164
JOAN OF ARC.
Was plighted. My poor Francis!" Here she paus'd, 125
"And here she wept awhile.
"We did not dream
The desolating sword of War would stoop
To us. But soon as with the whirlwind's speed
Ruin rush'd round us. Mehun, Clery, fell,[1]
The banner'd Lion waved on Gergeau's wall, 130
Baugenci yielded: soon the foe approach'd
The towers of Jenville."
"Fatal was the hour
To luckless Isabel. For from the wall
The rusty sword was taken, and the shield
That long had mouldered on the mouldering nail, 135
To meet the war repair'd. No more was heard
The ballad, or the merry roundelay.
The clattering hammers clank, the grating file
"And here she wept awhile.
"We did not dream
The desolating sword of War would stoop
To us. But soon as with the whirlwind's speed
Ruin rush'd round us. Mehun, Clery, fell,[1]
The banner'd Lion waved on Gergeau's wall, 130
Baugenci yielded: soon the foe approach'd
The towers of Jenville."
"Fatal was the hour
To luckless Isabel. For from the wall
The rusty sword was taken, and the shield
That long had mouldered on the mouldering nail, 135
To meet the war repair'd. No more was heard
The ballad, or the merry roundelay.
The clattering hammers clank, the grating file
"Harsh
- ↑ Line 129. "To succeed in the siege of Orleans, the English first secured the neighbouring places, which might otherwise have annoyed the besiegers. The months of August and September were spent in this work. During that space they took Mehun, Bangenci, Gergeau, Clery, Sully, Jenville, and some other small towns, and at last appeared before Orleans on the 12th of October." Rapin.
