, 1881-04-08
ParYenu GenealOgies.

Among the less authentic anecdotes OF
Napoleon I. is one which represents him
as tearing up the genealogy which obse-
uuious heralds had prepared for him, on
the ground that he was ''the first OF the
Bona7artes" Yet it Is perfectly certain
that the parvenu Emperor lndlted
book of elaborate ceremonial, and was as
careful to chronicle the roll of his ances-
trail "cittidiri' as he was to postdate his
birth by one year, so that he could claim
to have been born while Corsica was
mart of France After Joachim Murat
had ''aspired to descend" to the throne
of Naples. an array of brand-new ances-
tors appeared in the Libra DOro, and
hencefOrth only disagreeable people
recollected that his Majesty had once
been a garcon in Partisan cafe. Barna-
dotte, when he became Prince of Ponte
Corvo, displayed n tendency to silence
regarding his father. the notary, who,
when his son ascended the Swedish
throne, suddenly acquired conVen-
iently noble henage. Beaumarchals,
after he became courtier, OstentatIously
spoke of the days when he was a watch
makers apprentice. But ut the same
time he took good care to let fall the
tme-piece of the sneering noble, who
II. Lord Campbell was the son of n
humble Fifesliire minister. Yet, by the
time he was Il Queens counsel he began
to inquire about his arms and ancestors,
and soon afterward he had acquired q
touching belief in his descent from some
of those Scottish Kings whom NJ. de Witt
has portrayed.
We have all heard the story of the
Highland chief who was indignant when
tiatterer limited that his ancestor had en-
tered the Ark with Noah, ''for the Mae
tavishes always had a boat of their own. "
In a Welsh geanology of prodiSious
! length there is this casual remark in the
middle of it: About this time came
the flood"-a claim as modest as that of
Rabelais' Pantagruel. or of the Spanish
family. III whose gallery there Is pic
ture of Moan ushering into his vessel a
gentleman with bag wig and sword 8,
ana with a bundle of papers under his
arm, ostentatiously labelled The title
deeds of the Quiros estates"
Republicanism is NO barrier to the
pursuit A ''Knickerbocker family" in
New York looks down from an aristo-
cratic height on the descendants of the
Jacobean adventurers, while there is not
q wider gulf between the ineal repre-
sentatives of Saxon Thegn and the last
city Baronet. than there is between the
Bostoner who Lives on the family
homestead" and the Irish immigrant
who has Just been landed from the
Cunarder's steerage. To have coach
man with q bug on his hat" is the pride
of Fifth avenue aristocrat; and BOSS
| Tweed, when he started a carriage, dis
played on its panels the arms of the Mar
quis of Tweeddale. Genealogy in itself
is an agreeable stuGy when 1t deals with
sages, warriors, and Statesmen. 1t j.
only when it lands us near Newgate or
New South Wales that the science be
comes embarrassing. DIR. Johnson po-
litely begged Mrs. Porter not to be dis
tressed simply because one of her uncles
had been hanged, for ''he had several
who ought to have been;" and Sydney
Smith, when questioned about his grand
father, quietly observed that all he knew
was that The disappeared about Assi2e
time, and the family had asked for no
particulars. - London Standard.