Oh, you whom this sacred tie has newly bound, be true as heaven to one another! By your fidelity you will secure your conscience in the future against sharp and stinging reflections. Out of noble and heartfelt constancy will spring a paradise upon earth--the foretaste of a blissful life beyond. But priestly interference in this holy communion of hearts blights and blasphemes the name of love, sowing the seeds of hatred; while more or less all over the globe this plague is felt, by reason of the number of unhappy marriages brought about or directed by these busy tonsured meddlers. What, then, must this baneful influence be in Rome, where the priests are so numerous as to reign almost supreme in society. We have before stated that in the city of Rome the largest number of illegitimate births take place, which arises naturally (or rather unnaturally) from the infamous influences of priests, who traffic in matches, and control the market of men and women for their own profit. But we will draw the veil of silence over these lamentable facts, and ask pardon of refined readers if we have shocked them, even by a hint. Nevertheless, when we remember the degradation and misery to which our beloved but unhappy country has been reduced by the despotism and corruption of her corrupt Government, shame and grief are hard to restrain. Oh, pardon me, you whose chaste eyes have no Rome to weep for! Yes, marriage is a sacred act. By it a man imposes on himself the duty to love, protect, and support his wife, and the children she may bear him. And this act is the first cause of the progress and civilization of mankind. The priest, being no other than a meddler and impostor, is consequently unworthy of celebrating that most important act of life. The municipal authorities, who ought to be cognizant of all that concerns the citizens, and register all acts, should preside at the ceremony of marriage, or, as immediate representatives of these, the parents of the contracting parties, who are their natural and lawful guardians. To these latter authorities Attilio and Clelia referred themselves. "My own! my own!" Clelia had whispered to herself during Irene's narration; and in the hour when her beloved was at her feet, overjoyed by the blissful atmosphere that surrounded her, she resisted his passionate and honest solicitations for some time, but at last gave him permission to demand her in marriage of her mother, adding, "If she consents, I will be thine for life." Although Silvia was of a somewhat hesitating temperament, and would have preferred having her Manlio at hand to consult as to the destiny of her dearly beloved child, still she had sufficient good sense to see that a union between the two ardent lovers was very desirable, and felt that under the peculiar circumstances of their banishment and forest life she might be assured of her husband's sanction, and therefore accorded them hers.