EAELY HOME. 7 



of this appointment is deserving of notice, since it is evident 

 that the prefix u v." (von) has been recently added.' He himself 

 subscribed his name in official documents as simply Conrad 

 Humboldt. Abundant evidence of the ability he displayed in 

 his official duties is to be found in various enactments pre- 

 served in the Royal ministerial archives respecting the Starost 

 of Draheim, in which he is represented as opposing, with 

 characteristic energy and untiring perseverance, the arbitrary 

 assumptions of the neighbours, especially of the Manteuffel 

 family. 



This Conrad, Bailiff of Draheim, had an only son, Hans Paul 

 Humboldt, who entered the army in 1703, and upon his retire- 

 ment as captain with a pension of eight thalers a month, took 

 up his residence in the neighbourhood of Coslin. His appli- 

 cation for the grant of a patent of nobility is still extant, whence 

 it appears that the prefix ' von ' does not date farther back 

 than the year 1738 ; so that where it now and then occurs 

 earlier, it must have been only used conventionally, on account 

 of the high position borne by the individual to whom the pre- 

 fix is given. Even as late as 1830 it was still doubtful whether 

 the title of Baron was due to William and Alexander von 

 Humboldt. Alexander himself cared neither for prefixes nor 

 titles ; they are mostly wanting in the signatures of his letters, 

 particularly in his communications to his intimate friends and 

 in his scientific correspondence. He submitted with reluc- 

 tance to the title of 4 Excellency ' in the dedication to Berghaus's 

 * Charts of the Coast of Peru,' making it a condition that all 

 the honours represented by his ' decoration hieroglyphics,' as 

 he termed his orders, as well as the honourable distinction 

 of ' Actual Privy Councillor,' should be omitted. 1 In giving 

 to Pictet at Geneva, in 1805, his 'Confessions,' for the pre- 

 paration of a biographical sketch to be affixed to an English 

 translation of his American works, he writes : ' In mention- 

 ing me, I should much prefer that you named me simply 

 M. Humboldt, or at least M. Alexander Humboldt. It 

 sounds more English, since the constant repetition of the de 

 is very unpleasant to the ear. For the sake, however, of pre- 



' l l Briefrvechsel A. von Humboldt's mit Heinrich Berghaus,' vol. ii. pp. 

 163, 285. 



