XXXVIII.

Had Adeline read Malthus? I can't tell; I wish she had: his book's the eleventh commandment, Which says, "Thou shall not marry," unless _well_: This he (as far as I can understand) meant. 'T is not my purpose on his views to dwell, Nor canvass what "so eminent a hand" meant;[748] But, certes, it conducts to lives ascetic, Or turning Marriage into Arithmetic.