He might have been warned from such by “οὐ γεωμετρικαῖς ἀλλ’ ἐρωτικαῖς ἀνάγκαις” (Plato, _Republic_, v. 458). But Bacon had applied the same figure still more widely: “Custom goes in arithmetical, Nature in geometrical progression” (_Advancement of L_., VI. iii. 259). Footnote 123: Cf. what is said of the cosmology of Malthus above, pp. 34 _seq._ Footnote 124: Or, keeping in view Mr. Carey’s exception, we should say not perhaps the first crop, but the earliest in which the farmer did justice to the known resources of the best land. Footnote 125: _Political Arithmetic—Essay on the Multiplication of Mankind_, 1682, pp. 7, 13 _seq._, especially p. 21 (ed. 1755). Footnote 126: Sir James Caird, _Landed Interest_, 4th ed., 1880, p. 177. Footnote 127: But see below, Bk. II. ch. i. Footnote 128: 2nd ed., I. i. p. 8; 7th ed., p. 6. Footnote 129: _Essay_, IV. iii., 7th ed., p. 407. Footnote 130: _Encycl. Brit., art. Population._ Cf. _Essay_, 7th ed., p. 236 n. Footnote 131: Sweden was a favourite with statisticians because Sweden alone at that time furnished sound statistics. For an account of the American population down to 1880, and its probable future, see Mr. Giffen’s Address on the Utility of Common Statistics (Stat. Soc., Dec. 1882). Footnote 132: 1804–24, or simply from the first census, 1801, to the third, 1821. The increase was such as would double the population of England in fifty-one years at the least (_Essay_, II. ix., 7th ed., p. 217). Footnote 133: _Encycl. Brit._, _l. c._ Footnote 134: _Essay_, III. xiv., 7th ed., p. 387. Footnote 135: Caird, _Landed Interest_, pp. 18, 46. Footnote 136: _Encycl. Brit._, _l. c._ Footnote 137: Apart, he ought to have said, from prudence in marriage, which would allow each man’s share to be much more than a bare living. But see below, Bk. II. ch. ii. Footnote 138: See below, Bk. II. ch. iii. Footnote 139: By the “law” of decreasing returns. See below, Bk. II. ch. i. Footnote 140: Mr. Giffen, in the Address above quoted, speaks as if Malthus considered the positive checks as the “natural checks” (p. 531). This, however, is against his distinct statement in _Essay_, 7th ed., App. p. 480. Footnote 141: This is probably the meaning of the author’s phrase, “alter the _proportionate amount_ of the checks to population, or the degree in which they press upon the actual numbers” (_Encyclop._, _l. c._, p. 415). Footnote 142: See his letter of that date in Macvey Napier’s _Correspondence_, p. 29. Footnote 143: It was not published till 1824. It was certainly written after the results of the Census of 1821 had been published. Footnote 144: Pref. to 2nd ed., pp. iv, v; 7th ed., p. vi. Footnote 145: p. 52. Footnote 146: _Essay_, 2nd ed., p. 11 n.; 7th ed., p. 9 n. Footnote 147: 2nd ed., Pref. p. vii. Footnote 148: 2nd ed., Bk. I. ch. ii. p. 10. Footnote 149: