Editorial note — Chapter II

But it must not be overlooked here, that the Flemish provinces of Belgium had been for a long time in a sad economic condition. (Horn, Studien, I, 75 ff.) No less characteristic of the well-being of a people and their providence in entering into the married state is the relative age at which they contract marriage. If we divide ages into four classes (up to the 30th year, between 31 and 45, between 46 and 60, and after 60), we find, for instance, that from 1841 to 1845, there were in West Flanders 585 per 1,000 marriages between persons of the same age-class, 305 in which the husband, and 110 in which the wife belonged to an older class; in Namur, on the other hand, 683, 234 and 83. In dear years, the relative number of marriages between persons belonging to different age-classes, and the relative difference in age of parties to the marriage contract increases.

And so, the frequency of second marriages of widows and widowers is no favorable symptom of the facility of founding a family. Naturally every woman prefers a man who was never married before to a widower; and every man a maiden to a widow; but where there is a want of room to establish a new household, the possession of such one by a widower may readily preponderate over all counter considerations. Thus, for instance, in the Flemish provinces of Belgium, of 1,000 widowers, from 365 to 395 marry again; in the Wallonic, only from 293 to 308. Of 1,000 brides, 98 are widows in West Flanders, and in Namur, 41. A similar proportion in Bavaria between the Palatinate and the hither-districts. (Hermann, Bewegung der Bevölkerung in Bayern, p. 14.) The less the frequency of marriage in general, the greater is the relative probability of second marriage for widows and widowers; and hence, in years of scarcity, the latter relatively increase. (Horn, Studien, I, 201 ff.) Sometimes this increase is absolute: in Austria, during the cheap year 1852, there were 231,900 marriages between persons never before married, and 85,000 in which at least one of the contracting parties had been married before. On the other hand, during the dear year 1855, there were only 156,000 of the former and 89,000 of the latter. Something analogous, observed in antiquity. (Pausan., II, 21, 8; X, 38, 6; Propert., II, 11, 36.) Tacitus, Germ., 19, describes the moral feelings of the ancient Germans as averse to the second marriage of widows, and he apparently approves it.