feelings of honour! What reproaches might he not expect from his mistress, when she discovered her affections to be fixed on a shadow; the fervent expectations of love and youth deceived; with the prospect of infamy and scorn clinging to her future connection. Could an inexperienced girl conquer such alarming obstacles to his pursuit? Sorlisi determined to try. How he managed this delicate communication; with what preparatives and softenings he introduced his melancholy narrative; and with what emotion he appealed to the generosity of the fair one, and the compassion of the matron, we are left to imagine. Madame de Lichtwer seemed inclined to give up the match; but the amiable Dorothea declared that no misfortune could affect her attachment, and that she was determined to pass her life with Sorlisi, under every disadvant age. So exalted a strain of tenderness could not fail to produce acquiescence and respect in the heart of a mother, and the lovers were soon after betrothed, in presence of

Madame de Lichtwer and a select party of friends.

To complete their marriage became a matter of difficulty, for several theologists had taken the alarm, and murmured so loudly against the proposed scandal, that in consequence of the machinations of their enemies, it was evident that every clergyman would be deterred from solemnizing the nuptials.

In this urgency, it was again necessary for Sorlisi to undergo the mortification of repeating his unhappy case. He drew it up in August, 1666, for the opinion of the Ecclesiastical Consistory at Leipsic, using the feigned names of Titius and Lucretia, and giving the best turn to the matter that it would bear, The Consistory, availing itself of a very considerate distinction,* gave

* Ut taceamus, in hac persona virili non quidem talem impotentiam et inhabilitatem observari quæ generationis actum, ut scholastici loquuntur, sed generationis effectum tantum impedit. Conjug. Eunuchi, p. 109.

a favourable answer; though they acknowledged, that the impossibility of having offspring was the only one out of eighteen reasons, which Luther admitted as a sufficient plea for divorce.

All that was now wanting, was a mandate from the Elector, to authorize the completion of the marriage; but as he thought proper to consult several theologists on the subject, nothing was decided till the succeeding year, when the mandate was granted, which imposed, at the same time, a discretionary fine upon Sorlisi, by way of quieting the tender consciences of those who opposed the match, for the honour of the Lutheran church.

The marriage ceremony was therefore, at length, privately performed at Sorlisi's country-house.

Here the malice of their enemies might have been expected to rest: but they returned to the attack with fresh fury, resolute to dissolve the union, or to embitter the lives of this persecuted pair. Their chaste at

tachment was to be subjected to the coarse discussions, and abominable constructions of dull theologists, animated by party-zeal, and totally incapable of estimating the sentiments of a respectable woman; their names were to be coupled with scorn and reproach; and every effort of Teutonic eloquence was to be employed, to persuade them that they ought to find no satisfaction in living together.

The Supreme Ecclesiastical Consistory, which had hitherto taken no cognizance of the affair, now interposed, and demanded that the parties should be separated, to do away the great scandal which their union gave to the godly.

To take off the force of this formidable interference, Sorlisi had recourse to that method by which the papal bulls have been so often tamed. He offered to enlarge his fine to the extent of building a church, and providing a stipend for a preacher. The Consistory could not instantly retract, but this proposal certainly procured

time for digesting conciliatory measures. In the mean time, as Madame de Sorlisi protested that she would rather die than forsake her husband, her ghostly directors thought it very edifying to punish her contumacy, by refusing her the sacrament.

In a matter of so much consequence to the Protestant religion, as the union of two persons, who preferred each other's happiness to the scruples of their reverences, it was necessary to consult grave examples. That of our Henry VIII. seems to have occurred to all parties; it was therefore agreed to collect the opinions of the different theological faculties in Germany, of the Lutheran persuasion. My fair readers must excuse me from detailing the whole distinctions of those learned bodies; for it seems, that to counteract the practice of vice, they had thought it necessary to be completely masters of every vice in speculation.

The faculty of Hasse-Giessen professed great concern for the young lady, and ap