OF CHILDREN.

death so frequent among children. A delicate female,brought up within doors, an utter stranger to exerciseand open air, who lives on tea and other slops, maybring a child into the world, but it will hardly be fitto live. The first blast of disease will nip the tenderplant in the bud; or should it struggle through a fewyears' existence, its feeble frame, shaken with con-vulsions from every trivial cause, will be unable toperform the common functions of life, and prove aburden to society.

If to the delicacy of mothers we add the irregularlives of fathers, we shall see further cause to believethat children are often hurt by the constitution of theirparents. A sickly frame may be originally produced byhardships or intemperance, but chiefly by the latter.It is impossible that a course of vice should not spoilthe best constitution; and, did the evil terminate here,it would be a just punishment for the folly of the suf-ferer ; but when once a disease is contracted and rivet-ted in the habit, it is entailed on posterity. What adreadful inheritance is the gout, the scurvy, or theking's evil, to transmit to our offspring! how happyhad it been for the heir of many a great estate had hebeen born a beggar, rather than to inherit his father'sfortunes at the expense of inheriting his diseases!

A person labouring under any incurable maladyought not to marry. He thereby not only shortens hisown life> but transmits misery to others; but whenboth parties are deeply tainted with the scrophula, thescurvy, or the like, the effects must be still worse. Ifsuch have any issue, they must be miserable indeed.Want of attention to these things, in forming connec-tions for life,has rooted out more families than plague,famine, or the sword; and as long as the connectionsare formed from mercenary views, the evil will becontinued.*

* The Lacedemonians condemned their king Archidamos forhaving married a weak puny woman; because, said they, insteadof propagating a race of heroes, you will fill the throne with a pro-geny of changelings.

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