After having been associated with the monarchy of divine right, the memory of Jeanne d'Arc came to be connected with the national unity which that monarchy had rendered possible; in Imperial and Republican France she became the symbol of _la patrie_.
Certainly the daughter of Isabelle Romee had no more idea of _la patrie_ as it is conceived to-day than she had of the idea of landed property which lies at its base.

She never imagined anything like what we call the nation.

That is something quite modern; but she did conceive of the heritage of kings and of the domain of the House of France.

And it was there, in that domain and in that heritage, that the French gathered together before forming themselves into _la patrie_.
Under influences which it is impossible for us exactly to discover, the idea came to her of re-establishing the Dauphin in his inheritance; and this idea appeared to her so grand and so beautiful that in the fulness of her very ingenuous pride, she believed it to have been suggested to her by angels and saints from Paradise.

For this idea she gave her life.