20 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



idea that men should be punished for infidelity. And 

 here we may observe that the modern enthusiasts 

 who insist upon men being judged by the same stand- 

 ards of morality as women, especially with reference 

 to breaches of the marriage vow, wholly mistake the 

 fundamental conditions of the problem. That queen 

 of France who threw in her husband's face the scath- 

 ing taunt — "I can produce princes, you nothing but 

 bastards," touched the matter, so to speak, with a 

 needle. The purity of the family is bound up with 

 the chastity of the wife. The husband's infidelity 

 does not necessarily affect his home interests. 



Had James I. been the son of David Eizzio, Queen 

 Mary's fault would have been infinitely more far- 

 reaching in its effects than the profligacy of any of 

 the Stuart kings. That women can be strongly jealous 

 is true, but their jealousy springs from a different 

 cause from that of men. It is analogous to the instinct 

 of self-preservation. The wife is jealous because she 

 feels the necessity of defending her position ; and her 

 sufferings can be assuaged, to some extent, by the 

 assurance that her rival is inferior to herself in attract- 

 iveness, and has no chance of supplanting her in her 

 husband's affections — a motive which cannot possibly 

 weigh with a jealous husband. Most women are, no 



