From Ernst, the Pious, on, selection was constantly made of men and women of his own type, so that sound judgment, high moral qualities and strong literary taste are continually reappearing and were never lost even after nine generations. There were among this group of 182 (counting a person every time he occurs) no less than eighteen who were authors or had strong literary tastes. In the most remote generation we find five in thirty-two, in the next three in sixteen, in the next one in eight, in the next two in four, in the next two in two and in the next two in two; the remaining three occur in the more recent part of the chart, and are even more closely related. Thus we see Ernst, 'The Pious,' and Augustus of Brunswick, who were both literary, perpetuated down the line in this family by the force of intermarriage and selection.
The intellectual average is everywhere near the mean or slightly above, and the moral average is everywhere near the mean or very much above it. There being not a single bad character introduced into the blood directly, the children apparently could not turn out badly. It is the cleanest and best pedigree to be found in any royalty, and its influence on European history has come to be very great, since its very merits have entitled it to several thrones. In fact it can be shown that no royal family has been able to maintain itself without degenerations, unless it has taken a good share of Saxe-Coburg blood. The good qualities, if due to heredity at all, in Austria, England, Germany, Belgium and Greece are largely due to it. It probably saved the Bourbons in Portugal.
Thus in tracing the pedigree and accounting for the virtues of Albert, Consort of Queen Victoria, we find the theory of mental and moral heredity sufficiently sustained in his case, as well as in the others. At least five of the close relations of the Consort may be considered as almost exact repetitions of his charater. These are his grandfather, Franz Frederick Anthony, his two uncles, Ferdinand and Leopold I., King of Belgium, his brother, Ernst, and cousin, Ferdinand of Portugal.
The family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha shows by its 118 members here represented that the assumption of high rank and power and the consequent opportunities for ease and luxury do not in the least tend to degeneracy of the race when the good qualities are kept up by marriages with stocks of equal value and no vicious elements are introduced into the breed. A parallel to this is found among the kings of Portugal during its days of supremacy, where for twelve generations nearly every sovereign had all the wisdom and strength required of a ruler.
(To be continued.)
