98 Heredity. 



\ve must guard against the error of taking high official position as 

 a proof of personal merit. In letters, science, or art, where every 

 one is judged directly by his works, this illusion is impossible. In 

 political life, the fame of ancestors, alliances, and power previously 

 acquired, count for much, and sometimes supply the lack of all 

 else. To avoid the danger of confounding an external and con- 

 ventional heredity with that which is internal and natural, we cite 

 none but the most indisputable cases. 



II. STATESMEN. 



ADAMS, John (1785, 1826), second President of the United States; 

 His son, John Quincey, sixth President of the United States ; 

 His grandson, Charles Francis, American Minister to England, 



author of a Life of John Adams. 



ANTONIA (the Gens Antonia) reckoned among its most dis- 

 tinguished members Marcus Antonius, the orator, Marcus 

 Antonius, the critic, and Mark Antony, the rival of Caesar. 

 ARTEVELD, Jacques, the famous brewer of Flanders ; 



His son, Philippe, who continued his father's political work. 

 BENTINCK, William, Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of England, 



1783, 1784, and 1807 1810; 

 His son, Henry, Governor-General of India ; he introduced there 



the freedom of the press and abolished Suttee ; 

 His grandson, member of Parliament, eminent financier, and a 



leading statesman. 

 C^SAR. He might equally have been ranked among the soldiers, 



but is placed here on account of his family ; 

 His mother, Aurelia, seems to have been no ordinary woman. 

 His daughter, Julia, who married Pompey and died prematurely, 

 was remarkable for her wit and beauty. Historians have 

 observed the transmission of certain hereditary characters in 

 the family of the Caesars. ' There existed in all the Caesars,' 

 says J.- J. Ampere, 'a morbid principle. The first was epileptic; 

 his nephew (the Emperor Augustus) was a life-long valetudi- 

 narian ; an acrid humour disfigured the countenance of 

 Tiberius; Caligula was extraordinarily pale, slept little, and 

 was constantly delirious; Claudius was physically inclined 

 to imbecility ; Nero gave unequivocal indications of insanity ; 

 Tiberius, adopted stepson of Augustus, ' had fine and noble 



