tate, requires all these precautions, all these
cares, to fail to any extent in any of which is to bring down on a man's
head such fearful consequences; will you say that, if this be the case,
_it is better to remain single_? If you should say this, it is my
business to show that you are in error. For, in the first place, it is
against nature to suppose that children can cease to be born; they must
and will come; and then it follows, that they must come by promiscuous
intercourse, or by particular connexion. The former nobody will contend
for, seeing that it would put us, in this respect, on a level with the
brute creation. Then, as the connexion is to be _particular_, it must be
_during pleasure_, or for the _joint lives of the parties_. The former
would seldom hold for any length of time: the tie would seldom be
durable, and it would be feeble on account of its uncertain duration.
Therefore, to be a _father_, with all the lasting and delightful ties
attached to the name, you must first be a husband; and there are very
few men in the world who do not, first or last, desire to be _fathers_.
If it be said, that marriage ought not to be for life, but that its
duration ought to be subject to the will, the _mutual will_ at least, of
the parties; the answer is, that it would seldom be of long duration.
Every trifling dispute would lead to a separation; a hasty word would be
enough. Knowing that the engagement is for life, prevents disputes too;
it checks anger in its beginnings. Put a rigging horse into a field with
a weak fence, and with captivating pasture on the other side, and he is
continually trying to get out; but, let the field be walled round, he
makes the best of his hard fare, and divides his time between grazing
and sleeping. Besides, there could be no _families_, no assemblages of
persons worthy of that name; all would be confusion and indescribable
intermixture: the names of _brother_ and _sister_ would hardly have a
meaning; and, therefore, there must be marriage, or there can be nothing
worthy of the name of family or of father.

210. The _cares_ and _troubles_ of the married life are many; but, are
those of the single life few? Take the _farmer_, and it is nearly the
same with the tradesman; but, take the farmer, for instance, and let
him, at the age of twenty-five, go into business unmarried. See his maid
servants, probably rivals for his smiles, but certainly rivals in the
charitable distribution of his vic