HEREDITY OF MENTAL TRAITS 9 



skip about in course of descent. From Eberhard 

 Montmorency, contemporary of Hugh Capet, to 

 Anne, the great Constable of France, there were 

 eighteen generations — one hundred and seven indi- 

 viduals — yet only two great names, Mathew L, who 

 died in 1151, and his grandson Mathew 11. , who died 

 in 1230. From his death to the birth of the cele- 

 brated Constable Anne two hundred and fifty-three 

 years passed, and then a new centre of genius appeared 

 which probably had nothing to do with the earlier 

 manifestation, though it may, of course, have been 

 an extreme reversion. Anne's second son, Henry L, 

 Duke of Montmorency, was a distinguished legislator, 

 being the only one of seven mature children to attain 

 high fame, the others representing the mediocre 

 ancestors. Henry II., the representative of the next 

 generation, was even more eminent than his father. 

 He was the only son to reach maturity. His 

 three sisters were not distinguished for intellectual 

 qualities. One of these sisters, Charlotte, married 

 Henry II., Prince of Conde, and became the mother 

 of Louis the Great Conde, and also of Anne Duchess 

 of Longueville, celebrated for her beauty, tact, and 

 diversified talents. The youngest of the children, 

 Amand, Prince of Conty, in no way inherited the same 

 qualities. He was an utterly weak and insignificant 

 person. The marriage of Louis 11. , the Great Conde, 

 with Clemence de Maille de Breze brought insanit^^ 

 and degeneracy into the line, and for three genera- 

 tions brilliancy, debauchery, and eccentricities ran 

 rampant. There were, however, five other members 



