[f] The Proportions which Marriages bear to Births, and Births to Burials, in divers Parts of Europe, may be seen at an easy View in this Table:
| Names of the Places. | Marriages to Births: As | Births to Burials: as | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England in general. | 1 | to | 4.63 | 1.12 | to | 1 |
| London. | 1 | to | 4. | 1 | to | 1.1 |
| Hantshire, from 1569, to 1658. | 1 | to | 4. | 1.2 | to | 1 |
| Tiverton in Devon, 1560, to 1649. | 1 | to | 3.7 | 1.26 | to | 1 |
| Cranbrook in Kent, 1560, to 1649. | 1 | to | 3.9 | 1.6 | to | 1 |
| Aynho in Northamptonshire for 118 Y. | 1 | to | 6 | 1.6 | to | 1 |
| Leeds in Yorkshire for 122 Years. | 1 | to | 3.7 | 1.07 | to | 1 |
| Harwood in Yorkshire 57 Years. | 1 | to | 3.4 | 1.23 | to | 1 |
| Upminster in Essex 100 Years. | 1 | to | 4.6 | 1.08 | to | 1 |
| Frankfort on the Main in 1695. | 1 | to | 3.7 | 1.2 | to | 1 |
| Old middle and lower Marck in 1698. | 1 | to | 3.7 | 1.9 | to | 1 |
| Domin. of the K. of Prussia in 1698. | 1 | to | 3.7 | 1.5 | to | 1 |
| Breslaw in Silesia from 1687 to 1691. | 1.6 | to | 1 | |||
| Paris in 1670, 1671, 1672. | 1 | to | 4.7 | 1 | to | 1.6 |
Which Table I made from Major Graunt’s Observations on the Bills of Mortality; Mr. King’s Observations in the first of Dr. Davenant’s Essays; and what I find put together by my ingenious Friend Mr. Lowthorp, in his Abridgment, Vol. 3. p. 668. and my own Register of Upminster. That from Aynho Register in Northamptonshire, I had from the present Rector, the learned and ingenious Mr. Wasse: And I was promised some Accounts from the North, and divers others Parts of this Kingdom; but have not yet received them: Only those of Leeds and Harwood in Yorkshire, from my curious and ingenious friend Mr. Thoresby.
[g] The preceding Table shews, that Marriages, one with another, do each of them produce about four Births; not only in England, but in other Parts of Europe also.
And by Mr. King’s Estimate, (the best Computations I imagine of any, being derived from the best Accounts; such as the Marriage, Birth, Burial-Act, the Poll Books, &c. by his Estimate, I say,) about 1 in 104 marry. For he judgeth the Number of the People in England, to be about five Millions and a half; of which about 41000 annually marry. As to what might be farther remarked concerning Marriages, in regard of the Rights and Customs of several Nations, the Age to which divers Nations limited Marriage, &c. it would be Endless, and too much out of the Way to mention them: I shall only therefore, for the Reader’s Diversion, take Notice of the Jeer of Lactantias, Quare apud Poetas salacissimus Jupiter desiit liberos tollere? Utrum sexagenarius factus, & ei Lex Papia fibulam imposuit? Lactant. Instit. l. 1. c. 16. By which Lex Papia, Men were prohibited to marry after 60, and Women after 50 Years of Age.
[h] Major Graunt, (whose Conclusions seem to be well-grounded,) and Mr. King, disagree in the Proportions they assign to Males and Females. This latter makes in London, 10 Males to be to 13 Females; in other Cities and Market-Towns, 8 to 9; and in the Villages and Hamlets, 100 Males to 99 Females. But Major Graunt, both from the London, and Country Bills, saith, there are 14 Males to 13 Females: From whence he justly infers, That Christian Religion, prohibiting Polygamy, is more agreeable to the Law of Nature than Mahumetism, and others that allow it, Chap. 8.
This Proportion of 14 to 13, I imagine is nearly just, it being agreeable to the Bills I have met with, as well as those in Mr. Graunt. In the 100 Years, for Example, of my own Parish-Register, although the Burials of Males and Females were nearly equal, being 636 Males, and 623 Females in all that Time; yet there were baptized 709 Males, and but 675 Females, which is 13 Females to 13.7 Males. Which Inequality shews, not only, that one Man ought to have but one Wife; but also that every Woman may, without Polygamy, have an Husband, if she doth not bar her self by the want of Virtue, by Denial, &c. Also this Surplusage of Males is very useful for the Supplies of War, the Seas, and other such Expences of the Men above the Women.
That this is a Work of the Divine Providence, and not a Matter of Chance, is well made out by the very Laws of Chance, by a Person able to do it, the ingenious and learned Dr. Arbuthnot. He supposeth Thomas to lay against John, that for eighty two Years running, more Males shall be born than Females; and giving all Allowances in the Computation to Thomas’s side, he makes the Odds against Thomas, that it doth not happen so, to be near five Millions of Millions, of Millions, of Millions to one; but for Ages of Ages (according to the World’s Age) to be near an infinite Number to one against Thomas. Vid. Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 328.
[] The foregoing Table shews, that in England in general fewer die than are born, there being but 1 Death to 1¹²⁄₁₀₀ Births. But in London more die than are born. So by Dr. Davenant’s Table, the Cities likewise and Market-Towns bury ⁷⁄₁₀₀ to one Birth. But in Paris they out-do London, their Deaths being 1½ to one Birth: The Reason of which I conceive is, because their Houses are more crowded than in London. But in the Villages of England, there are fewer die than are born, there being but 1 Death to 1¹⁷⁄₁₀₀ Births. And yet Major Graunt, and Dr. Davenant, both observe, that there are more Breeders in London, and the Cities and Market-Towns, than are in the Country, notwithstanding the London-Births are fewer than the Country; the Reason of which see in Graunt, Chap. 7. and Davenant ubi supr. p. 21.
The last Remark I shall make from the foregoing Table, shall be, that we may from thence judge of the Healthfulness of the Places there mentioned. If the Year 1698 was the mean Account of the three Marcks, those Places bid the fairest for being most healthful; and next to them, Aynho and Cranbrook for English Towns.