classes little
acquainted, perhaps, with the kings and heroes of
F: Inch history, the memory of the viilagegirl of Dom-
rertry, of her who perishcd in flames on the market
place of Rouen, still survives, and still will survive—
" Tla me to all song, and 'naive' to all youth,
Beloved as Falk yet heLevcd as Truth."
The story of Joan is possessed of a peculiar and irre-
sistible fascination—glittering with an imperishable
glory, and bedewed with the tears of successive gene-
rations—it reveals hutran nature at once in its dark-
est and its divinest aspects. Where can we find
patriotism and heroism to surpass, or even to equal
that of the enthusiast peasant• maiden ? And where
can we find cowardice, ingratitude, or unmanliness
to approach in infamy to that cf the sovereign whose
l.rows Joan had crow ned with the royal dia-
dem, tied the people whose lives and liberties
she had preserved from foreign domination, who
one and all tamely suffered their deliverer to perish
by an agonising end ignominious death ? Not one
French hand was raised for her who lived and died
for France ! And where, again, can we find the
record of a baser and more unmanly act than that
un English cruelty and injustice which condemned
to the death of witchcraft a prisoner of war I—an
enemy whose greatest crime was victory—a woman
whose only fault was that her presence shamed
Frenchmen into patriotism, and Englishmen into
flight. Yet gloriously has the maiden been avenged
by the justice of posterity. The memory of their
ancestors' iniquity is more bitter to the descendants
of Joan's murderers than her victories were to her
baffled foes. Who would not give up all the glory of
Agincourt to efface from the page cf history the
flames of Rouen P When we call to mind the many
elements of interest contained in the narrative of the
Maid of Orleans, it is no matter of surprise that
such a theme should find favour with the poet and
the romancist. The exploits of the famous Pucelle
are recorded in the first part of " King Henry VI. ;"
ore of Schiller's most beautiful tragedies celebrates
the " Jungfrau von Orleans ;" Southey has corn-
memorated "Joan of Arc." David Hume charac-
terises her achievements as "one of the most singular
revolutions that is to he met with in history."
Those achievements form the theme of a new romance
from the pen of the author of " Whitefriars," who
has now, at last, produced a work equalling in interest
and excellence that popular favourite. It, indeed,
could hardly be otherwise when the subject of the
narrative is taken into consideration. Very different
is the heroine of this "romantic chronicle" from the
passionate and unmaidenly Hueline of Troyes, whose
tenderness threw a charm over the early pages of
"Owen Tudor," and whose disgraceful career
destroyed the whole attraction of that work. Very
different, again, is Joan of Arc from the Lucretia of
" Cooear Borgia." And not only is the heroine of
this work greatly superior to the former heroines of
this author, but the subject of her history is altogether
full of especial interest. " Whitehall " chronicled
the downtal of the English Charles 1., and " White-
triar s'' was a chapter in the history of his restored
sue( essor ' • the "Maid of Orleans" also relates to the
fortunes of a restored King Charles—a monarch in
some respects resembling his pleasure loving English
namesake—but the faults and follies of the royal
lover of Agnes Sorel occupy only a subordinate part
in this week dedicated to the memory of the
glorious peasant-maiden. The pen of this writer
is, in many respects, well qualified for the
high task he has undertaken. His style is at once
animated and almost passionate, and yet clear and
simple, and unmarred by the slightest symptoms of
affectation. The attention of the reader is carried
along by this narrative of Joan of Arc as irresistibly
as were the armed hosts who followed her to victory.
What we like best in this work is the portraiture of
its heroine. The Maid of Orleans is here the heroic
maid that we love to believe her. In " 'King Henry
V 1.," while full justice is awarded to her prowess in
arms, the holiness and purity of her character are
rendered dubitable by the fact of fiends being
represented as actually appearing to her, and also by
her most unmaidenly endeavours to save her life.
Schiller, on the other hand, while he has to a beauti-
ful excess vindicated the virtue of the conscientious
virgin, has been forgetful of that patriotism which
shone so conspicuously in the pure-minded French
girl. Schiller's Joan loves an Englishman, and in
self-inflicted expiation of the sin of even a thought of
love, surrenders herself to destruction, refusing to
declare herself innocent of the crimes imputed to her
charge. The Maid of Orleans, as represented by
the author of " Whitefriars," is not a more
glorious creation than the Joan of Schil-
ler (which were indeed impossible) ; but,
without losing one of the heroic characteristics with
which romance loves to invest her, she is here de-
picted in a more natural guise. We can readily be-
lieve that such was the maiden who in that hour of
defeat and despair, when France lay prostrate at the
foot of England, wept for her King's disgrace and
her country's sorrows, and while her cheek burned
with indignation and her heart glowed with enthu•
siasm, believed herself inspired by Heaven to emanci-
pate her country. The secret of Joan's success was
faith. She believed in herself, end therefore her
comrades believed in her, and therefore her foes too
believed in her,—
" The coward heart that calculates disaster
Will never dare adventure's stormy sea."
History would be a very different record if more
human hearts possessed the faith of Joan. "We
make our fortunes, and we call them fate," truly
said the writer of the wondrous history
of Alroy, and such (speaking humanly
and only with reference to second causes) is the lesson
which all past experience teaches us. Had Joan hesi-
tated, another Agincourt might have sealed the desti-
nies of France, but she fearlessly believed and acted,
and even her blocd, even her extorted recantation at
the last, could not extinguish the light of patriotism
she had kindled. Joan perished at Rouen, but the
English were expelled from France. Faith, patriotism,
purity, and enthusiasm are the predominant charac-
teristics of Joan, as described in the chronicle now
before us. But, in our opinion very unnecessarily, in
order to give a probable reason fur her declara-
tion that she was inspired by the direct commands of
Heaven, the writer of this narrative represents the
Maid of Orleans as occasionally the victim of a pious
delusion. This supposition is very skilfully explained,
but it derogates somewhat from the interest and
excellence of the work. No cunning contrivances
could have effected such a transformation in
an ordinary maiden as to convert her from
a village-girl into a martial conqueror, it was the
high enthusiasm of Joan which effected the pro-
digy, and what can it signify how that enthu-
siasm was excited or stimuleted ? In furnish-
ing a common-place solution to a moral pheno-
menon, the author has signalised his ingenuity,
but discredited his appreciation of the beauty
and sublimity inseparably attached to the mys-
terious. Nevertheless, this narrative, with all its
blemishes, is full of interest and attraction. We
must confess that, remembering the voluptuous
scenes and characters with which the author of

" Whitefriars " too often defaces his otherwise ad-
mirable compositions, we at first trembled for the
character of the immaculate Maid of Orleans.
Her purity comes forth untarnished ; still there are as
usual a few pages, but in this instance fewer than
usual, which betray the tendency we have
mentioned. The scene between Melusine and
the Bishop of Beauvais, in the very first vo-
lume, well-nigh destroyed our growing interest
in the work. But these blemishes are so few,
and are so utterly effaced by the glorious purity
of the portraiture of Joan,4hat we merely mention
them in order tc congratulate the writer on his im-
proved taste, and to recommend him to yet further
care for the future. One who can worthily depict
the beauty and excellence of virtue has no need to
have recourse to the meretricious attractions of the
fcuilletonist, who like a bad painter endeavours to
disguise his faulty drawing by a coarse mass of gor-
geous colouring. The writer of the "Maid of Or-
leans" is a better artht ; he can both design character
with a nice precision and fill it out with a delicate
exactitude, witness for example the heroine of this
his last production. The "romantic chronicle" will
give pleasure to many readers,_- a pleasure not the less
sweet because mingled with sadness. Many tears
will be shed over the closing pages of Joan's history,
while her marvellous and rapid career of triumph, as
narrated in these elcqunt and vigorous descriptions,
will Le found far more interesting and enthralling
than any purely fictitious narrative. Around the
glorious heroine are grouped various dissimilar cha-
racters—the gallant and chivalrous Dunois, the im-
petuous La Hire, the crafty La Trimouille, the sa-
pient Jaques Coeur, the patriotic Archbishop of
Rheims, the every-way execrable Bishop of Beauva is,
the licentious Duke d'Alencon, the disaffected Duke
of Burgundy, the desponding Dauphin and migrate •
fal King—Charles the Victorious, the gentle Queen of
Prance, the. iniquitous Isabelle de Baviere, the high-
spirited Agnes Sorel, the melancholy lady of La
Trimouille (flueline the heroine of r " Ow-en
Tudor"), while, on the other hand, the English
Court and camp presents a gorgeous array
of noble knights and gallant warriors—among others
the Duke of Bedford, the noble-hearted Talbot, and
Sir John Pastolfe, whose terrified flight from Pataye,
and his continual alauu when in presence of " the
Witch of Orleans," are ingez=iiously accounted for.
The disgraceful expulsion of Fastolfe from the ranks