We have little to add of the character of the Maid of Orleans.  She was simple amid triumph and splendor; unselfish, when she might have had whatever she had asked; humane and gentle, even on the battlefield; patient in the midst of the greatest provocation; brave in the midst of suffering; firm in faith and hope when all beside were cast down; blameless and holy in her life, when all beside were wicked and corrupt.

The English never recovered from the blow struck by the Maid.  Their power in France gradually weakened.  In 1435 peace was made between Charles VII and the Duke of Burgundy.  One by one the ill-gotten gains were given up, and the English king lost even the French provinces he inherited.  In the year 1451 the only English possession in France was the town of Calais.  This, too, was lost about a hundred years after, in the reign of Queen Mary.  Yet the kings of England kept the empty title of kings of France, and put the lilies of France in their coat of arms until the middle of the reign of George III.

The last incident in the strange story of Joan of Arc remains to be told.  Ten years after her execution, to the amazement of all who knew him, Charles VII suddenly shook off his idleness and blazed forth a wise king, an energetic ruler.  Probably in this, his better state of mind, he thought with shame and sorrow of Joan of Arc.  In the year 1456 he ordered a fresh inquiry to be made.  At this every one was examined who had known or seen her at any period of her short life.  The judgment passed on her before was contradicted, and she was declared a good and innocent woman.  They would have given the whole world then to have had her back and to have made amends to her for their foul injustice.  But the opinions of men no longer mattered to her.  The twenty-five years since she had been burnt at Rouen had been the first twenty-five of her uncounted eternity of joy.

“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.”

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XLV.

THE SONG OF WORK

MANY PHASES AND MANY EXAMPLES.

Music.

    In every leaf and flower
     The pulse of music beats,
    And works the changes hour by hour,
     In those divine retreats.

    Alike in star and clod
     One melody resides,
    Which is the working will of God,
     Beyond all power besides.

    It is by angels heard,
     By all of lower birth,
    The silent music of the Word
     Who works in heaven and earth.

    For music order is
     To which all work belongs,
    And in this wondrous world of His
     Work is the song of songs.

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