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.
’Tis not my purpose on his views to dwell,
Nor canvass what “so eminent a hand” meant;
But, certes, it conducts to lives ascetic,
Or turning Marriage into Arithmetic.