Chapter IV (5)

So my pedestrian prose has led you back, my friend, to the regions of the noblest of rhythms! It would make me proud, if the universe were not entitled to your favor. With even more modesty than the poor, for whose benefit the old man with the moss-grown beard[88] exhibits himself for the small compensation of five silver groschen. With what excellent taste you have transferred the English “_home_” into “_Daheim_.” Indescribably beautiful is your poetry, full of grace and delicacy, and of a solemn monition of what should have been extracted from nature and art, and the weapon of science. If my brother William, who, in his correspondence with Wolf, discoursed so largely on lax and severe hexameters, could but have lived to witness this family honor!

Your advice, even when not clothed in verse, is law to me. I shall follow it at once; and you have made matters a great deal easier than they were. _Alea jacta sit!_ Could you, perhaps, dear friend, transfer the last ten syllables (or lines) of the Grand Ducal letter into your classic chirography, so as possibly to enable me to guess what it is that I am understood to have promised.

Fremont’s portrait reminds one vividly of Chateaubriand. A biography of the former has just appeared in New York, dedicated to me—“Memoirs of the Life and Public Services of John Charles Fremont, by John Bigelow (?).” The dedication says; “To Alexander von Humboldt this memoir of one whose genius he was among the first to discover and acknowledge, is respectfully inscribed by the author.” Delicate words, a little artificially combined. There is a copy of the letter written to him from Sans Souci, in the King’s name, in 1850, accompanying the great prize medal for science and art, upon his having projected the most extensive barometrical level ever executed, from Missouri to the South Sea. It closes with the words of which Sans Souci has no reason to be ashamed: “_La Californie, qui a_ NOBLEMENT résisté à l’introduction _de l’esclavage_, sera dignement représentée par _un ami de la liberté et des progrès de l’intelligence_.”[89] The biography has passages of a strange romantic interest. At one time cold and hunger have driven a party to fury and almost phrensy, when they all pray and sing, and then an oath from Fremont that there shall not in any case be a resort to cannibalism. As soon as my own curiosity is satisfied I shall send you the book. For the present, you may occupy yourself with the miracle performed by the chaplain of an army division in Magdeburg, on a Mr. Assemann, in Quedlinburg. I have lighted upon it in my capacity of naturalist. It is to be found on p. 34.

Gratefully yours,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—The water color paintings by Hildebrandt, that of
Humboldt among them, were exhibited in the hall of the Art Union,
for the benefit of the poor. Price of admission, five
silber-groschen.[90]

Suicide a Folly and a Crime; Two Sermons by Dr. Crusius, Chaplain of a
Division of the Army: Magdeburg, 1855. 8vo. The miracle consists in
this, that one, who under the qualms of a guilty conscience, was
long occupied with thoughts of suicide, was suddenly cured of them,
permanently, by an invocation of the name of Jesus. The production
is also remarkable as containing, on p. 34, the following allusion
to Schleiermacher: “It is said of a distinguished divine, that he
was once sorely tempted to commit suicide. Such is the influence
which suffering of body and mind may exercise even upon good and
godly men.”

193.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _December 17th, 1856_.

Another grateful, unconstrained, and amiable letter from the Grand Duke. He fixes February for the visit, and desires the drama to open with a request to search the archives. The permission being given, the material part is to follow, as he says, symbolically. You will arrange that with care, my dear friend. We are approaching the goal of our wishes.

I have another funeral to-morrow at the column in Tegel, which, under the hand of Thorwalsden, promises _Hope_. The oldest niece (daughter) of my brother, the wife of General Hedemann, born in Paris in 1800, a few days after Madame von Humboldt’s return from Spain, has departed after much suffering (liver complaint connected with dropsy), an amiable, cheerful housewife, who enjoyed good health for forty years in a very happy marriage. I live to bury all my kith and kin.

Yours,
A. V. H.

WEDNESDAY EVENING.

194.
CHARLES ALEXANDER, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR, TO HUMBOLDT.

WEIMAR, _December 16th, 1856_.

Like unto Nature, eternally invoked, eternally giving, because eternally bountiful, you respond with ever returning goodness to every repeated solicitation. The proposal of your Excellency in regard to the young man of science, as suggested by the plan of M. de Varnhagen, is so excellent, that I can only beg for its speedy execution. For that purpose, it would seem desirable that M. de Varnhagen should instil the idea into the young men that our plentiful archives would repay a thorough search, if I could be induced to sanction it. I would do so at once, permitting the material part to follow hereafter. The period beginning with February of next year would seem to me best adapted for the literary investigation. The real object of the journey should remain a secret, so that I shall be entirely at liberty to see him, to appoint him, or not to appoint him.

I thank you with all my heart for that printed inclosure. This task also, by no means an easy one, you have performed with a master hand, and could do so better than any one else, because you, more than most men, have spoken to the world by noble actions.

I shall appropriate the Journal of Petermann. My veneration for you is the pledge of the effective truth of my aspirations. I beg you to preserve your interest in it, and your goodness also, being your most grateful admirer and servant,

CHARLES ALEXANDER.

195.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _Feb. 7th, 1857_.

When I read anything in Berlin that enlists my political or literary attention, my first thought is of you. Lasaulx of Munich, of Baader’s tribe, was only known to me as a man of the “Kreuz Zeitung” and of Schubert’s World of Darkness, and the new historical work he sends me contains little originality of views, but it manifests, by way of allusion, a wealth of positive knowledge, which I had not expected of the man. Numerous citations indicate a great preference for the views of my brother. The Slavonic passage in regard to the Messiah is also remarkable, and the notes present a rich collection of antiquities. I should not look for anything of the sort from President Gerlach and his brother, to whom Professor Gelzer of Basle, and others, of opinions opposite to his, have been officially referred in the Neufchatel negotiations. If Lasaulx is not agreeable to you on account of his wishes for the restoration of the ancient German empire, you may find it interesting to skim over the work, and glance at the notes.

My cutaneous disease is much better, as also my nocturnal diligence. The fourth and last volume of Kosmos will consist of two parts, _i.e._, of two volumes, each of thirty-five sheets, the first of which has already left the press. Both the parts, however, are to appear _together_, to avoid spoiling the effect of a continuous description, beginning with the internal warmth of the earth, and ending with the different races of man.

The presumptuous want of caution with which the pitiful Neufchatel affair is carried on here, exposes Prussia to great humiliation at Paris. Waterloo will be avenged on Prussia as it has been on Russia.

Yours most truly,
A. V. HT.

196.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _Feb. 9th, 1857_.

Your Excellency will receive, accompanying this, with my most hearty thanks, the book so kindly lent me. I have read it with varied emotions, I might say with painful interest. True, the author makes concessions, and opens up points of view, which I should not have expected any more than the luxurious learning of his manifold citations. But the pretty collection of notes fails to mantle the kernel of the text, which is extremely bitter; the apology of negro slavery, the brutal praise of warfare and of standing armies, and the beneficence of _aristocratic_ revolutions, in spite of his far-fetched compliments, which look like invitations to be converted, the author really offers nothing but the fare of the “Kreuz Zeitung,” in a preparation somewhat more delicate than that of Professor Leo, whose “mire of cultivation” and “scrofulous rabble” are here cooked up with spices. _Latet anguis in herba!_ I must say that I always take the alarm when philosophers undertake to measure the course and the stage of human development, and to combine the meagre dates of our puny history, of at most a few thousand years, with laws for the possibilities of millions of years. Neither Fichte, nor Schelling, nor Steffens, nor Hegel, were particularly fortunate in their essays; the assignment of the ages is best left to the poets. What is especially singular in our author is that he confesses to a strong doubt of his own doctrine, for he “cannot practically renounce the national Ideal of a restored emperor and empire, although his theoretical faith in their realization is slight” (p. 157). One who writes thus has written his own sentence. A friendly answer at the hands of your Excellency the author may hope to receive, an approving one you will not be able to give him.

To hear that your welfare, your activity, your energy, continue unaltered and progressive, is refreshing and encouraging to us authors, who stand in need of great example to protect us from flagging in our daily work, ολίγον τε φίλον τε. The views of the new volume of Kosmos give me great delight, and, as Schiller said when Goethe produced one of his masterpieces, “I thank the gods that they have suffered me to live to see it.”

The Neufchatel affair, even in its present stage, has in it much that is disheartening, and I was from the first opposed to our negotiations at Paris, which had all the appearance of snares, in which much may yet be entangled. The zeal displayed by many is not at all sincere, but seems an excellent means for the attainment of other ends, and will probably be successful. Nevertheless, I am without anxiety for the future, the light cannot be extinguished and must triumph; it is only the moment of darkness that is hard to bear.

With the best wishes, in the greatest veneration and devotion,

I remain your Excellency’s most obedient,
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE.

197.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _February 20th, 1857_.

Will your Excellency pardon me for trespassing on your valuable time a moment? Not for myself, but for a literary project from which I cannot withhold my personal interest, if only on the score of old acquaintance! Professor Francis Hoffmann, of Wuerzburg, is engaged upon the publication of the works of Francis von Baader, which he pursues with self-sacrificing perseverance. I may say against wind and tide. He is about closing the enterprise with a sketch of the life of his author, and is anxious not to pass over unmentioned the fact, that Baader attended the Mining Academy at Freiberg, at the same time with your Excellency. It would be invaluable to him to obtain a word of reference to the matter from yourself, a bare hint as to whether any relation of moment took place between you, or whether he made any impression upon you? I would not presume to trouble your Excellency, if I did not take for granted that either a memento, or the contents of a single line, would dispose of the matter!

The crowd and your Excellency’s early departure prevented me from making my salutation at the Artists’ Festival. It is more than twenty years since I have ventured into such deep waters.

Strange reports are in circulation. I hope it is only a jest that presents M. Niebuhr as the Future Minister of finance, and M. Wagener as Privy Councillor, with a seat in the cabinet.

With a repeated request of your indulgence, I remain, with the most profound esteem, and in the most sincere devotion,

Your Excellency’s most obedient,
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE.

On Humboldt’s attack of sickness, Varnhagen’s diary of February 27, 1857, contains the following: “M. Hernrann Grimm called, coming from Humboldt’s apartments, where he had conversed with Seiffert, the valet. It is not a cold that has befallen Humboldt, but a far more serious attack, a paralytic stroke. After the court ball on Tuesday evening he felt unwell, in the night he left his bed to drink some water—wished to avoid disturbing the servant—and fell upon the floor. Seiffert awoke with the noise, and found his master speechless and unconscious; it was some time before he revived. Privy Councillor Schoenlein is not sanguine; he had not a very good night.”

Humboldt’s loss would be irreparable. He is a counterpoise to so much that is mean and contemptible, which, after his death, would boldly seek the light and glory in its own depravity. The honor and influence of science are embodied in him, and both would sink if he were taken away. There is not now a name in Germany, or in Europe, like his, not an influence in Berlin more extensive or more generally recognised than his. And how painful would his loss be to me! His name and his intercourse is attached to fifty years of my life, he has known those who were near and dear to us of old!

Under March 14th, Varnhagen narrates in his diary: “When the King was with Humboldt, Schoenlein said to the latter, that he would not be able for some time to stand firmly on his left side, to which Humboldt rejoined: ‘For all that, it will not be necessary for me to sit on the right with Gerlach.’”[91]

198.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _March 17th, 1857_.

I cannot deny myself the pleasure to offer to your Excellency my most heartfelt congratulations for your happy and perfect recovery! The finest and most powerful testimony of it is the letter to Privy Councillor Boeckh, which appeared in the papers this morning, and which no epithet of praise will suffice to describe. Such an invocation has never yet fallen to the lot of any man, and the receiver will not fail to honor and appreciate it as the most precious of all the gifts bestowed upon him. How fresh must have been the mind, and how warm the heart, from which it emanates, and how sterling and graceful at once is its expression! Even its narrative form—its Herodotic narrative, I might call it—is of inestimable value, and shows us a beautiful combination of youth preserved and old age achieved.

May your Excellency pardon this overflow of sentiment! You have no need of my words, but to me it is not possible to suppress them, and I therefore will give free vent to my most fervent desire, that the radiating star, covered for a moment by a cloud, may still shine upon us for a long time in accustomed splendor, and may forebode, as heretofore, health and wealth at home and abroad.

With profound veneration and gratitude,
Ever faithfully your most devoted
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE.

These lines are not so presumptuous as to expect an answer.

199.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _March 19th, 1857_—_at Night_.

How should I deny myself the pleasure to thank you, the dearest, ablest, and most attached of my friends. Not indulgence—no, praising expressions on my address to Boeckh—a praise of form, of the vesture of thought—has been my lot from the lips of the master of language, and of the delicate turns of good-will. You caused me great joy, more than you anticipated. What my nervous affection was, which produced a paralysis of such short duration, with the functions of the brain remaining entirely free, with pulse unchanged, with preservation of sight, and of all motion of the extremities subject to will, I cannot divine. There are magnetic storms (the polar light), electric storms in the clouds, nervous storms in man, heavy and light ones—perhaps, also, sheet lightning, _foreboding_ the others. I had serious thoughts of death, _comme un homme qui part, ayant encore beaucoup de lettres à écrire_. Other interests, which for ever remain alive in me, bind me to the memories of yesterday!! I believe myself in full convalescence; but as I had to rest much on the bed without occupation, sadness and displeasure of the world have increased in me. This I say to you alone. I shall soon come to you, and thank you orally from the depths of my soul. All around us puts us to shame.

In most intimate friendship, your most faithful

A. V. HUMBOLDT.

Varnhagen writes in his diary, March 19th, 1857: “Unexpectedly a letter from Humboldt! I had written under my congratulation, that these lines were not so immodest as to expect an answer. But he, nevertheless answers, and in the most obliging, most heart-gladdening manner. He gives a remarkable report of his sickness. The bad reports were all untrue, at least exaggerated; he never lost consciousness or language, his pulse remained as usual. Yet he did not conceal from himself, that it might be the end.” “I had serious thoughts of death, comme un homme qui part, ayant encore beaucoup de lettres à écrire!” Grand and fine is what he adds: “Other interests, which remain for ever alive in me, bind me to the memories of yesterday!! (of the 18th of March!)[92] I believe myself in full convalescence, but as I had to rest much on the bed without occupation, sadness and displeasure with the world have increased in me. This I say to you alone.”

200.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _April 6th, 1857_.

If you, dear friend, understand the letter of the Grand Duke as I do, —— must go. I had proposed that he should come to Weimar, under the pretext of studying the archives; he would bring a letter of introduction from you or me; should be invited to court and if he did not please, should simply be asked whether he meant to return to ——. That this should be a shibboleth as a bad end of the drama, quod Deus avertat. I also proposed to advance the stipulated sum of money. On this head the tyrant does not answer distinctly. —— goes, I think, by way of Berlin. Shall we then give him the letter of recommendation with the galvanic stimulants? I do as you wish.

Your faithful
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

MONDAY.

Keep the letter of the Grand Duke, which ends nicely, and in good taste.

201.
KARL ALEXANDER, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR, TO HUMBOLDT.

WEIMAR, _April 3d, 1857_.

A misunderstanding is the key to my behavior towards ——. I believed and expected that he, after he had, in January, I believe, asked the permission to search our archives, would immediately come hither. Then only of course I would have paid his expenses. Just in these last days I wondered neither to hear nor to see anything of ——.

Then arrived the second letter of your Excellency, which, asking explanation of me, gives explanation; and I hasten to answer it by saying that —— may come in about ten days, and I would be prepared in any case to make the payment, the amount of which your Excellency yourself named. According to understanding, both of us, I and the traveller, would consider ourselves entirely free yet, and therefore observe due discretion on the proper cause of this journey.

Dante would have spoken still more truly if he had said: “Viver ch’ è un correr a l’eterna gioventù.” You prove it, for eternally your immortal spirit rejuvenates, its excellence is also a proof of this.

In grateful reverence and love, your faithfully most submissive

KARL ALEXANDER.

202.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _April 7th, 1857_.

Your Excellency’s kind and very much desired communications I forwarded in haste to —— that is to say, the substance of it. It is to be hoped that —— will start immediately, but I expect first to receive an answer from him, and as I do not believe that in the short time the Grand Duke has left him, he can make the détour by way of Berlin, it will be best for him to receive the letter of introduction in Weimar.

The Grand Duke insists upon discretion, and justly so! It is convenient for him, and delicate and sparing for the other party. —— has acted correctly in this respect up to the present time. I am very anxious to see the end of the matter; taking for granted that there was a good relation present in the germ. Success would give me extraordinary satisfaction.

The present you make me of the letter of the Grand Duke delights me very much. Not only the end is in good taste and fine, but the whole style has agreeable turns; and above all, the reverence for your Excellency expresses itself in a manner, the heartfelt sincerity of which cannot be misunderstood.

For some days I have been living entirely in recollections of past times and relations. The correspondence between Gentz and Adam Mueller, just now published by Cotta, keeps me spellbound, and I must contemplate the whole series of those experiences in my reviving recollection.

I have known both men early and intimately, and have had much intercourse with them, personally, of a friendly character, in measures generally an adversary. The superiority of Gentz over the younger friend, whom he greatly overvalued, never was doubtful to me, and is here confirmed anew; only at last when the murder of Kotzebue deranges and stupifies the mind, the force of terror drives the statesman, who formerly was fond of clearness, into the gloomy nebulous strata, to which the frightened friend had retreated long before. This correspondence is certainly unique in its kind. The transactions, disquisitions, mutual influences, inclinations, and feuds are invested with dramatic interest. In Adam Mueller, by-the-by, is contained the complete germ of the “Kreuz Zeitungs” party, though in ideal elevation, still without contact with the real world, and therefore without offensive vulgarities.

Your Excellency kindly promised me a few lines on Franz Baader; may I remind you of them in the most modest manner, and with the remark, that really a few lines only would suffice for the purpose?

In most faithful reverence and most grateful submission, immutably your Excellency’s most obedient

VARNHAGEN VON ENSE.

203.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _April 10th, 1857_.

I have the pleasure to announce to your Excellency that Herr —— will start from —— to Weimar on the 14th. Much as he would have wished to make the détour by way of Berlin, if only to lay at the feet of your Excellency the most cordial expression of his boundless gratitude for so much friendly intercession, he is compelled by the brief period fixed by the Grand Duke to renounce the realization of that wish for the present. I therefore venture to solicit the favor of the introduction to the Grand Duke you were good enough to promise; a single line would suffice. I would immediately despatch it to Weimar, so that Mr. —— will find it there on his arrival. The young man is well aware that the journey concludes nothing, and that he must be prepared for a denial; but he is much pleased to see that the long delay in the progress of affairs is ended, and he is at last in motion. By your kind inquiry your Excellency has produced this result, and dispelled the clouds of misconception; the most grateful heart will acknowledge this with heartfelt devotion! His sentiments are warmly shared by myself, in this case, as in so many earlier cases!

With the best wishes for your welfare; with profound veneration and attachment I remain unalterably,

Your Excellency’s most obedient
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE.

204.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _April 13th, 1857_.

Here, my valued friend, is the archivary recommendation for ——, just as prescribed. May the matter be successful.

With heartfelt attachment,
Yours,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

205.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _April 21st, 1857_.

To my great regret, dear friend, I cannot accept the kind invitation of yourself and your amiable niece to a cup of coffee on Thursday, as I shall return late and much fatigued from Charlottenburg. During my illness, a number of unimportant matters have accumulated, which must be disposed of after dinner, because they are trumpery affairs of _orders_ and dedications, a presentation of Betel in preference to gifts of money. The fourth class[93] operates like Betel chewing, it occupies the time, but affords no nourishment. On Thursday the King hopes to close and settle with me. Be pleased to write Professor Hoffmann, of Wuerzburg, that I am grateful for his torso, but no assistance is to be expected from the King, not only (what you must _not_ write), because something like a holy horror of the Catholic zeal of Baader is rooted in the King’s mind, but also because all literary assistance dwindles down in _the cabinet_ to a present of forty or forty-five thalers. In preference to the publication in the preface of a miserable letter of introduction, which may have been written in a moment of ill-humor, I enclose a memorandum as requested.

With the same friendship as of old,
_A. v. Humboldt_.

(INCLOSURE IN A LETTER FROM HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.)

You ask me, dear friend, what were the earliest impressions produced upon me by Franz Baader! I first saw him in June, 1791, while studying the art of mining in Freiberg, after the journey with George Forster to England, and after my sojourn in the Hamburg Commercial Academy of Buesching and Ebeling. For eight months I enjoyed the daily intercourse of this amiable and gifted man. Franz Baader had then published his work on caloric, and his inclinations were all of a chemico-physical nature, with a slight infusion of ideas on the philosophy of physical science. He was active underground, more occupied with practical mining and furnace operations than with geognostic researches; thorough in the observation of fact, cheerful, and satirical, but always with good taste, and not intolerant of those who differed from him. His imagination was not then specially directed to religious subjects. He was generally popular, and a little feared at the same time, as is so common where there is a consciousness of mental superiority. His political opinions were liberal. It was the period of the Congress of Pillnitz in our neighborhood—a time and a neighborhood which gave occasion to political utterances.

206.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _April 25th, 1857_.

“The gate of the oracle, the abyss of the archives of state, analogies leading down to the depths of the sea.” This is inferior to the last letter. Rafael’s manner is not always the same. I am surprised to find that curiosity appears to have led him to avoid seeing —— before the journey to Hanover! Preserve the vapid letter, my dear friend! The bottom of the sea refers to a map of the sea from Newfoundland to Ireland, which I recommended to the Grand Duke, but which is not to be procured because it was published in _Carthage_ by Perthes! The Times flatter themselves, in all seriousness, that the French race is on the point of extinction; well, the pugs are extinct also.

Yours,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

I have disagreeable _rudera_ of the correspondence with a certain Dr. Gross Hoffinger, in Vienna, who accuses himself of having written against Prussia in 1848, and now asks Prussia to recommend him to the Austrian government. Have you any recollection of him?

NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—“Carthage” means Gotha, a town not far from Weimar,
but under the sovereignty of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg, between whom
and his cousin there is a constant rivalry, such as of old existed
between Rome and Carthage.

207.
CHARLES ALEXANDER, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR, TO HUMBOLDT.

Your Excellency’s letter was duly received by the hands of Mr. ——. Accept my thanks for these lines, for this new token of your constant kindness to me. The bearer is for the present immersed in the abyss of my archives. As soon as I shall return from Hanover, where an invitation will detain me a few days,[94] to seek him out, awaiting further developments at the hand of time, like the people at the gate of the oracle.

Analogies lead me from deep to lower deep, and then I descend from the archives to the bottom of the sea. How am I to obtain the map of which you wrote? When I inquired for it in Gotha, some time ago, the inquiry was futile. So I return to the source, ever rich and bounteous, of whom I subscribe myself the most grateful and obedient

CHARLES ALEXANDER.

VIENNA, _April 22d, 1857_.

208.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _May 28th, 1857_.

I am uneasy, my dear friend, about Weimar. The Grand Duke is everywhere, except in Weimar “Athens.” What will become of our warmly recommended? Has he been spoken to by the eloquent Prince? You have not wished me joy to the order bestowed upon me by the “Hamburg Moniteur” as Grand Officier, which Guizot gave me fifteen years ago. Raumer’s conversation is very interesting; he was at Pesth, at Milan, dined with the Archduke, and called on Cavour. He has again returned with something of a hankering after the Austrian régime in Lombardy, like the Republicans when they visit the United States, where arsenic, the torture, or Fremont-worshipping negroes, cause a criminal colic to Cuba-mad Buchanan. _Multa sunt eadem sed aliter._ The Russian Minister of Enlightenment, Noroff, who had a leg shot off by the thigh at Borodino, and who has carried his wooden leg to Jerusalem and Egypt, and even to the top of the Pyramids, is here, and attends as a guest, sitting among the students, the lectures of Johannes Mueller and Diderici. His companion, the young Count Ouwaroff, the author of a great work on Hellenic antiquities in the Chersonese, attends the lectures of Michelet and Boeckh. Both are very agreeable men. The former is accused of being over spiritual, but not intolerant; both are much pleased with the freedom of our student life, and with the absence of policemen from our university building. I did not care to disabuse the mind of the one-legged Raumer, as they will leave soon. _Decipitur mundus._

With old affection, your tiresome
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—“The United States, where arsenic, the torture, or
Fremont-worshipping negroes, cause a criminal colic to Cuba-mad
Buchanan.” This passage alludes to the circumstance, that at a hotel
in Washington, the President, and many others with him, were seized
with a violent colic after dinner, so that suspicions of poison were
entertained; and it was only after a legal investigation that the
whole was found to have been caused by impure water.

BY THE TRANSLATOR.—“Fremont-worshipping negroes” must refer to the
slaves who were reported to be in insurrection soon after the
accession of President Buchanan, in Tennessee or Kentucky, and of
whom it was said, that they believed Fremont and all his men to be
encamped at the bottom of the Cumberland river, ready to emerge for
their delivery.

209.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

POTSDAM, THURSDAY. _In haste,
June 4th, 1857._

A truly grand ducal letter, indelicate without excuse, cutting off every prospect, as he said “Au revoir” on going away, after the preconcerted shibboleth. Silence as to the costs, which are unnecessarily heavy. You and I shall cease “steering in the ocean of investigation,” as acquaintance with the party proposed does not suffice to determine him. I have a mind to answer somewhat mockingly. It may be agreeable to you, my esteemed friend, to enrich your archives with an autography of Thiers, who is now an Orleanist. Duvergier de Hauranne also came here after a pilgrimage to Eisenach. The Duchess is going to England. Preserve both letters, the bad one and that which is simply good.

Yours,
A. V. HT.

On Saturday I expect to come to Berlin with the King. The Queen is coming on Monday.

210.
CHARLES ALEXANDER, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR, TO HUMBOLDT.

ETTERSBURG, _June 1, 1857_.

Your Excellency has probably learned already, that I have seen, repeatedly conversed with, but finally refrained from appointing ——. He interested me, I may say he pleased me, but I thought I could not recognise in him the secretary who could not only keep me informed of everything of moment in the spheres of science, art, and literature, but should attend to my correspondence, my intercourse, verbal and social, in various languages; and to appoint him at hazard I feared to venture. To retreat was, then, the only resource. I did so in order to steer further in the ocean of investigation. Whether you will continue, even in this matter, to cast upon me, as a star of good omen, the light of the goodness ever extended to me—is what I may be permitted to wish, but can hardly be permitted to hope—although we agreed that the acquaintance of the party was not to include his selection.

I shall now retire into various forest solitudes of Thuringia with a number of books, among which I anticipate particular pleasure from the perusal of Barth’s itinerary. I bow in reverence before such endurance in the love of science, before such indomitable energy; how much the more must I do so before his prototype, before you? Remaining your most devoted, most grateful servant,

CHARLES ALEXANDER.

211.
THIERS TO HUMBOLDT.

(FROM THE FRENCH.)

PARIS, _May 14th, 1857_.

MY DEAR M. DE HUMBOLDT—I take the liberty of commending to your goodness shown so often to myself and to Frenchmen generally, M. Duvergier de Hauranne, who goes to Germany to show it to his young son. You know our country too well for me to tell you what important and always honorable part has been sustained by M. Duvergier de Hauranne in our assemblies, where he has ever been faithful to the cause of rational liberty; and not faithful alone, but eminently useful. Having returned to private life and devoted himself to study, he goes to see your excellent country, and I thought I could not do better than to recommend him to your kindness. To his young son it will be an imperishable recollection to have seen the illustrious savan who does the greatest honor to the century, and whom we Frenchmen have the vanity to consider as French, and belonging to us no less than to Germany.

I do not write on current affairs here, for M. Duvergier de Hauranne knows them, and can make you acquainted with them better than any other man.

Accept the renewed homage of my respectful attachment.

A. THIERS.

212.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _June 19th, 1857_.

To my greatest joy, a beautiful portrait of yourself was brought me by Mr. Richard Zeune, during an excursion to Tegel. I know not which most to admire, the fresh, vivid, characteristic likeness of features so dear to me (the talent of the skilful Miss Ludmilla Assing), or the writing of your hand, so pregnant in thought and expression. The latter I have copied myself and shown it to my friends, because it is to be ranked with the best of what our language contains in the sententious compression of ideas. The unexpected arrival of the brothers Schlagintweit from Cashmere, Thibet, and the Kuen Luen mountains, which bound Thibet on the north, as the Himalaya on the south, has unreasonably delayed my acknowledgment of your kindness, as they are going to the King at Marienbad, without, it is to be hoped, the three hundred and forty boxes they have brought with them. All the _passes_, even those most convenient for travel, are 18,000 feet high. From the liberal grand ducal power (not liberal in the prosaic sense of filthy lucre), not a syllable, probably because he is expecting us to send him fresh proposals, fresh victims. No one but the honorary Hungarian monk[95] and the princess is now a riddle to me.

Yours most faithfully,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

The Emperor Napoleon has adroitly mended what before was dubious, by means of very amiable letters, rich in delicate turns of language, addressed to me by Prince Napoleon (plon plon), and Walewski. As Niebuhr, the Prussian Cabinet Councillor, is publishing a book on Noric Antiquities, nothing remains to cause surprise, not even the FREE canvass for the _free_ election in _free_ France. I believe a few weeks in Branitz will be of benefit to you.

213.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _June 30th, 1857_.

I am at a loss for words to express to you, my honored friend, and to the amiable and brilliant artist and authoress, Ludmilla Assing, what pleasure you have provided for my solitude, by “Elisa von Ahlefeldt,” a pleasure still to be enjoyed by all who will deprive me of it for a few days. Who can read without emotion a fate so tender, so simple, told in such glowing language, by Miss Ludmilla; who can escape the most anxious reflections about the tortures of sentiment which the most noble and cultivated of mankind are skilled in inflicting on themselves about passion half-dogmatic in character, for the gratification of which the difficult institution of official marriage is inadequate. Elisa von Ahlefeldt loved Adolph von Luetzow, but only as the vigorous representative of a noble political sentiment. The motive for the disruption of the fetters, indelicate on his part, has something depressing. Immerman wishes to be loved, dreads the constraint of marriage, as Elisa does, but marries nevertheless!! The man who most occupies my thoughts in all these matters is Friesen, who worked so hard with me at the Mexican atlas in 1807, who was so dear to me, and to whom I was so much. I have mentioned him with tenderness in the Essai Politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne. Had I known the beautiful work of Miss Ludmilla, I would gladly have offered her a few lines. Her book, however, will go through many editions. As I am unfortunately compelled to go to Tegel for a night, I inquire, my dear friend, whether I may call upon you at three o’clock on Friday, and whether I may hope then to find Miss Ludmilla with you. So much skill in art and literary genius united in one and the same person is a rare luxury. It might lead to misfortunes. The course of the world refuses to admit of great exceptions to its compensatory system of pleasure and sadness.

Your
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

TUESDAY.

In great haste, and incorrect.

(Inclosed, a Letter from Friesen, of the year 1807, with this
Superscription by Humboldt.)

A little gift for Miss Ludmilla Assing, the brilliant authoress of Elisa von Ahlefeldt, an autograph of my dear young friend Friesen, with sentiments of sincere thankfulness.

A. V. HUMBOLDT.

JUNE _30th, 1857._

Varnhagen’s diary of July 4, 1857, contains the following: “Yesterday Humboldt spoke of the time when he lived in a house at the side of George’s Garden, and was so assiduous in his magnetic observations that he once stinted himself of sleep for seven successive days and nights in order to examine the state of things every half hour; after that he changed the watch with substitutes. This was in 1807, just fifty years ago. I often saw the little house in which the experiments were made, when I visited Johannes von Mueller, who also lived in a house at the side of the same garden; or Fichte who lived in a garden house in the middle of the garden. When old George, a wealthy distiller, showed the garden to his friends, Humboldt went on to say, he never failed to boast of ‘his learned men.’ ‘Here I have the famous Mueller; there is Humboldt, and there is Fichte, but he is only a philosopher, I believe.’”

214.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _July 6th, 1857_.

So ignorant of German poetry as to know nothing of the fame of Mr. —— of what he calls the dreary Mecklenburg, I must ask you, my dear friend, to specify the degree of politeness with which the man ought to be answered. Eight volumes, a compensation of forty louis d’or, four for myself, four, as usual, for the King, and a nonsensical letter, are before me. The man appears to have sung of the great Napoleon and Ney, but to have vainly knocked at the door of Napoleon III., Stephanie, Walewski, and Edgar Ney. It is made my duty forthwith to read a Trajan, a Bianca, and a Henry IV. Neither does he seem to have an extravagant idea of what is to be obtained from the King, a circumstance which discourages me from delivering the treasure. Elisa von Ahlefeldt has given great pleasure in Tegel, where I went with Kaulbach yesterday, as delicate and pure in taste. Not in Tegel but in Berlin, some court chaplains or officers, anxious to acquire the title of consistorial councillors, may have mooted the ecclesiastical question, whether a husband and a friend are both allowable? The Berliners manage to talk about and to soil whatever comes into their fingers.

Most gratefully fully yours,
A. V. HUMBOLDT.

MONDAY NIGHT.

I shall send for the two volumes again in a day or two.

My best and most grateful compliments to Miss Ludmilla, the poetic artist, who combines the poet and the painter.

215.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _July 8th, 1857_.

The two volumes of poetry kindly sent by your Excellency, no doubt manifest considerable literary culture, and a skilful management of language and of metre; but this would seem to exhaust the truthful measure of their praise. The number of men of this order of talent is very large, and where there are not further excellences they can hardly be called otherwise than ordinary. The claims advanced on the basis of such performances are frequently exorbitant, and such is the case in the present instance, where not appreciation merely, but actual remuneration is demanded. The author is not known to me, and his reputation certainly far from extensive. That his youth has been hard, and that his present condition is far from pleasant, is much to be deplored, but the manner in which he seeks to better himself, by supplication to the powerful—bestowing praise upon men of all parties and all shades of party, without a conviction of his own,—is none the less disreputable, as well as his letter to your Excellency, which has received the proper epithet at your hands. In the answer with which you will honor him, the severe expressions I have used are sure of being softened to the full extent of what is desirable by your inexhaustible and unchangeable humanity and goodness.

My niece, Ludmilla, thanks you from the fulness of her heart for the friendly interests your Excellency has so kindly manifested, and which she will never cease to count among the greatest treasures of which she could possibly become possessed!

Yesterday we paid a visit to Madame Gaggiotti Richards, and found her, more beautiful than ever, in the midst of her artistic occupations. The whole family entertain the most enthusiastic veneration for you, and this alone would make them dear to us; the personal attractions of the beautiful artist are enchanting.

At the present day nothing literary is permitted to make its appearance, be it ever so peaceful and inoffensive, without giving rise to manifestation of priestcraft and zealotry. The little book could not escape the universal fate, and the author must expect to meet with many an offensive objurgation on this head. But she has had the good fortune _de manger son pain blanc le premier_, she has reaped the praises of your Excellency, and may now quietly leave the black bread of detraction untouched!

We mean to leave for Dresden on Monday, and hope to find your Excellency again in excellent health at the end of a few weeks!

With profound veneration and grateful devotion,

Your obedient
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE.

216.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _September 16th, 1857_.

An inquiry about letters and packages of the 8th and 22d of August, gives me the gratifying certainty of your return to monastic Berlin, where (supplement to No. 215 of Tante Voss, Sept. 15) “God in History”[96] is accused of rationalism and sinful Romanism on account of a kiss extorted from M. Merle d’Aubigné, and not yet sufficiently explained, and where (what is much more refreshing) pastor Kind boasts of having been kissed on the shoulder by a young Italian chambermaid at Naples, with the warmth of semi-conversion to Evangelism. As my monotonous birth-day has already brought in more than three hundred letters and packages, I never know anything about the dates of arrival; but I well remember having received a letter with a black margin of the 15th of July, from your distinguished relative Adolfo de Varnhagen in Madrid, and also a fragment of his history. I shall thank him heartily. His history is not without interest. You know that an attempt was made to get rid of M. von der Heydt, whose independent activity is disagreeable to his colleagues, by the appointment of a commission of finance in the council of state. But the man has acted with considerable energy, and the King has adjourned the whole commission, which was the work of Niebuhr.

With heartfelt friendship,

Yours,
A. V. H.

WEDNESDAY.

My respects to your talented niece.

I believe “God in History” has acted unwisely in accepting the King’s invitation, even after so many repetitions. I esteem him, but he will be accused of many things of which he is innocent.

217.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _October 14th, 1857_.

(WITH LETTER FROM GENTZ AND GARVE RETURNED.)

My best thanks! I had already received the letters and enjoyed them. Nothing can add more to the glory of my brother. Strange that Ancillon could so long deceive so shrewd a man as Gentz.

A. V. HT.

Varnhagen’s diary of Dec. 3d, 1857, reads as follows: “I called on Humboldt; M. von Olfers was just going, and told me that Rauch had died in Dresden. Next General Count von der Groeben took his leave; he was very cordial, and pleased with my offer to send him a man who will republish the poems of Schenkendorf. Humboldt was full of cordiality for Ludmilla and myself; told me about the King, about Schoenlein, about the Princess of Prussia, about Doctor Lassalle, whose work[97] he had read accurately in three nights, and of Friesen; spoke of the ‘Kreuz Zeitung’ with contempt, praised the Count von der Groeben as a man of honor, and von der Heydt for his determination to leave the cabinet. He had a letter from the Queen. The King wishes to see him, and he therefore drives to Charlottenburg. He is hale and hearty. I read much in Lassalle. Even the external appearance of so great and important a work excites reverence. On me it makes peculiar impression to witness the downfall, one by one, of the stays and rivets by which my inveterate opinions have been upheld. Every one who has grown old has to observe and experience such things; but in our times the changes are quicker and more powerful than in former times, and I am peculiarly sensible to them. Even where the contents do not matter to me, where I do not lose in the matter, because the subjects do not belong directly to my province, the phenomenon is nevertheless somewhat disagreeable. Such is again my lot in regard to Schleiermacher; his work on Heraclitus was hitherto the last word, the final disposition of all questions relating to that philosopher; even Hegel’s adverse hints had not been able to overturn this authority. One could rest upon it as on a downy pillow, when lo! a new critic comes, and snatches it from under us. True, Lassalle supplies its place with another, which is large and well stuffed, but still the change is uncomfortable. And yet I am pleased with this unrest of intellectual efforts, this ingenuity, learning, progress, which asks no fear or favor.”

218.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

BERLIN, _January 11th, 1858_.

REVERED FRIEND,—I, too, am a sufferer from the returning cutaneous affection, an unwelcome consequence of old age. You have, at least, unconditional freedom, and can attend to your comfort; to me there is no freedom granted; I am molested by all; most unmercifully and inexorably by the mail. The kind memento of Mrs. Sarah Martin is very honorable to me. I owe it, like many other things, to you. Suffer me to make you the interpreter of my gratitude and of my faithful reverence for the talented lady, and for her brother, so dear to me, Mr. John Taylor. The news from Livingstone interests me chiefly on account of his views of the susceptibility of the negro race to civilization, at a time when France on the one hand, and North America on the other, are most shamelessly subserving the capture of slaves in Africa, under the flimsy pretext of introducing free laborers. The political news from India, by Captain Meadows Taylor, was unimportant. Perhaps it is agreeable to you to add to your archives some original letters of Count Walewski, Prince Napoleon, who goes to Egypt, son of King Jerome, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, and a copy of a very finely-written letter of the Pasha of Egypt, the original of which I was obliged to present to Dr. Brugsch.

Dr. Michael Sachs could not be prevented from celebrating me in Hebrew.[98] Many kind greetings to the noble General von Pfuel, whom I shall visit as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully, always equally illegible,

A. V. HUMBOLDT.

219.
PRINCE NAPOLEON, SON OF JEROME, TO HUMBOLDT.

PARIS, _Oct. 13th, 1857_.

MONSIEUR LE BARON,—Mons. Mariette sent to me, only a few days ago, your letter of July, in which you speak of Dr. Brugsch, and of his having sent me a Demotic Grammar, which I have not yet received. I mention this, so that you cannot accuse me of negligence in answering you. To-day I do not feel the courage in me to speak to you even of science. Your heart and your mind must be much afflicted by the sickness of your sovereign and friend, who causes us great sorrow. I say us, because the few days which I passed at Berlin made me appreciate the eminent qualities of the King, and attached me very much to him. May God preserve his life! I wish it from my heart.

Receive, Monsieur le Baron, the assurance of my high esteem.

NAPOLEON.

Varnhagen reports in his diary under February 18th, 1858:—“I went to Humboldt. With a wonderful presence of mind he immediately thinks of all the things of which our presence can remind him; he tells most flattering things to Ludmilla on her book, for the second edition of which (which he declares to be inevitable), he will give her a passage on Friesen,[99] which he had indeed intended to communicate to the ‘Turners’ of Leipzig, as an inscription on the monument intended to be erected in Friesen’s honor, but which, after a preliminary inquiry, appears to have been forgotten by them. He is out of humor with the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who robbed him and the brothers Schlagintweit of some hours, by repeated visits; they soon found out that he did not want to inform himself about those things they had prepared for him, but that he only wanted to have spoken with them; he also gave to each one the Falkenorden.[100] About —— he made the same excuse to Humboldt as he made to me, that noble birth was indispensable, which Humboldt thinks quite detestable, and moreover entirely in harmony with the personal prejudices of the Grand Duke; the father, he says, who also was not very remarkable, had at least concealed this sentiment, but the son expresses it openly; once, after a man who was not of noble birth had left the company, he had with great satisfaction given utterance to his delight, saying, ‘Now we are among ourselves!’ Another time, when some one observed that thirteen were at the table, he replied for consolation, that two among them were not nobles, and therefore did not count! and this he said to Humboldt in French, because, he said, these two would certainly not understand that! Humboldt complained bitterly of the mass of letters by which he was visited; he had to read at least 400 of them in one month; many commenced, ‘Noble old man,’ or, ‘Noble youthful old man;’ or also in this fashion: ‘Caroline and I are happy; our fate is in your hands.’[101] He praised Princess Victoria, saying, that she was not pretty, but had pleasing simple manners, and an eye full of soul.”

220.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.

BERLIN, _February 19th, 1858_.

You see, dear friend, that in spite of many little cavils of Mr. d’Avezac, who has learned to quote from Malte-Brun, your cousin does you much honor.