We can have no certainty, but, at least, we show how Elizabeth came
to be erroneously accused of reporting Amy's death before it
occurred.*
*For a wild Italian legend of Amy's murder, written in 1577, see the
Hatfield Calendar, ii. 165-170.
VII. THE VOICES OF JEANNE D'ARC
Some of our old English historians write of Jeanne d'Arc, the
Pucelle, as 'the Puzel.' The author of the 'First Part of Henry
VI.,' whether he was Shakespeare or not, has a pun on the word:
'Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or dogfish,'
the word 'Puzzel' carrying an unsavoury sense. (Act I. Scene 4.) A
puzzle, in the usual meaning of the word, the Maid was to the
dramatist. I shall not enter into the dispute as to whether
Shakespeare was the author, or part author, of this perplexed drama.
But certainly the role of the Pucelle is either by two different
hands, or the one author was 'in two minds' about the heroine. Now
she appears as la ribaulde of Glasdale's taunt, which made her weep,
as the 'bold strumpet' of Talbot's insult in the play. The author
adopts or even exaggerates the falsehoods of Anglo-Burgundian
legend.
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