"The hearts of kings are in His hand,"says Holy Scripture,and it is of necessity to be believed that the hearts of kings,in an especial sense,are wisely governed.Yet,the blindness of our sinful souls,we often may not see,nor by deep consideration find out,the causes wherefore kings often act otherwise,and,as we might deem,less worthily than common men.For it is a truth and must be told,that neither before he was anointed with the blessed oil from the holy vessel,or ampulla,which the angel brought to St.
Remigius,nor even after that anointing (which is more strange),did Charles VII.,King of France,bear him kingly as regards the Maiden.
Nay,I have many a time thought with sorrow that if Xaintrailles,or La Hire,ay,or any the meanest esquire in all our army,had been born Dauphin,in three months after the Maid's victories in June Paris would have been ours,and not an Englishman left to breathe the air of France.For it needed but that the King should obey the Maid,ride straight to Reims,and thence on Paris town,and every city would have opened its gates to him,as the walls of Jericho fell at the mere sound of the trumpets of Israel.
This is no foolish fancy of an old man dreaming in a cloister about what might have been.For the Regent of the English,brother of their King Harry the Fifth,and himself a wise man,and brave,if cruel,was of this same mind.First,he left Paris and shut himself up in the strong castle of Vincennes,dreading an uproar among the people;and next,he wholly withdrew himself to Rouen,for he had now no force of men to guard the walls of Paris.Our Dauphin had but to mount and ride,and all would have been his at one blow,ay,or without a blow.The Maid,as we daily heard,kept praying him,even with tears,to do no more than this;and from every side came in men free and noble,ready to serve at their own charges.The poorest gentlemen who had lost all in the troubles,and might not even keep a horse to ride,were of goodwill to march as common foot-soldiers.
But,while all France called on her King,he was dwelling at Sully,in the castle of La Tremouille,a man who had a foot in either camp,so that neither English nor Burgundians had ever raided on his rich lands,when these lay in their power.So,what with the self-seeking,and sloth,and jealousy of La Tremouille;what with the worldly policy of the Archbishop of Reims,crying Peace,where there was no peace,the Maid and the captains were not listened to,or,if they were heard,their plans were wrought out with a faint heart,so that,at last,if it is lawful to say so,the will of men prevailed over the will of Heaven.
Never,I pray,may any prince of my own country be so bestead,and so ill-served,that,when he has won battles and gained cities two or three,and needs but to ride forward and win all his kingdom,he shall be turned back by the little faith of his counsellors!Never may such a thing befall a prince of Scotland!Concerning these matters of State,as may be believed,we devised much at Tours,while messengers were coming and going,and long,weary councils were being held at Sully and at Gien.D'Alencon,we got news,was all for striking a blow yet more bold than the march to Reims,and would have attacked the English where they were strongest,and nearest their own shores,namely,at Rouen.The counsellors of the peaceful sort were inclined to waste time in besieging La Charite,and other little towns on Loire-side.But her Voices had bidden the Maid,from the first,to carry the Dauphin to Reims,that there he might be anointed,and known to France for the very King.So at last,finding that time was sorely wasted,whereas all hope lay in a swift stroke,ere the English could muster men,and bring over the army lately raised by the Cardinal of Winchester to go crusading against the miscreants of Bohemia--the Maid rode out of Gien,with her own company,on June the twenty-seventh,and lodged in the fields,some four leagues away,on the road to Auxerre.And next day the King and the Court followed her perforce,with a great army of twelve thousand men.Thenceforth there came news to us every day in Tours,and all the news was good.Town after town opened its gates at the summons of the Maid,and notably Troyes and Chalons,in despite of the English garrisons.
We were all right glad,and could scarce sleep for joy,above all when a messenger rode in,one Thomas Scott,whom I had encountered before,as I have written,bidding my master come straightway to Reims,to join the King,and exercise his craft in designing a great picture of the coronation.So with much ado he bestowed his canvases,brushes,paints,and all other gear of his trade in wallets,and,commending his daughter to his old kinswoman,to obey her in all things,he set off on horseback with Thomas Scott.But for myself,I was to lodge,while he was at Reims,with a worthy woman of Tours,for the avoiding of evil tongues,and very tardily the time passed with me,for that I might not be,as before,always in the company of Elliot.
As for my lady,she was,during most of these days,on her knees at the altar in the great minster,praying to the saints for the Dauphin,and the Maid,and for her father,that he might come and go safely on his journey.Nor did she pray in vain,for,no more than two days after the first tidings had arrived that the sacring was done,and that all had gone well,my master rode to his own door,weary,but glad at heart,and hobbled into his house.One was sent running to bring me this good news,and I myself ran,for now I was able,and found him seated at his meat,as well as he could eat it for Elliot,that often stopped his mouth with kisses.
