History.

WAS JOAN OF ARC AN IMPOSTOR?

AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-II.

Ir is not with any very sanguine expectations of securing publication that we now take up the pen to express a few sentiments connected with the subject mooted in this department of our Magazine. But believing, as we do, in the great value of this serial for imparting salutary and much-needed instruction, we wish to do all in our power to promote its interests, and secure its enlarged

success.

Before detailing the events connected with the career of the "Maid of Orleans," we wish to make a remark on the nature of those special missions which are sometimes confided to God's creatures.

When any of inferior birth are suddenly raised to honour, on the enunciation of their personal convictions, or in consequence of their claims to Divine inspiration, or the power to perform miracles, such persons' pretensions are always narrowly scrutinized, especially if they happen to belong to the softer sex. Such was the case with Joan of Arc, when she made her début into public life. Her revelations to Baudricourt were at first slighted, but after repeated importunities, they were listened to, and she was introduced to the French court as a prophetess that would deliver France from all her foes, and restore her former greatness and prosperity. Before Joan was placed in command, through being of humble birth and menial Occupation, she was requested to make some revelations, to give the appearance of sincerity to her intentions. Accordingly, she pointed out the king amongst his courtiers, though divested of the ensigns of dignity. She also told the king his secrets, and described a sword that was in the church of St. Catherine de Fierbois. These revelations, in those credulous ages, were sufficient to gain belief and support for her; and the French court, though sensible of the weakness of her pretensions, were willing to embrace any means to retrieve their past misfortunes, and recover confidence. Historians, in those dark ages, did not possess that acuteness in discernment, and truthfulness in narrative, which we require from their successors of to-day. The most inconsistent tales-in many instances, the merest conjectures-crowded the pages of history, in the olden times. Our task, we think, will consist in sifting, if we can, the seeds or germs of truth from the ancient traditional rubbish,

Soon after Joan's introduction and revelations to the French court, she was publicly exhibited to the French people, caparisoned as a warrior destined to conquer the conquerors of France. To give further éclat to her mission, she was everywhere proclaimed as from heaven; was herself girded with the sword of Gideon, and was presented to the doctors of the University, who, being willing to second the imposture, gave out that her mission was from above.

The French court, being fully sensible of the deplorable situation in which the country was then placed, were ready and willing to avail themselves of any pretext to rekindle the flame of patriotic ardour that had been allowed to slumber since their defeat at Agincourt. The wars of retaliation that had raged for some time between the two nations had paralyzed the invaded, whilst it had completely exhausted the resources of the invaders. The conflicts produced nothing but empty glory, which neither supplied population nor wealth to the conqueror, whose real strength had been greatly reduced, by means of dissensions at home, and troubles abroad. At this juncture Joan appeared on the stage, and by the animation imparted to the troops under her command, seemed to be the cause of victories being won; but if we come to collate the strength and resources of the two armies, we shall find that it was the weakness of one that was the cause of the victory of the other, not the influence of Joan's sacred banner or mission.

To run through all the eventful changes in Joan's career, would be to recount the pages of history, which may be reviewed at leisure; suffice it to say that, from her relief of Orleans, to her capture and ransom, it was the artifice of the French court that invested her with power, constituted her mission, by the rumours and reports circulated at her début; and the terror thus excited was the actual conqueror; for the English soldiers appeared panic-stricken when brought to face their foes.

If we really believe in the Divine origin of the "Maid's" mission, as related, we are equally bound to believe the statement concerning her ultimate fate. Soon after her capture, she was ransomed by the Duke of Bedford, and tried and condemned as a public sorceress, her punishment being perpetual imprisonment, to feed upon bread and water during the remainder of her life. But, to all appearance, her punishment was not condign, considering her crimes; and her prosecutors resolved to practice an artifice to bring her to the ultimate punishment. Accordingly, they concluded that after so many professions of penitence, if she should resume her former equipment, in which she had led on the armies of France, that would be a sufficient pretext to warrant her proscription. In the execution of this plan, they placed her armour in her apartment; and no sooner did she view the robes in which she had won so much glory, than she at once girded on the same. This furnished her foes with a further accusation against her, which no recantation could destroy. She was now, says the historian, condemned to be burnt alive, and was actually committed to the flames in the market

place of Rouen, though this statement many of our opponents will deny.

In support of their position, our opponents may argue, that unless Joan had been inspired, she could not have made such disclosures as she did. To this supposition we would reply that, if she had actually possessed any prescience of future events, relative to the deliverance of France, it is very evident that she did not possess the same species of knowledge regarding her own fate; and this is, in our opinion, a self-evident contradiction.

We need not go beyond the bounds of our own country to recite the adventures of similar impostors, practised upon the credulous; e. g., we may advert to King Simnel's exploits, with which most of our readers are, doubtless, acquainted. This Lambert Simnel, a baker's son, was set up to counterfeit the Earl of Warwick. But the vigilance of Henry defeated the machinations of the party, and fully disclosed the plot. This impostor was regularly instructed by Richard Simon, a priest, to talk of the incidents that occurred at the court of Edward, in order, by such recitals, to induce belief of the reality of his person. And such vile mockery did gain proselytes; but the end of the enterprise was a reversal of Simnel's expectations-a scullery instead of a throne. Parkin, another impostor of the same caste, was the offspring of a converted Jew, and bore so striking a resemblance to Edward, who, some assert, had an amorous intercourse with the impostor's mother, that he was selected to personate the Duke of York. The Duchess of Burgundy, finding the youth in every respect suitable to her purpose, gave him lessons to counterfeit the Duke, and in this manner she was resolved to perturbate the dominions she could not conquer. This enterprise, like its predecessor, proved a failure.

Shortly before these arts were practised, many other portions of Europe were usurped by deceivers, equally surreptitious, namely, Lorraine, Naples, and Portugal; and such impostors continued to deceive, without detection. The inhabitants of these countries seemed to be so closely confined, that for want of intercourse, they were incompetent to exercise the powers of discernment and ratiocination. We have been somewhat profuse in our remarks on this head, but we presume our readers will courteously pardon us, as this has been done with a view to show the possibility of similar corruption being resorted to with regard to the subject of our discussion.

Simply reviewing our position, we venture, without hesitation, to affirm that Joan was an impostor; and we think the majority of our readers will enlist under our banner, as the result of honest conviction, and not through the influence of prejudice, or any other predisposing cause. S. F. T.

NEGATIVE ARTICLE.-II.

WITHOUT by the expression endeavouring to weigh our own abilities, we would, in the outset, remark on the difficulty attending

the investigation of character, and the motives prompting to the committal of deeds, be they worthy or reprehensible. Circumstances so intertwine themselves in the formation, as well as in the perpetuation of a name, that it is with caution that we should try to criticize the belongings, or analyze the motives, of our ancestors. Another thing which addeth to this is, that all history is but human testimony, and, consequently, we but opinionize on opinions; for we must remember, that though a fact be ever so clearly and tersely stated, it cannot but be coloured by the mind of the man who transmits it to the future. Also, in judging, we have to credit the judged with the item that they lived and wrought in times of comparative darkness, and that they were impelled differently by sinister or higher motives to those that move us, and that stamp them as great or base. If, therefore, a man becomes an enthusiast, and his enthusiasm has not been positively his own work, but the effect of a simultaneous movement of his passions, he is not to be thought of as a madman, and his madlike deeds are not to be attributed to an innate, determinate propensity to do evil. Of course, we speak of only a certain class of enthusiasts. We may safely say that, in general, an outrageous disturbance of the level of society tends to no permanent good, but, on the contrary, its effects soon pass away. This we find to have been especially the case with regard to the upraising of the kingdom of France, and the addition to her power, by the noble, devoted doings of the sweet maid of Orleans-Joan of Arc.

It will be necessary-and it may promote discussion to give a definition of an imposition; for in this lies the gist of the subject. What, then, we ask, is an imposition? And we reply, An acted or unacted lie. Nor does it matter, as regards the turpitude of the crime, that the attempt to deceive be unsuccessful. Deception, so as to render the deceiver amenable, cannot be perpetrated unconsciously; and in the fact that he knows he deceives lies the guilt of the action. An imposition is not an accident, but an idea; something thought of and brought to bear upon action. To form a true case of imposition, fully carried out, the impostor must be cognizant that he is falsifying the facts, while the party imposed upon believes that the truth is being communicated, and that this state of consciousness is the effect of representations made by the deceiving party. We have here the differentia of an imposition; and we shall find, bearing these always in our mind, that though deceiving, in consequence of a peculiar state of mind, that the peasant maid of Domremi was not a deceiver in its strictest, truest sense. Man is, in some measure, but the handle of his times; and it is mostly in stirring epochs that we have the advent of our strangest and greatest men. France, during the earlier life of Joan, was troubled from end to end. Disaffection at home brought enemies from abroad. All was anarchy and suffering; and not only the cities and towns felt acutely the calamities, but obscure villages, and out-of-the-way hamlets, shared the effects of the strife. The dread of foreign foes

was not a sufficient inducement for oneness in project, and the Dauphin came into collision with his kinsman the Duke of Burgundy. Thus two antagonistic parties were created; the Armagnacs -as the followers of the king were called-and the Burgundians. At the time these difficulties began to exert their baneful power, Joan was about twelve years of age. Born of parents villagers of Domremi, which adjoins Lorraine, she there tended their little flock. She was taught scarcely anything beside Ave-Marias, and was by the companions of her youth thought of a peculiar disposition. The game or romp had no charm for her; and oftener would she be found praying, or inciting the lazy priests to duty, than associating with her sex. Making short pilgrimages to holy places, and chanting psalms beneath fairy-haunted trees, were most in accordance with her taste. Such a spirit, and such an education, needed little to excite them to something different from the common order of things. And here allow me to remark, that if we wish an individual to become an enthusiast, we have only to surround him with the fritterings of a popish ritual, and the bewitching notions of holy saints, and he is as rampant and ready for the development of any idiosyncrasy as the baldest friar could wish. We have no need to furnish him with theme or topic: his mind is generative, and some absurdity will out; and well is it if it be so inherently gross as to die of its own humours. Possessed naturally of an ardent temperament, Joan only needed an incentive to develop her powers. Ignorant of her own capabilities, she was somewhat startled at the sight of her inner self, or in other words, at the impulsive feelings which were at play in her breast. She saw what was "passing strange ;" and the coy maiden conceived the project of exterminating the foe, and delivering her country from thraldom. She became inspired by her own feelings, till her entity was lost in the overpowering thought that she was

"Chosen from above,

By inspiration of celestial grace,

To work exceeding miracles on earth."

Joan was thus self-deceived, and we opine that this was the combined result of a saint-believing training, and the existence of a relic of antiquity, a legendary prophecy, that "France, lost by a woman, should be saved by a virgin from the borders of Lorraine." She became so enwrapped in her desires, that her imagination furnished her with supernatural appearances; and oral messengers seemed to surround her. These co-mingled allusions prompted her to what she conceived to be a duty; and she heard "voices," which caused her to exclaim, "No one but myself is appointed to recover this realm of France. The Lord my master willeth it."

Having thus shown some of the causes that induced this state of mind, and produced this coruscation of ability, we shall try to prove that in her professions she was sincere. Ordinary obstacles deter ordinary men: short leaps for small abilities, but the testing