Thus the action of the reformer, of his friends and of the institutions which he had established, under the blessing of God, gradually wrought a change in this Genevese population, so passionate, so full of excitement, and so much addicted to pleasure. A real religious life developed itself in many individuals, and its influence was general. Luxury diminished; simplicity, morality, and the other virtues, which are the fruit of faith, increased. There still remained, indeed, some evil; enmity and discord frequently sprung up, sometimes among the people in general, sometimes in families; but there was also much that was good. Calvin believed ‘that we ought to adopt a way of living so regulated that it should make us beloved of all, while at the same time we should be prepared to incur hatred for the love of Christ;’ and further ‘that we are bound to take pains to settle the differences which exist among others.’ Occupation of this sort did not fail him, and he was frequently successful. Calvin’s manner of proceeding has been so much misrepresented that it is necessary to give some examples of it in order to re-establish the truth. We shall have brought before us at the same time a scene characteristic of the period. Françoise, mother of the noble Pierre Tissot, treasurer of the republic, was a woman of irritable and intractable temper. Her bad disposition was the occasion of trouble in the family, and made herself unhappy. The fact was the more to be regretted because it concerned a family of high standing, so that any dissension prevailing in it was the worse example. It was resolved that an attempt should be made to effect a reconciliation between the mother, her son, and her daughter-in-law, Louise. The task was entrusted to Calvin and the syndic Chiccand. They summoned the treasurer before them. ‘Your mother,’ they said, ‘is annoyed with you and your wife.’ ‘I give honor and reverence to my mother,’ replied the treasurer, ‘as God commands.’ The mother having made her appearance in the hall of the consistory, Tissot, who desired to maintain a decorous and honorable deportment, approached and saluted her, and wished her ‘Good-day’; but she replied passionately—‘Keep your “good-days” to yourself, and the devil fill your belly with them!’ Thereupon Tissot said to the consistory—‘I make my mother a larger allowance than my father fixed for her, and it is regularly paid her. If my mother does not like the wheat which I send her I give her money to buy other. I furnish her with wine, the best that is to be had. She has but lately asked me for eight _écus_ for her servant. I paid the apothecary and the physicians the expenses of her recent illness. My wife during that time visited her, but my mother refused to eat the soups which she prepared for her. With regard to my brother Jean,’ continued the treasurer, ‘I have used all the means which appeared to me likely to bring him back to an honorable life, but without effect; he is a profligate.’