58 



EECEEATIVE SCIENCE. 



ture, and say, 'Read and eompreliend ;* tlie 

 comprehension exacted will, when acquitted, 

 have added an education." 



Thus he grew, flourished, and culminated, 

 full of honours, bearing them meekly as he 

 should do ; the friend of kings, nor less so of 

 the humblest scholar. 



HX7MB0LDT AT HOME. 



Three years ago, one* who knew him well 

 described him thus : — He is the observed 

 of all observers, as well known in Berlin 

 as the " TJnter den Linden." In spite of his 

 eighty-seven years, he works unweariedly in 

 those hours which are not occupied by the 

 court. He is active and punctual in his im- 

 mense correspondence, and answers every 

 letter of the humblest scholar with the most 

 amicable affability. The inhabitants of Ber- 

 lin and Potsdam aU know the great man per- 

 sonally, and show him as much honour as 

 they do the king. With a slow but firm step 

 and a thoughtful head, whose features are 

 benevolent, bent rather forward, he has a 

 dignified expression of noble calmness, and 

 bends down to, or responds to the salutations 

 of the passers-by, with kindness and without 

 pride. He wears a very simple dress ; and 

 frecxuently holding a pamphlet in his hand, he 

 wajiders through the streets of Berlin or 

 Potsdam iinattended, and unostentatiously, 

 a noble semblance of a head of wheat bend- 

 ing beneath the load of its precious and 

 golden ears. Wherever he appears he, is re- 

 ceived by tokens of universal respect ; the 

 passengers step aside so as not to disturb his 

 thoughts, even the very lowest looks respect- 

 fully after him, and says to his neighbour, 

 " There goes Humboldt." 



the last woeds op geeat men — hum- 

 boldt's last WOEDS. 



Time came at last when the philosopher 

 was to return to earth, to cease from the con- 



* Professor Klencke. 



templation of G-od's world here, and to open 

 his eyes upon the heaven of that Almighty 

 Workman, whose wondrous doings he de- 

 scribed so enthusiastically and had so ardently 

 loved. Yes, Humboldt was to say his last words 

 — words which all men, great and little, have 

 to say. The whole of life is to be summed up 

 in one moment ; and out of the fullness of 

 the heart thenthe mouth speaketh. Strange 

 have been those disjointed sentences of dying 

 schoolmen, warriors, philosophers, or kings. 

 Strange, too, and yet not to be utterly unac- 

 counted for, the fondness which we have for 

 death-bed scenes and last words. Last words, 

 and more last words ! Uh hien ! What do 

 they teach ? We try to snatch from them 

 some meaning, we qtiestion these moribund 

 sentences as if they could teach us something 

 more than we know of the world which is to 

 come. We fancy that as Moses from tho 

 mountain took that Pisgah-view of the pro- 

 mised land, so from the summit of the death- 

 bed others shaU see something of a brighter 

 land stUl. But though — 



" Examples preach to the eye ; care then, mine says, 

 Not how you end, but how you spend your days." 



This life-ending is full of intense interest. It 

 will be worth while recording some of these 

 mortuary sayings, for from them one may 

 judge men well. Harry Marten, the great 

 republican, as his last words, wrote the 

 couplet above. Washington told his doctor, 

 " I am dying, I have been dying a long time ; 

 but I am not afraid to die." Dr. Johnson's 

 dying adjuration was, "Live weU." Scott 

 repeated the advice to his son-in-law, "I 

 have but a minute to speak to you, my dear ; 

 be a good man, be virtuous, be religious, 

 nothing else can give you comfort when you 

 come to lie here." Nelson said to Hardy, 

 " Thank God, I have done my duty ! I have 

 done my duty ! " Sir Harry Vane blessed 

 the Lord, that he (Sir Harry) never deserted 

 the righteous cause for which he that day 

 sufiered. Hampden, shot through the spine, 

 and in great pain, yet prayed to God, " Oh, 



