Arriving at Lisbon, he waited on the king, but immediately upon leaving the palace proceeded, as was his wont, to the public hospital, devoting all his time, till the ships were ready, to the care and consolation of the sick and dying. While here he received from the Pope the appointment of apostolic nuncio for India, with full powers. Of all the offers made to him of an outfit for the voyage he would for a long time accept of nothing; but at last, lest he should seem too obstinate, he consented to receive some coarse cloaks, to be used in passing the Cape of Good Hope, one for himself, and one for each of the two companions who were to accompany him; likewise a few books, of which he understood there was a great scarcity in India. To the offer pressed upon him of the service of a boy to attend to his daily wants during the voyage, he replied, “While I have hands and feet of my own I shall need no servant.” The matter being still urged, with the remark that it was unfitting for a man in his position to be openly seen among the crowd of sailors and passengers washing his clothes or cooking his daily food, “You see,” he answered, “to what a pass this art of preserving one’s dignity has brought the commonwealth of Christendom! For my part, there is no office, however humble, which, provided there be no sin in it, I cannot upon occasion perform.” This was a specimen of his whole conduct throughout the voyage, which commenced April 7, 1541, giving rise to a remark of the captain of the fleet that it was even harder to make Xavier accept anything than it was to get rid of other men’s importunities. All this self-sacrifice, accompanied as it was by a most careful attention to the wants of others, was not without its reward. It gave Xavier—not to mention his subsequent canonization—an immense reputation with his fellow-voyagers, and a great influence over them, which he did not fail to exercise. Already, amid all this early austerity, the principles of Jesuitism were fully developed. Xavier addressed everybody, even the most notorious profligates, with mild familiarity, no severity in his face, no harshness in his words. He even volunteered himself as a sociable companion, and thus acquired an influence all the greater because it was hardly perceived by those who submitted to it, so that he was generally said by those who knew him best to have accomplished much more by his familiar conversation than even by his public preaching,—of the effects of which, however, very extraordinary stories were told.