a warrior should fhow to courage, meanly sold her to the English for ten thousand livres. From the moment she was a prisoner, this heroine was forgotten. The king made no attempts to redeem her and though at the time he had many English prisoners of the highest rank, he did not offer one of them in exchange for her. Were the very important services which Jane had atchieved so soon forgotten!!!

This neglect of Jane, and the persecution of Jacques Coeur, will be eternal blets on the memory of Charles VII. Upon Jane being a prisoner, the English made such rejoicings, as if they had conquered the kingdom. Such a man as the Black Prince would have honoured and respected her courage. The duke of Bedford thought it proper to disgrace her, in order to re-animate the courage of his countrymen. She had pretended to have been inspired; the regent pretended to believe her a sorcerefs. The university of Paris presented a petition against Jane, accusing her of magic and heresy. Either the university thought, as they imagined the regent wifhed them to think; or if otherwise, they acted with infamous cowardice. This heroine, worthy of the miracle fhe pretended, was judged at Rouen, by Cauchon bishop of Beauvais, and five other French bifhops; only one English bishop attending. It would have been very easy for her to have justified herself; but her defence would have been useless; as he was condemned before he was tried. She therefore thought of procuring her liberty by other means, and had the courage to leap

from the top of the Tower Beaurevoir, where the was confined. This fall which ought to have killed her, only stunned her; the noise however of her fall alarmed the centinel, and he was retaken. They gave a different pretext to this attempt, and construed it into an act of suicide. In fhort, for this and the other crimes before mentioned, fhe was condemned to be burnt alive, according to the sentence pronounced by the bishops of Beauvais, Coutances, Lisieux, the chapter of Nôtre Dame, sixteen licentiates, and eleven advocates of Rouen, the 24th May 1431; and fhe was given up to the secular power to put the sentence in execution. When she was led to the Calf Market, neither the sight of the scaffold, nor the stake, affected her courage; and the mounted it as boldly as fhe formerly did the breach at an afsault. She sat down very quietly, and was tied to the fatal stake, uttering only, "God be praised!" The fire was scarcely lighted when he was suffocated, and after he was burnt, her ashes were dispersed in the air.

Such was the end of this extraordinary girl, whose punishment will always be a blot on the English. Her mother in 1454 demanded a revision of her process, and pope Nicholas v. gave the commifsion to the bishop of Paris, who easily found the justification proofs, which fhewed clearly that Jane had never given the smallest cause of suspicion of her faith, her manners, or her conduct; in consequence of which, her fame was solemnly re-established. Many different monuments were erected to her memory; and among other places, there was VOL. xiv.

TT

one at Rouen, which from being the place where they intended to cover her with disgrace, became that of her triumph*. This monument having been hurt by length of time, the magistrates ordered a new one to be erected, and in a better taste.

The family of Jane existed till within these few years, in the provinces of Anjou and la Bretagne. The last male died in 1760..

By a petition from the attorney general in 1614, they took from this family its greatest prerogative, which consisted in the female line, independent of the situation of their hufbands, ennobling their children. The illustrious Rollin looks upon this deprivation as deserving the regret of every good citizen.

READING MEMORANDUMS.

MALEVOLENCE to the clergy, is seldom at a great distance from irreverence of religion.

The variable weather of the human mind, the flying vapours of fancy, which from time to time cloud reason, without totally eclipsing it, require much force of thought to regulate sound conduct.

* An engraving of this monument, from a beautiful drawing transmitted by the writer of this article, will be given as a specimen of the taste of the times, in some future number of this work.

To the Editor of the Bee.

SIR, As the charter of the East India company has nearly expired, it is of high importance to consider by what means the British nation can secure to herself the esteem and confidence of the people of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, together with the extensive population that has been lately added, by the termination of the war in the Meifsore.

J

With this scope I have sent you a very interesting letter from a gentleman of eminence, who had an high command in India, was well acquainted with the country, and ha no interest to pursue contrary to that of his native country, and of general policy and humanity in the good government of its extensive dependencie.

This letter you will observe by its date, and its reference to Mr Fox's famous speech on the India bill, was written with a view to be communicated to some of the leaders of the parties, that at that time distracted this country and nation; and its good sense entitles it to more particular attention now that higher considerations and more general knowledge of the springs of political contest in Britain have brought all parties into disrepute, and have taught the friends of the country and of humanity to think for themselves. I am, Sir, your constant reader,

N.

Letter from a gentleman of high military rank, on India affairs.

Ever since Indian affairs became so much the subject of public disquisition, I have thought of writing the following letter, but was always deterred by the ridicule

that attends a projector of any thing new and unusual. But since the parliament seems ready to enter into some final determination about these matters, I would accuse myself if I did not communicate the knowledge I have acquired of these things by a very dear bought experience. I am sensible that a person who had an eminent office in India, without becoming richer for it, must in general be looked on as a very silly fellow; I therefore intended at first to have written an anonymous letter; but I reflected that such information could not be read with so much attention, as when it was known to come from one that had been at two of the principal British settlements in India, had visited several of the subordinate ones, and had sat both in their councils, and secret committees, and seen the secret springs that put many things in motion. And it is certainly worth while for any that may have a determining voice on such important points, to listen for a few. minutes to one that had spent, in making observations, those years that others bestowed more profitably in making great fortunes, per fas et nefas.

Mr Fox (if his speech, such as we had it, in the newspapers be authentic,) has either been imposed on, or has intended to impose on his hearers, when he affirmed that lands were hereditary in India. Except houses in towns, and what may be called church lands, there is no heritable possession of land; nor can you find betwixt the Indus and Ganges what we call a laird; all belongs to the sovereign. An opulent financier takes from him a lease perhaps of a whole province. For facilitating the collection of rents, this is subdivided to small farmers, and often many of their shares subdivided again; and as each of these sets of farmers must have a profit, the actual cultivator of the soil must pay for all; so that the lands yearly yield a much greater revenue than ever comes to the exchequer,