BARON VON HUMBOLDT. 25 



subsequently, when returning to the work, the same 

 high authority (vol. xxv. p. 88) said : — " The view 

 which here, and indeed everywhere else, presents 

 itself of the author, is that of a man feeling with 

 enthusiasm the beauty and magnificence of Nature ; 

 having his mind inspired by that sentiment, and 

 his character formed by it from his early youth." 

 It is these last mentioned qualities, that have recom- 

 mended Humboldt's writings, especially the Personal 

 Narrative^ to minds little imbued with taste for 

 pursuits purely scientific. In the preface to that 

 work Mrs. Williams says — " Happy the traveller 

 with whom the study of Nature has not been 

 merely the cold research of the understanding, in 

 the explanation of her properties, or the solution 

 of her problems ! who, while he has interpreted her 

 laws, has adored her sublimity, and followed her steps 

 with passionate enthusiasm, amidst that solemn and 

 stupendous scenery, those melancholy and sacred 

 solitudes, where she speaks in a voice so well un- 

 derstood by the mysterious sympathy of the feeling 

 heart." And again — " The appropriate character 

 of his writings is the faculty he possesses of raising 

 the mind to general ideas, without neglecting indi- 

 vidual facts ; and while he appears only to address 

 himself to our reason, he has the secret of awakening 

 the imagination, and of being understood by the 

 heart.'* 



After his return to Europe, Humboldt formed an 

 intimate friendship with the celebrated M. Gay- 

 Lussac. For eight years they usually dwelt under 



