Better than an inheritance of
service rendered to England herself has sometimes proved the most
insane hatred to England. Hyder Ali, even his son Tippoo, though so far
inferior, and Napoleon, have all benefited by this disposition among
ourselves to exaggerate the merit of diabolic enmity. Not one of these
men was ever capable, in a solitary instance, of praising an enemy
(what do you say to _that_, reader?); and yet in _their_ behalf, we
consent to forget, not their crimes only, but (which is worse) their
hideous bigotry and anti-magnanimous egotism--for nationality it was
not. Suffren, and some half dozen of other French nautical heroes,
because rightly they did us all the mischief they could (which was
really great), are names justly reverenced in England. On the same
principle, La Pucelle d'Orleans, the victorious enemy of England, has
been destined to receive her deepest commemoration from the magnanimous
justice of Englishmen.
Joanna, as we in England should call her, but according to her own
statement, Jeanne (or, as M. Michelet asserts, Jean [Footnote:
"_Jean_":--M. Michelet asserts that there was a mystical meaning at
that era in calling a child _Jean_; it implied a secret commendation of
a child, if not a dedication, to St. John the evangelist, the beloved
disciple, the apostle of love and mysterious visions.
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