Calvin arrived at Geneva on the 12th of September, 1541, [Footnote 84] after having spent a few days with Farel at Neufchatel. A house, with a garden, had been provided for him; and in the Registers of the Council for the month after his arrival, we find the following details:—
[Footnote 84: The 10th of September, according to a careful memoir by M. Amédée Roget, entitled L'Église et l'État à Genève du Vivant de Calvin. (Geneva, 1867.)]
'Resolved to send for Maître Calvin's wife and household, and to provide him with all that is necessary for this purpose in men and money.'
'Resolved to buy Maître Calvin some broadcloth to make him a coat.'
'Cheque for eight crowns for Maître Calvin's coat.'
'Resolved that as Maître Calvin is a man of great learning, and well fitted to build up the Christian Church, and as he is put to great expense in entertaining strangers who pass through the city, that he shall receive a salary of 500 florins, [Footnote 85] twelve measures of wheat, and two tubs of wine, and shall take the oaths here.' [Footnote 86]
[Footnote 85: Worth about 3,600 francs, or 150l. at the present time.]
[Footnote 86: Gaberel, vol. i. Appendix, p. 116.]
Beza says: 'He was received with singular affection by this unhappy people, who now acknowledged their faults, and were hungering and thirsting for the words of their faithful pastor, so that they did not cease to importune until he had been induced to return. And at length the rulers of Strasburg consented that he should leave them, though they stipulated that he should always remain a burgess of their city. They also requested him to retain the revenues of a prebend, which had been assigned as the salary of his professorship in theology. But he was a man who had no love whatsoever for the things of this world, and they could not succeed in persuading him to retain so much as a single farthing.' [Footnote 87]
[Footnote 87: Beza, p. 31.]