HOME LIFE. 357 



boldt, and here Fichte, who, however, was only a philoso- 

 pher."' 1 



In addition to these various labours he was also engaged in 

 preparing for the press his ' Aspects of Nature,' which made its 

 appearance shortly after his return to Paris. The work con- 

 sists in part of fragments from the lectures delivered before the 

 Academy, and is in truth a master-piece, from the sesthetic 

 treatment of the subjects brought under notice. Humboldt 

 himself called it his 'favourite work,' 2 and described it as 

 4 a book written from a purely German point of view.' 3 In 

 alluding to a review that appeared in Paris, Humboldt wrote 

 on June 24 ,1808, to Malte-Brun : 4 c Good Heavens ! How 

 you have loaded my book with praises. One journal accuses it 

 of being too full of Grerman metaphysics. A singular charge, 

 which seems to savour of the Convent de Munich? which in 

 the ' Briefwechsel mit Berghaus,' i. 121, he terms ' the spdunca 

 maxima of the German Ultramontanism.' 



In view of an industry so versatile and comprehensive, we 

 need not wonder that Karsten, in writing to Von Moll on 

 January 7, 1807, should state : 5 'Humboldt is so universally 

 sought after, that he is seriously thinking of withdrawing from 



1 The building used by Humboldt was not the one in Mendelssohn's gar- 

 den, where the manor-house now stands, as stated by Dove in his ' Eloge of 

 Alexander von Humboldt/ p. 22 ; the one referred to by Dove was not erected 

 till 1827. The following note to Henriette Herz, in Hebrew characters, 

 belongs to the period referred to in the text : 



( I am quite grieved, my dear friend, at having unintentionally deceived 

 you. I forgot when I accepted your invitation that Schleiermacher's visit 

 will take place at the equinox, therefore just at the time when, on ac- 

 count of my nocturnal magnetic observations, I am not my own master. 

 I am somewhat exhausted by my watchings for the past seven nights, 

 and dare not undertake even this short excursion, as 1 cannot leave my 

 magnetic instruments for that length of time. My reason is thus fighting 

 against niy inclination. Were I only to consult the latter, you and your 

 worthy friend, from whose society when I last met him here I derived so 

 much enjoyment, would prove a magnet too powerful for me to resist. 

 Pray do not scold me, nor be angry with your sincere friend, 



'Berlin: September 23, 1806. HUMBOLDT.' 



2 < Briefe an Varnhagen,' p. 244. 



3 l Briefe voii A. von Humboldt an Bunsen/ p. 115. 



4 De la lloquette, ' Humboldt, Correspondance, etc/ vol. ii. p. 36. 

 Von Moll, ' Mittheilungen aus Briefen, &c.' p. 358. 



