MENTAL AND MORAL HEREDITY IN ROYALTY. 177 



time in the Hapsburgs, since they are introduced into this family 

 through the blood of Castile and Leon ; and furthermore these afflictions 

 appear at once. From this time onward, insanity is rampant. Why 

 should it have remained so and not have diminished through reversion 

 to the mean? Let us look at the subsequent marriages. 



The Emperor Charles V. married Isabella, a daughter of Emanuel 

 the First of Portugal, a mediocre king; and an inbred descendant of 

 the great Portugal house. Her mother was a sister of the mad Joanna 

 and granddaughter of John the imbecile, and Isabella, the insane. 

 So this may be called a pretty close intermarriage, as well as an un- 

 advisable one. The Emperor himself was somewhat eccentric. He 

 was cruel as well as inordinately ambitious, but he was withal a great 

 ruler. Towards the latter part of his life he was especially subject 

 to melancholia. The effect of this unwise marriage was of course 

 to perpetuate these traits. We shall see under Austria how the evil 

 qualities were much less conspicuous and how the influence of outside 

 stock made itself felt in counteracting these undesirable perversions. 

 The descendants bred true to kind, and in all regions of the chart 

 we find the vicious qualities appearing in places where we should 

 most expect them, that is, in places where the intermarriages were 

 closest. 



It is a matter of common belief that intermarriage alone is a cause 

 of insanity, therefore, it is worth while to consider that here it is 

 merely perpetuating what already exists and cannot be considered the 

 cause of its beginning. In a later chapter this question will be more 

 fully discussed. It was not yet time for the intellectual qualities to 

 entirely disappear, for Charles Quint had two descendants who are 

 celebrated historical characters. These were Don John of Austria 

 and Alexandre Farnese, both of whom so distinguished themselves 

 by virtue of their great abilities that abundant material can be found 

 in any biographical dictionary to confirm the belief that these men 

 were geniuses. His grandson, Albert Archduke of Austria and Gov- 

 ernor of the Netherlands (son of Maximilian II.), was a man of high 

 though not the highest talents. There are three others worth men- 

 tioning in this connection. The Archduke Charles, his great-grand- 

 son, is spoken of in this way: 



He died in the twenty-sixth year of his age of a malignant fever. He was 

 deeply regretted hy the nation, being universally considered a prince of extra- 

 ordinary merit and endowments . . . active and ambitious spirit.* 



The Cardinal Ferdinand, his brother, was a man of equal mark 

 and merit, who as Governor of the Netherlands there warded off 

 Spain's impending disasters until his untimely death brought a great 



* Dunlop, ' Mem. Spain.' 

 vol. xlii. 12. 



