duQ HUMBOLDT AND HER LADYSHIP. 



name without rising with involuntary deference. His 

 presence recals all that is most sublime in the capability 

 of human nature. His gigantic labours, contrasted with 

 the pleasant familiarity of his conversation, indicate the 

 universality of the highest order of mind. He is like 

 the elephant, who can with equal ease tear down an oak 

 or pick up a pin ! With me, he always ' picks up the 

 pin,' and we fell into persiflage as usual. His frequent 

 visits to my salon, and his great kindness to us, have not 

 diminished the awe and reverence with which I first met 

 him. He is reckoned very sarcastic, and given to mysti- 

 fication. Denon put me en garde against this habit, on 

 which I answered, ' Jalousie du metier.' And so I 

 soon after took my leave, somewhat wearied, but highly 

 delighted by the contrast of the two societies, 'Les 

 hommes de la veille et les hommes de I'avenir.' I am 

 glad, however, I was born soon enough to live among the 

 former." 



As we have given a specimen of one kind of light- 

 writing, the reader may like to see another. It dif- 

 fers from the prattle of her ladj^ship, but is equally 

 amusing in its way. It is from one of " the pitiless 

 judges" of "beautiful Albion." Everybody remembers 

 the brilliant opening of Judge Jeffrey's charge, in the 

 Edinburgh Review, in the famous case of The Excur- 

 sion — " This will never do ;" and how signally his lord- 

 ship's verdict has been reversed. Here is a similar case, 

 from some unknown judge, sitting in the court of the 

 Quarterly. It is to this that Humboldt playfully refers 

 in his note, though he was mistaken in the number which 

 contained the article. It appeared in the Quarterly for 

 January, 1816, and was called forth by a translation of 



