Ch. ix. prevail'mg Opinions on Population. 353 



to the usual subjects of instruction, and those 

 which he has mentioned, I should be disposed to 

 lay considerable stress on the frequent explanation 

 of the real state of the lower classes of society, as 

 affected by the principle of population, and their 

 consequent dependence on themselves for the 

 chief part of their happiness or misery. It would 

 be by no means necessary or proper in these ex- 

 planations to underrate, in the smallest degree, 

 the desirableness of marriage. It should always 

 be represented as, what it really is, a state pecu- 

 liarly suited to the nature of man, and calculated 

 greatly to advance his happiness and remove the 

 temptations to vice; but, like property or any 

 other desirable object, its advantages should be 

 shewn to be unattainable, except under certain 

 conditions. And a strong conviction in a young 

 man of the great desirableness of marriage, with 

 a conviction at the same time that the power of 

 supporting a family was the only condition which 

 would enable him really to enjoy its blessings, 

 would be the most effectual motive imaginable to 

 industry and sobriety before marriage, and would 

 powerfully urge him to save that superfluity of 

 income which single labourers necessarily possess, 

 for the accomplishment of a rational and desirable 

 object, instead of dissipating it, as is now usually 

 done, in idleness and vice. 



If in the course of time a few of the simplest 

 principles of political economy could be added to 

 the instructions given in these schools, the benefit 



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