158 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



friends, for I feel that I am not rich enough to forego readily 

 even a small additional income, and I have besides the vanity 

 to think that princes might do something for men of my stamp ; 

 but I prefer to occupy the independent position in which I am 

 placed. The more we seek to influence the moral conduct of 

 others, the more strictly must we ourselves obey the laws of 

 morality. The merit of not having abused the friendship of a 

 minister is the only merit I shall leave behind me in this 

 country. The funds, too, at the disposal of the Government 

 here are quite inadequate to such an expense, for I think that 

 country must be called poor in which the head-master of an 

 important school one of the most valuable institutions in a 

 State is allowed to starve with five or six children upon a 

 miserable salary of from seventy to ninety florins. Kr. and H. 

 will divide the money between them. If others show want of 

 principle, that is no reason why I should too. But why 

 should I urge this upon you, my dear friend, who out of love 

 to me have alone been induced to deviate from those principles 

 in which we both agree ? ' 



In the midst of these engrossing occupations and extensive 

 projects, Humboldt received the intelligence of the death of 

 his mother, which took place at Berlin on November 19, 1796. 

 'I had long been prepared for this event. It has not taken me 

 by surprise ; rather have I felt comforted that at the last she 

 suffered so little. She was only one day worse than usual, only 

 for one day were her sufferings more than ordinarily severe. 

 She expired without a struggle. You know, my dear friend, 

 that this is not an event by which my heart will be very deeply 

 wounded, for we have always been strangers more or less to one 

 another ; but who could have remained unmoved at the sight 

 of her unremitting sufferings!' 1 Humboldt also wrote to 

 Willdenow : c A happy release has at length been granted to 

 my poor mother. On the mere ground of humanity, her de- 

 cease was to be desired.' 



The intelligence could not have been unexpected either at 

 Jena, where William von Humboldt at that time resided, for 

 Schiller as early as June wrote to Groethe that Humboldt's 



1 Alexander von Humboldt to Freiesleben, under dtite, Bayreuth, Nov. 

 25, 1793. 



