20 DAYUOOK AND LEDGER. 



"Von Daclierodcn, to whom he was betrothed, were per- 

 fecting themselves in the art of Love, and Weimar, the 

 residence of Schiller, with whom he was intimate. 



Alexander sympathized with his brother in the cha- 

 racter which he was then playing in the delightful drama 

 of life, bnt showed no inclination to appear in the same 

 role himself It was not that he loved woman and so- 

 ciety less, but that he loved solitude and wisdom more. 

 Besides, had he not his great transatlantic journey to 

 make? To do this properly it was necessary that he 

 should have a more thorough worldly training. So 

 while William, who was appointed councillor of lega- 

 tion, and assessor to the court of Berlin, went thither to 

 familiarize himself with his duties, after which he in- 

 tended to marry, Alexander, choosing the department 

 of finance, set off for Hamburg, and entering the Com- 

 mercial Academy of Busch and Ebeling, studied the 

 practical part of book-keeping. Ere long he was initi- 

 ated into its mysteries ; but beyond the sense of satis- 

 faction which the performance of a duty always gives, 

 we suspect that he found no delight in them. Evidently 

 he preferred the leaves of flowers, luminous with the 

 hand-writing of Nature, to the leaves of his day-books 

 and ledgers, with their long rows of black figures, and 

 their monotonous horizons of red lines. And instead of 

 worshipping gold and silver, as a true book-keeper would 

 have done, he had a scientific weakness for the less pre- 

 cious metals. He still pursued his mineralogical and 

 botanical studies. Indeed, he was so fond of the latter, 

 that he would often take a tramp in mid winter to 

 gather the mosses which onlj^ grow at that time. 



His stay in Hamburg was short. For in addition to 



