Agreeably to these accounts, compared with others, it appears that Luther on the Tuesday after Trinity, June 13, 1525, in order to avoid all excitement, took with him John Bugenhagen (Pomeranius) pastor of the City Church, Dr. John Apel, Professor of Canonical Law, and Louis Cranach, Court Painter, Councillor, and Chamberlain, without the knowledge of his other friends, and proceeded to the house of the town-clerk, Reichenbach, with whom Catharine lived, and there, in the presence of these three friends, he asked her consent in marriage. Unexpected as this declaration was, yet she yielded to the solicitation of her former deliverer and benefactor. Soon after, the Provost, Dr. Justus Jonas, and the wife of Cranach, entered, and Luther was there married in the presence of these four witnesses, Bugenhagen performing the ceremony. Luther was forty-two years of age, and Catharine twenty-seven. He did not even ask the consent of the Elector; but, as we shall subsequently see, he sent him an humble request for some game to supply his wedding dinner-table. Before the wedding, Luther offered the following prayer: “Heavenly Father, inasmuch as thou hast honored me with the office of the ministry, and wilt also that I should be honored as a husband and the head of a family, grant me grace to govern my household in a godly and Christian manner. Grant me wisdom and strength to direct and train all the members of my family in the right way. Give them willing hearts and pious dispositions to be obedient, and to follow in all things the instructions of thy word. Amen.” The golden wedding-rings of Luther and his wife were probably not exchanged on this evening, but afterwards. The celebrated artist, Albert Dürer, of Nurnberg, made them at the order and expense of the Patrician and Councillor von Pirckenheim. They are minutely described by some writers, and exact representations of them are given in various curious works. One of these rings has exchanged hands many times by gift, sale, and inheritance. Numerous imitations of them have been made, and sold to collectors of such articles. When, on the following day, the marriage of Luther became generally known, the town council of Wittenberg sent him various articles, such as are usually considered essential to wedding festivals of every age and country. CHAPTER III. Wedding-Dinner—Melanchthon—Slanders.