24 Of Systems of Equaliti), Godwin. Bk. iii, 



in which they abounded to the quarter in which 

 they were deficient.* And every man, according 

 to his capacity, would be ready to furnish instruc- 

 tion to the rising generation. 



I cannot conceive a form of society so favourable 

 iipon the whole to population. The irremediable- 

 ness to marriage, as it is at present constituted, 

 undoubtedly deters many from entering into this 

 state. An unshackled intercourse on the contrary 

 would be a most powerful incitement to early at- 

 tachments; and as we are supposing no anxiety 

 about the future support of children to exist, I do 

 not conceive that there would be one woman in a 

 hundred, of twenty-three years of age, without a 

 family. 



With these extraordinary encouragements to 

 population, and every cause of depopulation, as 

 we have supposed, removed, the numbers would 

 necessarily increase faster than in any society 

 that has ever yet been known. I have before 

 mentioned that the inhabitants of the back settle- 

 ments of America appear to double their numbers 

 in fifteen years. England is certainly a more 

 healthy country than the back settlements of Ame- 

 rica; and as we have supposed every house in the 

 island to be airy and wholesome, and the encou- 

 ragements to have a family greater even than in 

 America, no probable reason can be assigned, why 

 the population should not double itself in less, if 

 possible, than fifteen years. But to be quite sure, 



* Political Justice, b., viii. c. viii. p. 504. 



