CHAPTEE I. 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 



Three leagues from the good city of Berlin, near an 

 arm of the Havel, called Tegel, stands, or stood ninety 

 years ago, the old castle of Tegel. Behind it lay a grove 

 of dark pines which separated it from the capital ; on 

 the southern shore of the lake were the town and for- 

 tress of Spandau, and to the north-west grassy and 

 wooded declivities, studded with promenades and gar- 

 dens. Doubtless this castle, gray and antiquated, had a 

 stirring history of its own in the days of old, but of this 

 Tradition is silent. All that we know is, that shortly 

 before the opening of this life-history, it was the resi- 

 dence of a Prussian commissioner of woods and forests, 

 who had greatly beautified it by the laying out of 

 nurseries and plantations. This commissioner, whose 

 name w^as Yon Burgsdorf, was succeeded in 1768, or there- 

 abouts, by Major Alexander George Yon Humboldt. 



Major Yon Humboldt was born in 1720. His father, 

 Hans Paul Yon Humboldt, served as a captain in the 

 army of Frederick William the First ; his mother was 

 the daughter of the Prussian major and general adjutant, 

 Yon Schweder ; it was natural therefore that he should 

 follow the profession of arms. He served for a long 



