PREFACE. ix 



up a letter for transmission to the Institute at Paris requesting 

 that the eloge usually delivered upon the death of a foreign 

 associate may be omitted in my case.' As in consequence of 

 these prohibitions his nearest relatives and friends published 

 immediately after his death a 6 protest against the publication 

 of any confidential letters,' it was simply impossible to attempt 

 the compilation of a life of Humboldt that should be based 

 upon the investigation of authentic sources. For the inner 

 life of a man is to be seen only in those confidential communi- 

 cations which are hastily committed to paper, and are addressed 

 only to his most intimate friends. A biography compiled 

 without the aid of correspondence or other manuscript records 

 could no more give a life-like representation of Humboldt 

 than a cold marble bust can approach the glow of living 

 flesh. 



Meanwhile this prohibition could not be long maintained. 

 Notwithstanding its frequent sad infringement, it is impossible 

 with any justice to deny the right of posterity to the letters 

 of men whose public career is connected inseparably with the 

 history of their country. 



The first series of Humboldt's letters, published scarcely a 

 year after his death, failed to represent him in a favourable 

 aspect, inasmuch as they revealed some of those weaknesses of 

 character from which even great men are not always exempt. 

 By these letters, and still more by the censorious remarks 

 contained in the annotations by Varnhagen, whose undoubted 

 genius was unfortunately marred by a spirit embittered by 

 disappointment, many secrets were brought to light which 

 were quite unsuitable for general publication, or even for being 

 privately circulated amongst his personal friends, although it 

 cannot be denied that the ' Letters from Alexander von Hum- 

 boldt to Varnhagen von Ense ' have made us acquainted with 

 many facts and exhibited various traits of character, without 

 which the portrait of Humboldt would seem now to be incom- 

 plete. The letters had been penned by Humboldt for the 

 gratification of a friend who delighted in gossip, and they 



