JOAN of ARC.
BOOK THE FIRST.
WAR's varied horrors, and the train of ills
That follow on Ambition's blood-stain'd path
And fill the world with woe; of France preserv'd
By maiden hand, what time her chiefs subdued,
Or slept in death, or lingered life in chains,5
I sing: nor wilt thou Freedom scorn the song.
Sunk was the sun: o'er all the expanse of air
The mists of evening deepening as they rose
Chill'd the still scene; when thro' the forest gloom,
Rapt on with lightning speed, in vain Dunois[1]10
Now check'd with weaker force the unheeded rein,
Now
- ↑ Line 10.—Dunois was wounded in the battle of Herrings, which was the last victory of the English before the appearance of the Maid of Orleans.
