The English Mail-Coach and Joan of Arc Part 8

89 5 A WRETCHED DOMINICAN: a member of the order of mendicant friars established in France by Domingo de Guzman in 1216. Their official name was Fratres Predicatores, "Preaching Friars," and their chief objects were preaching and instruction. Their influence was very great until the rise of the Jesuit order in the sixteenth century. The Dominicans Le Maitre and Graverent (the Grand Inquisitor) both took part in the prosecution.

89 31 FOR A LESS CAUSE THAN MARTYRDOM: Cf. Genesis ii. 24.

91 14 FROM THE FOUR WINDS: There may be a reminiscence here of Ezekiel x.x.xvii. 1-10, especially verse 9: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live."

91 30 LUXOR. See note 13 27.

92 15 DAUGHTER OF CaeSARS: She was the daughter of the German emperor, Francis I, whose sovereignty, as the name "Holy Roman Empire" shows, was supposed to continue that of the ancient Roman emperors.

92 17 CHARLOTTE CORDAY (1768-93) murdered the revolutionist Marat in the belief that the good of France required it; two days later she paid the penalty, as she had expected, with her life.

93 18 GRAFTON, A CHRONICLER: Richard Grafton died about 1572. He was printer to Edward VI. His chronicle was published in 1569.

93 20 "FOULE FACE": _Foule_ formerly meant "ugly."

9321 HOLINSHEAD: Raphael Holinshed died about 1580. His great work, _Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland_, was used by Shakespeare as the source of several plays. He writes of Joan: "Of favor [appearance] was she counted likesome; of person stronglie made, and manlie; of courage, great, hardie, and stout withall."

94 (footnote) SATANIC: This epithet was applied to the work of some of his contemporaries by Southey in the preface to his _Vision of Judgement_, 1821. It has been generally a.s.sumed that Byron and Sh.e.l.ley are meant. See Introduction to Byron's _Vision of Judgment_ in the new Murray edition of Byron, Vol. IV.

96 (footnote) BURGOO: a thick oatmeal gruel or porridge used by seamen.

According to the _New English Dictionary_ the derivation is unknown; but in the _Athenaeum_, Oct. 6, 1888, quoted by Hart, the word is explained as a corruption of Arabic _burghul_.

101 30 ENGLISH PRINCE, REGENT OF FRANCE: John, Duke of Bedford, uncle of Henry VI. "In genius for war as in political capacity," says J.

R. Green, "John was hardly inferior to Henry [the Fifth, his brother]

himself" (_A History of the English People_, Book IV, Chap. VI).

101 31 MY LORD OF WINCHESTER: Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, half-brother of Henry IV. He was the most prominent English prelate of his time and was the only Englishman in the Court that condemned Joan. As to the story of his death, to which De Quincey alludes, see Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI, Act III, sc. in. Beaufort became cardinal in 1426.

102 17 WHO IS THIS THAT COMETH FROM DOMReMY? This is an evident imitation of the famous pa.s.sage from Isaiah Ixiii. I: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah?" "b.l.o.o.d.y coronation robes" is rather obscure, but probably refers to the fact that Joan had shed her own blood to bring about the coronation of her sovereign; she is supposed to have appeared in armor at the actual coronation ceremony, and this armor might with reason be imagined as "b.l.o.o.d.y."

102 22 SHE ... SHALL TAKE MY LORD'S BRIEF: that is, she shall act as the bishop's counsel. In the case of Beauvais, as in that of Winchester, it must be remembered that in all monarchical countries the bishops are "lords spiritual," on an equality with the greater secular n.o.bles, the "lords temporal."