Berthelier, who fancied he knew, explained his plans to his friends in their familiar colloquies. The liberty of the Italian republics--a selfish liberty, full of discord and faction--had come to an end; a more noble, more vital, more durable liberty was destined to appear. But neither the politic Berthelier nor the æsthetic Bonivard thought of the new element which in new times was to give life to modern liberties: this element was a strong faith, it was the authority of God, held up on high, that was destined to consolidate society after the great earthquake it would have to go through. After Berthelier the republican, after Bonivard the classic, another man was to appear, _tertium genus_, a third kind, as they said at the time when paganism and Judaism disappeared before the Gospel. A Christian hero, boldly standing erect above the volcano of popular passions, was called in the midst of the convulsions of popery to lay in Geneva the foundations of enlightened society, inflexible morality, unyielding faith, and thus to save the cause of liberty. The work of Calvin, thus coming after that of Berthelier and Bonivard, no doubt presents a very strange juxtaposition; but three centuries have shown its necessity. The Reformation is indispensable to the emancipation of nations. Berthelier, Bonivard, and their friends turned their eyes in another direction. ‘Have done with banquets and dances,’ said Berthelier to his friend; ‘we must organise young Geneva into a defensive league.’ ‘Yes, let us march onwards,’ replied Bonivard, ‘and God will give a good issue to our bold enterprise!’ ... Berthelier stretched out his hand. ‘Comrade,’ he said, ‘your hand.’[95] Then, as he held Bonivard’s hand in his, he was touched with deep emotion: a cloud passed over his face, and he added: ‘But know that for the liberty of Geneva, you will lose your benefice, and I ... I shall lose my head.’ ‘He told me that a hundred times,’ added the prior of St. Victor, who has handed down this conversation to us. The gloomy foreboding was but too amply fulfilled. CHAPTER VII. ASSEMBLY, AGITATION, AND COMEDY OF THE PATRIOTS. (1516-1517.)