Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/93

Fainter they grew, for the cold wintry wind
Blew bleak; fainter they grew, and at the last690
All was still, save that ever and anon
Some mother shriek'd o'er her expiring child
The shriek of frenzying anguish.
"From that hour
On all the busy turmoil of the world
I gaz'd with strange indifference; bearing want695
With the sick patience of a mind worn out.
Nor when the Traitor yielded up our town^[1]
Ought heeded I as through our ruin'd streets,
Thro' putrid heaps of famish'd carcasses
Pass'd the long pomp of triumph. One keen pang700
I felt, when by that bloody King's command
The gallant Blanchard died. Calmly he died,^[2]
And as he bow'd beneath the axe, thank'd God
That he had done his duty.

1. Line 697 Roan was betrayed by its Burgundian Governor Bouthellier. During this siege fifty thousand men perished through fatigue and the use of unwholesome provisions.
2. Line 702 Roy d'Angletterre fist coupper la teste a Allain Blanchart cappitaine du commun. Monstrellet. Feuillet CXCVII.