Page:Two Lectures on the Checks to Population.pdf/72

66 It is probable, that the obligation to moral restraint was better distributed in England a hundred years ago than it is at present. "It is seldom," says Swift, writing in 1737, and comparing the condition of Ireland with that of England, "it is seldom known in England, that the labourer, the lower mechanic, the servant or the cottager, thinks of marrying, until he hath saved up a stock of money sufficient to carry on his business; nor takes a wife without a suitable portion; and as seldom fails of making an yearly addition to that stock with the view of providing for his children. But in this kingdom, the case is directly contrary, where many thousand couples are yearly married, whose united fortunes, bating the rags on their backs, would not be sufficient to purchase a pint of buttermilk for their wedding supper, nor have any prospect of supporting their honourable state, but by service, or labour, or thievery."