Calvin made a singular figure in the midst of the world around him. His small person and sallow face formed a strong contrast with the ruddy features and imposing stature of Luther's fellow-countrymen. One thing, however, delighted him: 'The university,' he said, 'is quite a republican oasis in the midst of enslaved France.' The democratic spirit was felt even by the young aristocrats who were at the head of each nation, and the only undisputed authority in Orleans was that of Pierre de l'Etoile. [Sidenote: ÉTOILE ON HERETICS.] This 'morning-star'[7] (as the registers of the Picard nation call him) had risen above the fogs and was shining like the sun in the schools. The great doctor combined an eminently judicial mind with an affectionate heart; he was inflexible as a judge, and tender as a mother. His manner of teaching possessed an inexpressible charm. As member of the council of 1528, he had advocated the repression of heresy; but he had no sooner met Calvin at Orleans than, attracted by the beauty of his genius and the charms of his character, he loved him tenderly. Although opposed to the young man's religious opinions, he was proud of having him as his pupil, and was his friend to the last: thus giving a touching example in the sixteenth century of that noble christian equity which loves men while disapproving of their opinions.[8] Calvin, sitting on one of the benches in the school, listened attentively to the great doctor, and imbibed certain principles whose justice no one at that time in all christendom thought of disputing. 'The prosperity of nations,' said Pierre de l'Etoile, 'depends upon obedience to the laws. If they punish outrages against the rights of man, much more ought they to punish outrages against the rights of God. What! shall the law protect a man in his body and goods, and not in his soul and his most precious and eternal inheritance?... A thief shall not be able to rob us of our purses, but a heretic may deprive us of heaven!' Jurists and students, nobles and people, were all convinced that the law ought equally to guarantee temporal and spiritual goods. 'Those insensate and furious men,' said the code which Pierre de l'Etoile was expounding to his pupils, 'who proclaim heretical and infamous opinions, and reject the apostolic and evangelical doctrine of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one only Godhead and one holy Trinity, ought first to be delivered up to divine vengeance, and afterwards visited with corporal punishment.[9] Is not that a _public offence_?' added the code; 'and although committed against the religion of God, is it not to the prejudice of all mankind?'[10]