"him it was but an apprehension, at "which he should not be dejected. In "the mean time there came letters from "his wife of the death of that boy in "the plague. He appeared to him, he "said, of a manly shape, and of that growth he thinks he shall be at the "resurrection."

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"He said, that he had spent a whole night in looking to his great toe, about "which he hath seen Tartars and Turks, "Romans and Carthaginians fight in "his imagination."*

Such sights as youthful poets dream,
On summer's eve, by haunted stream!

That extraordinary, and much misrepresented character, the Maid of France, appears to have been a visionary of this kind, and to have been enthusiastically sincere in her belief of supernatural com

* Drummond's Works, p. 224.

munications. The ancient memoirs of this heroine, published by Denys Godefroy, convey a high idea of her sagacity and elevation of mind. When she induced Charles VII. to the bold attempt of procuring his inauguration at Rheims, she described the celestial voice as having said to her, while she was engaged in prayer, Fille, va, va, je seray a ton ayde,

va.

Her unknown historian adds; "Elle "estoit au reste tres-devote, se confessoit "souvent, & recevoit le precieux corps "de N. S. Jesus Christ, estoit de tres"belle et bonne vie, et d'honneste con"versation."

In a very curious letter, written by the Sieur de Laval, we meet with some characteristic anecdotes of the Maid, to whom he was introduced by Charles VII. Et-fit ladite Pucelle tres bonne chere ' a mon pere & a moy, estant armeé de

toutes pieces, sauve la tete, et tenant la • lance en main; et aprés que fumes de'scendus á selle, j'allay a son logis la voir; et fit venir le vin, et me dit, qu'elle 'm'en feroit bientot boire á Paris; et 'semble chose toute divine de son fait, ' et de la voir et de l'ouyr.

et la

veis monter a cheval, armée tout en

blanc, sauf la teste, une petite hache en sa main, sur un grand coursier noir qui a l'huis de son logis se demenoit 'tres fort, et ne souffroit qu'elle montast; 'et lors elle dit, menez-le a la croix,

qui etoit devant l'eglise aupres, au che'min; et lors ell monta sans qu'il se

meut, comme s'il fut lié; et lors se tourna vers l'huys de l'eglise, qui etoit bien prochain, et dit en assez voix de femme: Vous les Prestres et gens d'eglise, 'faites procession et prieres a Dieu.'

Upon her trial, as it is repeated by Chartier, she spoke with the utmost simplicity and firmness of her visions: Que

1

⚫ souvent alloit a une belle fontaine au

pays de Lorraine, laquelle elle nom

• moit bonne fontaine aux Feés Nostre

Seigneur, et en icelluy lieu tous ceulx "de pays quand ils avoient fiebvre ils alloient pour recouvrer garison; et la alloit souvent ladite Jehanne la Pucelle sous un grand arbre qui la fontaine 'ombroit; et s'apparurent a elle Ste. • Katerine et S. Marguerite qui lui • dirent qu'elle allast a ung Cappitaine qu'elles lui nommerent, laquelle y alla sans prendre congé ni a pere ni a mere; * lequel Cappitaine la vestit en guise 'd'homme et l'armoit et lui ceint l'epeé,

et luy bailla un escuyer et quatre varlets; et en ce point fut monteé sur un 'bon cheval; et en ce point vint aut Roy de France, et lui dit que du Com• mandement de lui estoit venue a lui, et

qu'elle le feroit le plus grant Seigneur ' du Monde, et qu'il lui fut ordonné que tretou ceulx qui lui desobeiroient 'fussent occis sans mercy, et que St. Mi

'chel et plusieurs anges lui avoient baillé 'une Couronne moult riche pour lui;' &c.

Unquestionably, the temperament which disposes men to cultivate the higher and graver species of poetry, contributes to render them susceptible of impressions of this nature. Such a temperament, excited by the pathetic circumstances of a story, more interesting than any tale of fiction, produced the vision of Dr. Donne. When residing in Paris, he saw the figure of his wife, then in London, pass through the room, with her hair hanging loose, and carrying a dead child in her arms. After reading the exquisite poem which he wrote, previous to their separation, it is impossible to wonder at an impres sion of such a nature.

This is, indeed, an instance of that species of ecstasy, which is known, in the North of Scotland, under the name