Genealogy of the family of Forbes

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riacl which can be claimed for the best authenticated nobiiityo
From the chiefs of the barbarous tribes which subverted the
Roman power, the most noble stocks may wish to trace their
pedigree j but these attempts are oftener baffled by inconsist-
ency and want of proof than confirmed even by probability -
and when the unprejudiced mind is employed upon our greatest
European families of " Royal siege," it finds that six or eight
centuries (often much less) uniformly put an end to all their glo-
ries, and bring their founders forward either as fortunate soldi-
ers, or less meritorious politicians; le premier qui fiit roi,fut un
soldat keveux. TKe Austrian Majesty ends in the puny Counts
of Hapsburgh — the Russian Emperors, in the barbarous chiefs
of the unknown Muscovites — the Bourbon pride, in the little
illustrious Hugh Capet — and our own in the doubtful and base
birth of the son of the Duke of Normandy. We believe that
not one great family in Europe can with any certainty go back
1000 years, and probably the oldest families which can record
their nobility, or rather their descent, ^re those of Venice, des-
cended from the obscure founders of that marin e city*
Yet, during the long night of nearly 1000 years, which dark-
ened the European nations, after the decline of the Roman arts
and empire, the institutions of religion and of chivalry, tended to
give softness and sentiment to the barbarity of those ages of ra-
pine and ferocity. The idle lives of the monks were not entirely
spent in delusion and licentiousness ; the arts of life and the re-
membrance of former civilization were cherished amidst the se-
* The pride of the Germans is almost proverbial ; and such was the
hauteur of the Spanish grandees, that each one iu succession signed
after their names, consenting to the Bourbon dynasty, " As noble as the
" King." The subtle embassador of France concealed his feelings at
this arrogant assumption, till one. signing as usual, and with the additioa
of " and more so," he demanded the reason ; the answer at once silen-
ced the Frenchman — " You allow I am as noble ; but I am a Cast!,
lian, and he is a Freacbman ; no I am so much nobler than (be king."