for this offence (merely transportation), he may,
upon his return, claim his bride, and live
happily all the rest of his life.

We say, claim his bride, advisedly; for, should
there have been any false measures used in obtaining
the license, or in the publication of banns, he
will gain the lady only, and not her property.
Happily, the Marriage Act is explicit upon this
point, and lays it down that, when a valid
marriage by license or banns is solemnised between
persons either of whom is under age by means of
the false oath or fraudulent procurement of one
of the parties, the party offending shall be liable
to forfeit all property which would otherwise
accrue upon the marriage.

In fact, upon the whole, the law does not
encourage the precocious marriages of boys and
girls; and, the better to exhibit its feeling in
this respect, it requires that no license shall be
granted without the consent of the parents; and
if after the publication of the banns the parents
should object, it will prohibit the ceremony. If,
however, any amorous youth should by any
means (fair or foul) succeed in having his banns
published without objection, or should once get
his license safe into his own possession, it has
been repeatedly held that a marriage celebrated
under such circumstances must be considered
good and valid.

AN UNHOLY BROTHERHOOD.

IT is but to a limited number of Spaniards of
the present day, that the existence, in any age, of
the society we are about to describe is known.
But, that it was rooted out, only in the latter
years of Charles the Fourth's reign, is an
indubitable fact in the secret history of Spain, and
one in association with which the Inquisition
performed, perhaps, its only praiseworthy act.

There is no record of the period at which the
secret society of Despenadores was first
instituted; but, from the name, it is to be inferred it
was of some antiquity. For, though the Spanish
language yet owns the verb active, despenar (not
to be confounded with despeñar, which latter
means the act of throwing from a rock or other
elevation, precipitating), with the signification
"to ease, to alleviate, to relieve from pain or
care," it has long fallen into disuse, and may be
looked upon as nearly obsolete.

On the evening of a certain day, in the year
1803, in a darkened and noiseless apartment in
the town of Ocaña, in Old Castille, a worthy
and respected citizen lay suffering under disease
of long standing; at the tester of his bed,
was fixed the customary pila, or little open
earthenware vessel, containing holy water,
surmounted by a painting of his patron saint; at
the foot of the bed, a table of a small
kind of altar bearing a couple of lighted
tapers flanking a wooden effigy of Our Saviour
extended on the cross, on which the sick
man's eyes were riveted imploringly, gave
unmistakable signs that the patient was
considered in danger. He was yet but a middle-
aged man, unmarried, well to do in the world, of
excellent character, and notable for his
devout habits and rigid observance of all the
forms and ceremonies of his church. His
only relative was a sister, who, with two domestics,
constituted his household; these had now
withdrawn from the sick-chamber, to make
way for his friend the parish priest — fortunately
a plain, sensible, straight-minded man — who, at
the patient's request, had been sent for to
receive his confession, and to administer the last
rites of absolution and extreme unction. And
now that these ceremonies had been performed,
the clergyman, who had long known and held
the patient in much esteem, remained alone by
his side, praying with and exhorting him. The
sick man did not exactly fear to meet death, nor
did he murmur at the decree of his Maker, yet
he nevertheless exhibited extreme regret at being
called from this world so soon. Therefore his
friend, the priest, sought somewhat to cheer him,
by observing, "that although in these acts he had
complied with the duty of a good Christian in
preparing himself for the worst, he ought by no means
to despair of the possibility of the Divine mercy
being even yet extended to him in this world, as
there were numerous instances of persons
recovering from a far more precarious state
than he was yet in." This reawakened some
hope in the patient's mind, and he seemed to
gather strength and energy.

But, a slight noise in the room occasioning him
suddenly to cast his eyes towards the door, the
patient was seized with a convulsive tremor, his
countenance betrayed signs of the most intense
horror, and a cold sweat burst from him, as in
an agonised whisper he said to the priest,
"There is no hope, no escape, for me; now,
indeed, my life is circumscribed to a few
minutes, and it must terminate when you leave
me; my death is now certainly and inevitably
at hand." The good priest feared that a sudden
delirium had seized the sick man, yet thought it
well to argue with him, and inquire if any change
in his sensations induced him to make so fatal
a prognostic? No; he felt no increase in the
symptoms of his disease; but he must die, he
must die almost immediately. As he repeated
this, often and coherently, and always in the
same whispered tone, the priest insisted on being
told the reason; and, at last, the patient, with
great trembling and secrecy, pointed his attention
to two persons who had entered and who
stood in conversation at the farther end of the
room, as though unwilling to intrude on his
spiritual conference with his adviser. They were
staid, sober, and respected men of that same
town, wearing the sad-coloured garments that
denoted their being beàtos, or devotees, and
they were acquainted both with the patient and
the priest; they had come to inquire the state
of their departing friend, and if it must be, to
take their farewell of him. The sick man, with
increased agitation, whispered, "They are of us.
They are my companions. They are Despenadores.
By their hands I shall die as soon as
you quit me and they and I are alone." With