CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS ORATORY. 



54' 



represented by an advocate of the courts named Jean Cousinot, who replied 

 with dignity to the apologist of assassination, and who created a profound 

 impression upon the audience when he appealed upon behalf of the blood 

 which had been shed to the justice of the King of France. This great 

 criminal trial was destined to remain pending before the tribunal of public 

 opinion until the unpunished murderer was in his turn assassinated, fifteen 

 years later, under the eyes of the heir to the throne. This catastrophe did 

 not give rise to any oratorical debate, and Jean Petit had no imitator. But a 



Huxor. 



Fig. 402. Portrait of Jerome Savonarola. Reduced Fac-simile of the Engraving of Leonardo da 

 Vinci in Vienna Museum (Albertine Collection). 



few years later, in another political trial, more memorable and more worthy 

 of notice, a new kind of eloquence was suddenly revealed in an unlettered 

 young girl, who drew her inspiration solely from her conscience and her 

 heart. In this trial, during which every rule of justice was disregarded or 

 violated, Joan of Arc, taken prisoner by the English, had no advocate to 

 assist her, and all her defence was confined to her replies to the interroga- 

 tories of her accusers. The judges, or rather the torturers, the most hardened 



