Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/169

159 HUMOROUS, MORAL, LITERARY, &c.

ON EARLY MARRIAGES.

TO JOHN ALLEYNE, ESQ.

OU deſire, you ſay, my impartial thoughts on the ſubject of an early marriage, by way of anſwer to the numberleſs objections that have been made by numerous perſons to your own. You may remember, when you conſulted me on the occaſion, that I thought youth on both ſides to be no objection. Indeed, from the marriages that have fallen under my obſervation, I am rather inclined to think, that early ones ſtand the beſt chance of happineſs. The temper and habits of the young are not yet become ſo ſtiff and uncomplying, as when more advanced in life; they form more eaſily to each other, and hence many occaſions of diſguſt are removed. And if youth has leſs of that prudence which is neceſſary to manage a family, yet the parents and elder friends of young married perſons are generally at hand to afford their advice, which amply ſupplies that defect; and by early marriage, youth is ſooner formed to