AT SCHOOL IN BEKUN. 11 



soon come to an end. For though the widowed mother 

 lives only in her children, she knows that they must 

 one day be men, and go out into the world. So the best 

 thing they can do is to go to Berlin, and pursue their 

 studies, and enlarge their experiences. To Berlin they 

 go. 



They are instructed in Greek and the modern lan- 

 guages, William having great philological talent, while 

 Alexander, whose love of the natural sciences grows with 

 his growth, continues the stady of botany under the 

 celebrated botanist Wildenow. Kunth, who accompanies 

 them, engages Engel, Klein, Dohn, and others to give 

 them complete courses of lectures on philosophy, law 

 and political economy. Nor do they neglect the litera- 

 ture of their own land and time. They read Goethe and 

 Schiller together. William prefers " Werter," and "Don 

 Carlos," and their art- writings ; Alexander, while he ad- 

 mires these, prefers Goethe's more abstruse researches in 

 natural history. So passes the time, now in the bustle 

 of the capital, and now in the quiet of the old castle at 

 home. Dear old Tegel ! it is doubly dear to them now. 

 For there their mother lives, and there lies their dead 

 father's dust. 



In 1786 they commenced their academical life in the 

 University of Frankfort on the Oder, where they re- 

 mained nearly two years, William devoting himself to 

 the study of law, and Alexander to political economy, 

 In 1788 they removed to the University of Gottingen. 



The name of this University will remind the reader of 

 English comic poetry, of Canning's famous song in the 

 burlesque drama, " The Eovers," 



