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.