MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 77 



of all, so that it might justly be said that the most arbitrary monarch never 

 exercised a more unbounded sway over his vassals than Gustavus possessed from 

 the voluntary affection of his free-born subjects. In a word he was a sovereign 

 who was esteemed by foreigners no less than by his own people, by contem- 

 poraries as well as by posterity, one of the wisest and best that ever adorned 

 a throne.* 



We shall see later how closely he was reproduced in his grandson Gus- 

 tavus Adolphus the Great. 



The father of this founder of the house was Eric Johnson, who is 

 described as an insignificant little man with a violent and uncontrollable 

 temper. f The other ancestors are 'obscure' and, as far as known, were 

 without special gifts of any sort. So Gustavus Vasa must be consid- 

 ered a new variation or a 'sport' in biological terminology. How this 

 genius was transmitted we shall see in the subsequent history of the 

 house. 



Of the nine children available for our study, we have very complete 

 accounts concerning five. These are Eric, John, Charles, Magnus and 

 Cecelia. The others did not distinguish themselves in any way as far 

 as known. Of these five, all but one, Charles, were violent or eccentric 

 or both. The mother of all but Eric, Margaret Lejonhufond, was a 

 gentle, beautiful and tactful princess! with whom Gustavus lived very 

 happily. Therefore, since the grandfather, Eric, was violent and cruel,, 

 and since insanity appeared in Eric and Magnus, the children of both 

 marriages of Gustavus, it seems fair to assume that the lack of mental 

 balance was hereditary, and on the male side. Whatever may have 

 been its origin, the neurosis was a family trait and eccentricities of 

 one sort or another will be found in several of the descendants. 



Eric, the eldest son and next king, was suspicious, gloomy and 

 cruel; and finally becoming insane was obliged to abdicate.^ He was 

 nevertheless extremely learned, having a profound acquaintance with 

 the classics and all the sciences of his day, especially the occult 

 branches. 



John, the second son, was both passionate and weak. 



His tender conscience, though it did not prevent him poisoning his father, 

 Eric, yet induced him to pay a most scrupulous obedience to the ridiculous 

 penance ordered by the pope for commission of the murder. His temper hasty, 

 his disposition selfish, with strong instinctive attachments, so that in domestic 

 life he oscillated between the extreme of indulgence and severity ... he at last 

 grew to be afraid of his own shadow. || 



Magnus became insane. Cecelia, his sister, brought disgrace on 

 the family even in her youth. Later she went to England with her 



* Coxe, ' Travels in Russia, Sweden and Denmark,' IV., 132-134. 



t Geijer, ' History of Sweden,' I., 97. 



t Geijer, I., 127. 



Coxe, 'Travels,' IV., 126, and ' Ency. Brit.,' 8th ed. 



|| Coxe, Op. cit., IV., 247. 



