Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/189

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BOOK THE FIFTH.
177
If of your free accord, to him you payDue homage as your sovereign Lord and King,Your rich estates, your houses shall be safe, 360And you in favour stand, as is the Duke,Philip of Burgundy. But—mark me well—If obstinately wilful, you persistTo scorn his proffer'd mercy; not one stoneUpon another of this wretched town 365Shall then be left. And when the English hostTriumphant in the dust have trod the towersOf Orleans, who survive the dreadful warShall die like traitors by the hangman's hand.Ye men of France, remember Caen and Rouen!" 370
 "He ceased. Nor Gaucour for a moment paus'd To form reply."Herald! to all thy vaunts Of English sovereignty let this suffice For answer: France will only own as King Him whom the people chuse. On Charles's brow 375

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