BOOK THE NINTH.
327
If thou didst know the worth of one good deed
In life's last hour, thou would'st not bid me lose
The power to benefit; if I but save
A drowning fly, I shall not live in vain.
I have great duties, Fiend! me France expects, 255
Her heaven-doom'd Champion."
"Maiden, thou hast done
Thy mission here," the unbaffled Fiend replied:
The foes are fled from Orleans: thou, perchance
Exulting in the pride of victory,
Forgettest him who perish'd; yet albeit 260
Thy harden'd heart forget the gallant youth;
That hour allotted, canst thou not escape
That dreadful hour, when Contumely and Shame
Shall sojourn in thy dungeon. Wretched Maid!
Destined to drain the cup of bitterness, 265
Even to its dregs! England's inhuman Chiefs
Shall scoff thy sorrows, black thy spotless fame,
Wit-wanton it with lewd barbarity,
And force such burning blushes to the cheek
In life's last hour, thou would'st not bid me lose
The power to benefit; if I but save
A drowning fly, I shall not live in vain.
I have great duties, Fiend! me France expects, 255
Her heaven-doom'd Champion."
"Maiden, thou hast done
Thy mission here," the unbaffled Fiend replied:
The foes are fled from Orleans: thou, perchance
Exulting in the pride of victory,
Forgettest him who perish'd; yet albeit 260
Thy harden'd heart forget the gallant youth;
That hour allotted, canst thou not escape
That dreadful hour, when Contumely and Shame
Shall sojourn in thy dungeon. Wretched Maid!
Destined to drain the cup of bitterness, 265
Even to its dregs! England's inhuman Chiefs
Shall scoff thy sorrows, black thy spotless fame,
Wit-wanton it with lewd barbarity,
And force such burning blushes to the cheek
"Of
