The agitation which Calvin excited in Poitiers, the admiration of some, the uneasiness of others, grew stronger every day. The friends of the Gospel began to run some risk by meeting together. If certain fanatics should make themselves masters of the populace, the garden of the Basses-Treilles might be attacked, and the police, under colour of restoring order, might even go so far as to arrest the stranger. There were often false alarms. Calvin's friends determined to look for some solitary place where they might assemble in peace. One of them having pointed out a _wilderness_ in the adjacent country—a number of deep and isolated caverns which would shelter them from all investigations,—they determined to go thither in little bands, and by different roads. [Sidenote: CALVIN'S GROTTO.] The next day the project was put in execution. Calvin set out with two or three others; they traversed the pretty suburb of St. Benedict, took a picturesque footpath, and after about an hour's walking, arrived at a wild-looking spot in front of the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. Beneath them flowed the tranquil waters of the Clain: thickly wooded rocks, containing caverns of various depths, raised their imposing masses above the stream. Calvin was charmed with the solitude. Gradually others arrived, and the assembly was soon complete. Calvin and his friends entered one of the largest of these caves. They were usually known as the caves of St. Benedict or the Croutelles, but this one was called, and has ever since borne the name of Calvin's grotto.[105] The reformer took his stand on the highest ground; his disciples gathered round him, some of them leaning against the rock;[106] and in the midst of a solemn silence he began to teach them, expounding what was grandest of all—preaching Christ to them. This was a topic to which he was constantly reverting. 'Better be deprived of everything and possess Christ,' he said one day. 'If the ship is in danger, the sailors throw everything overboard, that they may reach the port in safety. Do likewise. Riches, honours, rank, outward respect—all should be sacrificed to possess Christ. He is our only blessedness.' Calvin spoke with much authority;[107] he carried away his readers, and was himself carried away. On a sudden feeling his spiritual weakness, and the need they all had of the Holy Ghost, he fell on his knees beneath those solitary vaults; all the assembly knelt with him, and he raised to the throne of God a prayer so touching and so earnest, that all who heard him fancied themselves transported to heaven.[108]