necessary Condition of our perishable Materials, and of our nice and frail Structure and Composition: And to account it as a Blessing that we have survived, perhaps by many Years, that Period of Life, whereat the one half of the whole Race of Mankind does not arrive.
A second Observation I make upon the said Table, is that the Growth and Increase of Mankind is not so much stinted by any thing in the Nature of the Species, as it is from the cautious difficulty most People make to adventure on the State of Marriage, from the Prospect of the Trouble and Charge of providing for a Family. Nor are the poorer sort of People herein to be blamed, since their difficulty of subsisting is occasion'd by the unequal Distribution of Possessions, all being necessarily fed from the Earth, of which yet so few are Masters. So that besides themselves and Families, they are yet to work for those who own the Ground that feeds them: And of such does by very much the greater part of Mankind consist; otherwise it is plain, that there might well be four times as many Births as we now find. For by Computation from the Table, I find that there are nearly 15000 Persons above 16, and under 45, of which at least 7000 are Women capable to bear Children. Of these notwithstanding there are but 1238 born yearly, which is but little more than a sixth part: So that about one in six of these Women do breed yearly; whereas were they all married, it would not appear strange or unlikely, that four of six should bring a Child every Year. The Political Consequences hereof I shall not insist on; only the Strength and Glory of a King being in the multitude of his Subjects, I shall only hint, that above all things, Celibacy ought to be discouraged, as, by extraordinary Taxing and Military Service: And those who have numerous Families of Children to be countenanced and encouraged by such Laws as the