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54 greater degree, would find themselves under a greater necessity of consulting them with regard to their own plans and views of interest, of respecting their feelings, and of being guided by their advice. In nothing is this influence more likely to be beneficial than in the particular of marriage. This proposition I will explain in the following manner.

Generally speaking, prudence, or the habit of attending to future consequences, is a virtue seldom acquired in any great degree of perfection until late in life. It is the result of long observation and repeated experience. It is acquired, first in respect of cases of which the consequences are near, or which are of frequent recurrence, and not until long afterwards in respect of cases of which the consequences are remote and indistinct, or which recur but seldom.

The magnitude also of an effort of prudence is evidently proportional to the extent of the present sacrifice. For example, in a question about marriage, the effort of prudence, when successful, is greater in proportion as the passion is stronger. The power however of discerning the necessity