62 MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY 



women are exceptionally virtuous is no vain boast, 

 and it is also an undoubted fact that among young 

 Irishmen are to be found examples of continence un- 

 known elsewhere. This state of things cannot be 

 attributed to the custom of early marriages, which 

 are just as prevalent among the working classes of 

 London as they are in Ireland ; it is unquestionably 

 due to the influence of the priests, exerted both 

 by precept and example. 



Many specious arguments in explanation of 

 chastity have been put forward by the utilitarians, 

 whose system resolves itself mainly into this, that 

 virtue is a wise and vice an unwise pursuit of 

 pleasure, and that a person is moral or immoral in 

 accordance with the calculation he may make as 

 to where his interests lie. Mill discusses very 

 ingeniously in this sense the case of a man who 

 is tempted to commit adultery with his friend's wife. 

 The obvious motive to the act he may disobey. In 

 that case, says Mill, he obeys other motives that are 

 stronger. " Though pleasures are associated with the 

 immoral act, pains are associated with it likewise — 

 the pains of the injured husband, the pains of the 

 injured wife, the moral indignation of mankind, and 

 the future reproaches of his own mind." Some men 



