It is probable (as M. Michelet suggests) that the title of Virgin or
Pucelle had in itself, and apart from the miraculous stories about her,
a secret power over the rude soldiery and partisan chiefs of that
period; for in such a person they saw a representative manifestation of
the Virgin Mary, who, in a course of centuries, had grown steadily upon
the popular heart.
As to Joanna's supernatural detection of the dauphin (Charles VII)
among three hundred lords and knights, I am surprised at the credulity
which could ever lend itself to that theatrical juggle. Who admires
more than myself the sublime enthusiasm, the rapturous faith in
herself, of this pure creature? But I am far from admiring stage
artifices which not La Pucelle, but the court, must have arranged; nor
can surrender myself to the conjurer's legerdemain, such as may be seen
every day for a shilling. Southey's "Joan of Arc" was published in
1796. Twenty years after, talking with Southey, I was surprised to find
him still owning a secret bias in favor of Joan, founded on her
detection of the dauphin. The story, for the benefit of the reader new
to the case, was this: La Pucelle was first made known to the dauphin,
and presented to his court, at Chinon; and here came her first trial.
By way of testing her supernatural pretensions, she was to find out the
royal personage amongst the whole ark of clean and unclean creatures.
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