272 Of the Effects on Societi/ Bk. iv. 



trimonial contract without fear of its consequences. 

 The operation of the preventive check in this w^ay, 

 by constantly keeping the population within the 

 limits of the food, though constantly following its 

 increase, would give a real value to the rise of 

 wages and the sums saved by labourers before 

 marriage, very different from those forced advances 

 in the price of labour or arbitrary parochial dona- 

 tions, which, in proportion to their magnitude and 

 extensiveness, must of necessity be followed by 

 a proportional advance in the price of provisions. 

 As the wages of labour would thus be sufficient 

 to maintain with decency a large family, and as 

 every married couple would set out with a sum 

 for contingencies, all abject poverty would be re- 

 moved from society; or would at least be con- 

 fined to a very few, who had fallen into misfor- 

 tunes, against which no prudence or foresight 

 could provide. 



The interval between the age of puberty and 

 the period at which each individual might venture 

 on marriage must, according to the supposition, 

 be passed in strict chastity ; because the law of 

 chastity cannot be violated without producing 

 evil. The effect of any thing like a promiscuous 

 intercourse, which prevents the birth of children, 

 is evidently to weaken the best affections of the 

 heart, and in a very marked manner to degrade 

 the female character. And any other intercourse 

 would, without improper arts, bring as many chil- 

 dren into the society as marriage, with a much 

 greater probability of their becoming a burden to it. 



