14 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



It is unnecessary to give a description here of Tegel as it 

 afterwards became when converted by William von Humboldt 

 into his Tusculum, adorned with treasures of modern and an- 

 cient A art; and to him this residence was rendered doubly at- 

 tractive by the charm of early association. 1 ' Here I passed 

 my childhood and a portion of my youth . . . the place is pre- 

 eminently adapted for the exhibition of the manifold charms 

 which fine and well-grown trees of every variety continuously 

 display through the changing seasons of the year.' 



On his return to Berlin from Freiberg, Alexander von Hum- 

 boldt describes 2 this delightful residence to his friend Freies- 

 leben in the following melancholy strain : 



'Vine-clad hills which here we call mountains, extensive 

 plantations of foreign trees, the meadows surrounding the 

 house, and lovely views of the lake with its picturesque banks 

 awaiting the beholder at every turn, render this place undoubt- 

 edly one of the most attractive residences in the neighbour- 

 hood. If, in addition, you picture to yourself the high degree 

 of luxury and taste that reigns an our home, you will indeed be 

 surprised when I tell you that I never visit this place without 

 a certain feeling of melancholy. You remember, no doubt, the 

 conversation we held in returning to-Toplitz from Milischauer, 

 when you listened with so much interest to the description of 

 my youthful days. I passed most of that unhappy time here at 

 Tegel, among people who loved me and showed me kindness, 

 but with whom I had not the least sympathy, where I was sub- 

 jected to a thousand restraints and much self-imposed solitude,, 

 and where I was often placed in circumstances that obliged me 

 to maintain a close reserve and to make continual self-sacrifices. 

 Now that I am my own master, and living here without restraint, 

 I am unable to yield myself to the charms of which nature is 

 here so prodigal, because I am met at every turn by painful 

 recollections of my childhood which even the inanimate objects 

 around me are continually awakening. Sad as such recollec- 

 tions are, however, they are interesting from the thought that 

 it was just my residence here which exercised so powerful an 

 influence in the formation of my character and the direction of 



1 * Briefe an erne Freundin/ pp. 123, 156. 



2 This letter is dated June 5, 1792. 



