Note 324 — LXXXI.—To Farel.

Capito had died of the plague at Strasbourg, in the month of November, as we learn from a letter of Calvin to Farel:—"When this worthy brother had brought word that our excellent father, and of holy memory, Capito, had been taken away from us, and that Bucer, besides, was suffering from the plague, I was so affected both in mind and spirit, that I could do nought but lament and bewail."—Letter of 29th November 1541; Calv. Opera, tom. ix. p. 19. Endowed with the wisest and most conciliatory spirit, Capito left a great void in the Church at Strasbourg; "happy at least," says Beza, "to have been called away from this life before having witnessed the ruin of that Church. He did not share the exile of his beloved colleagues, Bucer and Fagius, but went before to the abode and dwelling-place of the heavenlies."—Theodori Bezæ, Icones. The decease of Capito excited a general mourning; his loss was equally deplored by the Reformers of Germany and of Switzerland.—Melchior Adam, Vitæ Theologorum Germanorum.