341 
1887.] Mr T. B. Sprague on a Fruitful Marriage . 
brothers. An explanation of this fact soon suggests itself. Com- 
paring the position of an unmarried peer with that of his brothers, 
it seems likely that the former, being in possession of the estates 
which go along with the title, will feel more free to follow his 
personal inclinations in the selection of a wife, than will be the case 
with his younger brothers; and the same remark applies to the 
peer’s eldest son, and to the eldest son of this eldest son, as com- 
pared with their younger brothers. In other words, they may be 
expected as a rule to marry wives who are personally attractive, 
being young and of healthy constitutions ; while the younger 
brothers may more frequently marry for money, the wife being in 
many cases an heiress who, from her age, or from being herself an 
only child, is less likely to have children. For the purpose of 
testing this supposition, I next examined all the 626 marriages of 
peers and their sons, and noted which of them were entered into 
by a man who was at the time either a peer, or the heir-apparent 
of a peer, or the eldest son of an heir-apparent ; and the results are 
shown in the following table : — 
Table E. — Marriages of Peers and of their Sons , distinguishing 
those which were entered into by a Man who was either a Peer 
or an Heir-Apparent. 
Age at 
Marriage. 
Peers. 
Sons of Peers. 
Married as Peer 
or Heir -Apparent. 
Remainder. 
Married as Heir- 
Apparent. 
Remainder. 
Marriages. 
Of which 
were 
Childless. 
Marriages. 
Of which 
were 
Childless. 
W 
(D 
SI 
ci 
c5 
S 
Of which 
were 
Childless. 
CC 
<V 
SD 
.2 
s 
% 
Of which 
were 
Childless. 
Number. 
Vo 
Number. 
7, 
Number. 
% 
Number. 
% 
19 to 29 
202 
25 
12-4 
46 
5 
10-9 
70 
10 
14-3 
64 
13 
20-3 
30 „ 39 
89 
13 
14-6' 
19 
3 
15-8 
30 
4 
13-3 
33 
7 
21-2 
40 „ 49 
32 
8 
25-0 
7 
2 
28-6 
1 
1 
100-0 
1 
0 
o-o 
50 ,, 59 
17 
9 
52-9 
2 
1 
50-0 
60 and upwards 
12 
8 
66-7 
1 
1 
100-0 
-■ 
Total 
352 
63 
17-9 
75 
12 
16-0 
101 
15 
14-9 
98 
20 
20-4 
