1784] Essays ) 
But the absurdity of descending honors is not a 
mere matter of philosophical opinion; it is capable 
of mathematical demonstration. A man’s son, for 
instance, is but half of his family, the other half be- 
longing to the family of his wife. His son, too, 
marrying into another family, his share in the grand- 
son is but a fourth; in the great-grandson, by the 
same process, it is but an eighth; in the next genera- 
tion a sixteenth; the next a thirty-second ; the next 
a sixty-fourth; the next an hundred and twenty- 
eighth; the next a two hundred and fifty-sixth; and 
the next a five hundred and twelfth. Thus in nine 
generations, which will not require more than three 
hundred years (no very great antiquity for a fam- 
ily), our present Chevalier of the Order of Cincinna- 
tus’ share in the then existing knight will be but a 
five hundred and twelfth part, which, allowing the 
present certain fidelity of American wives to be in- 
sured down through all those nine generations, is 
so small a consideration that methinks no reasonable 
man would hazard for the sake of it the disagreeable 
consequences of the jealousy, envy, and ill-will of 
his countrymen. 
Let us go back with our calculation from this 
young noble, the five hundred and twelfth part of 
the present knight, through his nine generations, 
till we return to the year of the institution. He 
must have had a father and a mother, they are two; 
each of them had a father and a mother, they are 
four. Those of the next preceding generation will 
be eight, the next sixteen, the next thirty-two, the 
23C