BEAUTY AND THE ELECTIVE AFFINITIES 177 



tbe sake of love — that is to say,of a union advantageous 

 to the species — men, he pointed out, would sometimes 

 sacrifice worldly position, friendship, life even. This 

 is true, as is also probably his farther reflexion that 

 "the miserable condition of the majority of men, 

 physically, morally, and intellectually, is due in some 

 measure to the fact that marriages are not usually 

 contracted by free choice, but through accidental 

 circumstances." There is a host of proverbs in all 

 languages advising people to study their pecuniary 

 interests in marriage rather than their inclinations. 

 "Marry in haste and repent at leisure," say the 

 English. " Quien se casa por amores, ha de vivir con 

 dolores," say the Spaniards. At the same time these 

 counsels are manifestly antagonistic to our instincts. 

 In a play the public are disgusted with the efforts of 

 a father to marry his daughter to some wealthy suitor 

 whom she detests, and are delighted when his scheme 

 is defeated. In society too the man or woman who 

 too obviously marries for money incurs a certain 

 amount of odium. So far Schopenhauer's views are 

 sound enough. When he tries to explain what influ- 

 ences determine the inclinations of the sexes, his 

 misapprehension of the principles of heredity leads 

 him astray. It is not the fact that snub noses seek to 



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