New-York tribune., 1878-01-19
GAIL HAMILTON AGAIN.
DIR GREAT GRAND-FATHERS AND THEIR
CIVIL SERVICE: A REVIEW IN fooh
PARIS.

CIVIL SERVICE: REVIEW IN rum
PARTS.
Mr.. HENRY CABOT LODGE IN HANp-To-HAND
FIGHT WITH OBLIVION
r. fliol reverence were enforced by law, Mr. Lodge
wouId certainly be found guilty OF an aconable Of
fsuse against his grea-grandfather. Under dutiful
slsouse he tranples on him at the very first step.
sentiment of respect for the memory of my great
grandfather and desire to his sane, Il posi-
bic from complete Oblirioa, induced me to undertake
the work of which this volume is tao result" DOCS
not Mr. Lodge know that in this Essex County
where his ancestor was born, great-grandiather'
lowered with unlimited private respect ana phohc
oblivion are as the sands upon the seasiiore' Ill
Vulnerable. When Mr.. Thomas C0rwin was ap-
pointed Secretary of the Treasury by PRESIDENT
Fillmore he said that if he went out on the treas
ury steps and blew a horn every man that heaid 1t
was as fit for tie place he. There IS not az ESSEX
Couptv man alive WHO could not stand ou his door
step and blow a horn over toward the on ouIyH'S-
ground at any number of grcat-gTandiathers as wor-
tby of immortality Mr.. Cabot. But We ito not
llnw the horn Oblivion is not SO bad fate. We
shall oil shortly share II with own fathers. Ns
warm our hearts with their memory: but we reflect
nhi,osopbically that if they had not buoyancy
enough TO float the ru ug tide OF time 1t IS bu1
Il waste of muscle for us 20 try 10 keep Their Vcner-
bic heads above water and bat very Ill taste toaunt
their specific gravity before the world. But II seems
otherwise t0 Mr. Lodge. He appears rather lnchnca
TO exaggerate the hard tug he has had over the re-
mains of his ancestor "The difficulties i'll my way
at first seemed insurmountable' Ii Mr. Lodge coui'i
only have persuaded himself that II was not heceS-
sarv TO suT1nouat them Being debafred bY tho
nature of my only materials from writing suitable
biography the natural inference would be
that he wOnld not write IT, and we adri'Fe NJ
.be existence of this robust octave in 900
parcs, And not considering that his
tory OF any period could be properly treated in
q work relating exclusively t. individual y
snrey that might 20 without saying. unless man
is TO be excluded altogether from hs own bioaTa-
phy--in which case he himself might have some
views And then having previously announced the
lsurrnountable obstacle that ne had 10 material for
biography. and must cOafnc himself 70 MI Cabot !"
letters Mr.. Lodge completes his remarkable give
AWAY game by declaring that he had written the
biographical parts with the sole purpose oi render
ing the accompanying letters intelhsible"
But having thus ground his great-grandfihhcr be-
tween the upper and neither milestone, MI Lodge,
il must be confessed, grapples manIully With the
corpus delict and emerges from the SIX huhdreuth
page like 1EnesS from burning Troy with Anchlses
or his shoulders though whether Mr.. Lodge has
any more life than it had when he took il up re-
mains to be seen. All the same the effort was not
the less heroic and gladly proffer him my humble
aid.
Proceeding apparently on the principle that to
give a fair account of anything yOu must heCn at
ihe foundation of the world Mr. Lodge draws back
far enough for a start to come down on William the
Conoueror at the first leap. Among the names on
the auncent role given by SteTr, of the chief no
blemen and gentlemen which came into England
with William the Conqueror,' is that OF Cabot
'Tis Il fair beginning, but we are doomed TO disap-
pontment. With his peculiar ideas OF reverence iof
the dead. no sooner does Mr.. Lodge. hit up tins
deceased Cabot into the light than he drops hm-ii
so homely term may be applied TO Cahot-llke
hot potato. Worse than this, lie lifted him up ON
purpose to drop him. He drags him ont OF
his grave simply to say that he is moi the
man at all He is another person. He is not even
that. HE is "a mere name upon old parchment
Then why asks busy world is he not permitted TO
stay thereg
Having remitted HIM to his shelterinr sheepskin,
Mr.. Lodge makes second jump and lands this
time ON the Isle of ersey. o more the prospect
brighteRs John Cabot, Sebastian Cabot, Rohan-
Chabots, Italian Cardinals, herloOms, Norman race,
pure blood coats-of-aIns-all are Touched upon;
nothing is wanting 10 complete our knowledge ot
the Cabot family, except. perhaps. dissertation
on Jersey cows when the whole fabric Is Suddenly
and characteriscaliy swept away, with the ruthless
remark that 1.-THE most patient labor has failed 10
-cal1y the geneaogy Of the American family beyond
the parents OF those who first cmiWatol 10 NasSa-
chusetts!'
SO this careful rosuscitation OF renowned Cabots
is simply for thc purpose Of saying that they
are not to the purpose. In the character Of ancea-
tors Mr.. Lol l-e can OILY point TO them rs dill Beau
Brunmcrs valet 20 the hcdp Of tumbled crayals Oh
his arm, THESE are our failures" In his confessed
dearth of material we could permit Mr. Lodge TO cle
cut the life and letters OF his great grandfather Win
the life and letters OF the men whose tables lie fAd
dined but IT is abusing good nature to stretch the
permission over raft OF people who were dead
hundreds of years before his great grandfather was
born.
A third time VIC start out on " still huni" Tor
the Cabot pedigree and this time We seem really to
have struck the trail. william the C0nqucrer, and
Sebastian the Explorer. give up then uacei taul
ghosts to the more commonplace but suD5tauthl
claims of Georgc Cabot, joiner and mason. and his
wife ABIGAIL Blue blood does indeed make a iinal
feeble stand on the question as to whether George
Cabot won his wife by service, as mason, Oh her
fathers houss, " or whether from superior knoTi-
edge he was enabled to direct the construction of
his father-n-law's house, and therefore s"prcact
TO be a mason ~ Bat i'll view of all the royal line
from which he did not spring, posterty will no
doubt Judge George Cabots monument Of brick
more durable than brass
The same tendency to oyeriay simple fast with
sounding phrase IS displayed throughout the book
with comical unconsciousness. The few items of MI
Cabots early life, which would not crowd page
are elaborated over twenty pages. George Cabot
had been in college two years when his father died
Ample provision had been made by will for his re-
manning college course and G910 besides fell {" his
share from the estate. Yet he instantly left college