Grafton, a chronicler but little read, being a stiff-necked
John Bull, thought fit to say, that no wonder Joanna
should be a virgin, since her ' foule face ' was a satis-
factory solution of that particular merit. Holinshead,
on the other hand, a chronicler somewhat later, every
way more important, and universally read, has given



JOAN OF ARC. 115

a very pleasing testimony to the interesting character
of Joanna's person and engaging manners. Neither
of these men lived till the following century,. so that
personally this evidence is none at all. Grafton sul-
lenly and carelessly believed as he wished to believe ;
Holinshead took pains to inquire, and reports undoubt-
edly the general impression of France. But I cite the
case as illustrating M. Michelet's candor.
The circumstantial incidents of the execution, unless
with more space than 1 can now command, I should
be unwilling to relate. I should fear to injure, by im-
perfect report, a martyrdom which to myself appears
so unspeakably grand. Yet for a purpose pointing,
not at Joanna, but at M. Michelet, — viz., to convince
him that an Englishman is capable of thinking more
highly of La Pucelle than even her admiring country-
man, I shall, in parting, allude to one or two traits in
Joanna's demeanor on the scaffold, and to one or two
in that of the bystanders, which authorize me in ques-
tioning an opinion of his upon this martyr's firmness.
The reader ought to be reminded that Joanna d'Arc
was subjected to an unusually unfair trial of opinion.
