But if he lost some friends, he gained others. The chief magistrate of Poitiers, Lieutenant-general Pierre Regnier de la Planche, desired to see him, and invited him to dine with De la Dugie, Babinot, Véron, Vernou, and other acquaintances. Calvin accepted the invitation, which caused some astonishment. 'This innovator,' said the catholics, 'desires to court the magistrates, in order that they may give him importance by their condescension.' Calvin never made any such calculations, but he was 'burning with great zeal to extend the glory of the Lord on every side.' He was received with respect, and took his seat at the table; during dinner the conversation turned, it would seem, on mere common-places. As soon as the meal was over, the company rose and went into the garden. It was in this place, known as the _Basses Treilles_, that the Sieur de la Planche often received his friends. That magistrate, Calvin, Babinot, and the other guests conversed as they walked, and the master of the house, turning the conversation on Luther and Zwingle, blamed the reformers, and especially their opinions on the mass. 'This was a frequent topic of conversation,' says a writer of the sixteenth century, 'not only among the learned, but among the common people, and was even talked of at table.' Calvin, who was well informed and prepared, entered upon the subject and explained the chief points. 'Luther saw the truth,' he said, 'but he is like those who are walking through a long and winding road; they perceive afar the dim glimmer of a lamp, by means of which they can grope their way along the path they must follow. Zwingle approached the light, but like those who rush too hastily to good, he went beyond it.'[101] Then wishing them to understand what there was in the Lord's Supper, he stated more in detail the idea of the presence of Christ, a real one no doubt, but to be received by faith and not by the mouth: thus taking a middle position between Zwingle and Luther. These discourses, being as clear as they were forcible, convinced the lieutenant-general and the friends he had assembled. Calvin was requested to commit them to writing, which he did, adds the historian, with an eloquence that brought him new disciples. Regnier de la Planche was gained to protestantism, and his son Louis subsequently took part in the struggles against the Guises. It was he whom Catherine de Medici perfidiously interrogated one day in her closet, whilst the Cardinal of Lorraine was hidden behind the tapestry. [Sidenote: GARDEN OF THE BASSES-TREILLES.]