84 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION 



had two undistinguished and one able child, while the 

 woman married a very able man and had one very able 

 son, one able daughter, and one whose characteristics 

 are unknown. Thus once more the quality of the 

 alliance shows clearly in the average quality of the 

 offspring. The individuals indicated in the last line, 

 or Generation V. of this pedigree, are believed to be 

 under forty-five years of age, and therefore have not 

 yet completed their careers. It is possible that some 

 of them will still show powers entitling them to the 

 distinction of being reckoned as '* very able." 



A study of pedigrees and biographies in such books 



of reference as the Dictionary of National Biography 



leads irresistibly to the conclusion that continued ability 



and eminence in a family depend solely on sound 



marriages. That some families remain in a prominent 



position for many generations is a historical fact. The 



Scropes, for instance, in the course of the three centuries 



comprised between the reigns of Edward II. and Charles 



I. produced, in the male line only, " two earls and 



twenty barons, one Chancellor, four Treasurers, two 



Chief Justices of England, one Archbishop and two 



Bishops, five Knights of the Garter, and numerous 



Bannerets." ^ The permanence of the ability maintained 



by the intermarriages of the Montagues, the Norths, 



and the Sidneys has been pointed out by Galton. 



The family descended from Roger Boyle, a Here- 

 fordshire gentleman of good birth, and Joan Naylor 

 his wife, a couple living in the time of Queen Elizabeth, 

 provides one of the most striking instances in modern 



1 Times, 17th June 1909, obituary notice of Mr. Simon Conyers Scrope of 

 Danby. 



