But Kunz had spared no pains that this hope might be disappointed. It appears that Pierre Vandel, one of the leaders of the party hostile to the reformers, had been at Berne. Kunz had possession of the fourteen articles proposed by Calvin and approved at Zurich, which doubtless had been intrusted to him because the conduct of the business was especially placed in his hands. Some expressions made use of in them had seemed likely to irritate the people of Geneva. Kunz had placed the articles in the hands of Vandel without the knowledge of the council.[701] Vandel was a man of good family, and one of the most violent opponents of the reformers. ‘I believe,’ said Bonivard, ‘that he was possessed with a demon while yet in his mother’s womb; as is said of St. John with regard to the Holy Spirit. He was not so tall as a spindle when he committed homicide, not with his own hand, but through malice. He and another man killed likewise the bastard son of a canon. He was a great rake, a glutton and a drunkard, talking and acting rashly in his drunken fits. His father, a highly respectable man, had said a hundred times, “Pierre! Pierre! he will never be worth anything; and would God that immediately after his baptism he had been dashed against a wall, for he will bring disgrace on our house.” He was very vainglorious, dressed himself like a nobleman, and was fond of bragging (_usait de braveries_); for this reason his companions called him _Bobereau_.’[702] Vandel was very proud of possessing the fourteen articles; and when he met on his way anyone who took an interest in the exile of the reformers, and who asked him what was likely to happen to them, he answered boastfully, according to his wont, but without entering further into details, ‘I have in my pocket a poison which will be the death of them.’[703] The ambassadors of Berne were themselves the bearers of these articles, but they had been instructed not to read them to the people except in the presence of Calvin and Farel, that they might have the opportunity of at once setting aside the mischievous inferences which would be drawn from them.[704] Vandel was at his post in the general council. Hardly had the deputies of Berne gone out, when he rose, drew the paper from his pocket, and began to read the articles of Zurich,[705] as an important piece of evidence which must cause the rejection of the demand of Berne. When he had read the document he began to comment on it, putting forward ill-natured interpretations, and fastening especially on three points fitted to excite hatred against the two reformers.[706] ‘See,’ said he, ‘how, in speaking of the Church of Geneva, they dare to speak of _our_ Church, as if it were their property. See how, in speaking of the lords of Berne, they call them simply the Bernese, without the honorary formula,[707] thus with the utmost arrogance putting contempt on princes themselves. See how they aspire to tyranny, for what else