The Enzinas, having arrived in the Netherlands before 1540, applied themselves zealously to their studies. They were all of them, and especially Francis, desirous of discovering all that was true and good, fully determined to communicate to others the truths which they had acquired, filled with courage to defend them against all attacks and with perseverance to continue in the face of danger faithful to their convictions.[72] They had the Spanish temperament, depth and fervor of soul, seriousness and reflectiveness of understanding; and some faults of their nature were corrected by Christian faith. Their language had not only stateliness but thought. The sense of honor did not in them degenerate into pride, as is so often the case; and their religious faith, by the influence of the Gospel, was preserved from superstition. They have been known under different names in different countries. Their family name, Enzinas, which in Spanish denotes a species of oak, was as usual hellenized in Germany, where they bore the name of Dryander, and was turned into French in France, where they were sometimes called Duchesne. These three young men had a taste for literature, and made rapid progress in it. While the truly noble and liberal bent of their intellect separated them from the theologians who were virtually imprisoned within the walls of the Scholastic method and doctrine, their naturally religious disposition, the common characteristic of their countrymen, led them to seek out the pious men of their day. Two of these were the means of bringing them over from Roman Catholicism to evangelical Protestantism; both of them conciliatory men, who, though they belonged especially to one of the two categories, maintained at the same time some relations with the other. One of them stood on the Catholic side, the other on the Protestant; but they had both been desirous of bringing about a reconciliation between the Reformation and Catholicism. One of these men was George Cassander, born in 1515, probably in the island of Cassandria, at the mouth of the Scheldt. He was a good scholar, and was a perfect master of languages and literature, law and theology, and taught with great reputation in various universities in the Netherlands. Sincerely pious, he made it the purpose of his life to demonstrate the agreement of the two parties in essential doctrines and to endeavor to unite them. With this intent he published various works.[73] The emperor Ferdinand at a later time requested him to work for this end. The Enzinas associated themselves with him. An intimate friendship grew up between them; they had frequent conversations and wrote to each other when separated.[74] But while the Catholics thought that Cassander conceded too much to the Protestants, the latter, and especially Calvin, complained that he conceded too much to the Catholics. He did, in fact, remain always united with the Roman church, declared that he submitted to its