364 ALEXANDEK VON HUMBOLDT. 



of 1808, decided to send to Paris Prince William of Prussia, a 

 younger brother of the king, who was distinguished alike for 

 personal bravery and graceful manners ; greatly to his surprise, 

 Humboldt was selected by the king to accompany the prince 

 upon this difficult political mission, on the ground of his great 

 experience and intimate acquaintance with persons of influ- 

 ence. The prince, in whose suite as adjutant was General von 

 Hedemann, the future son-in-law of William von Humboldt, 

 remained in Paris till the autumn of 1809, when he returned 

 to Berlin. Humboldt, however, in his character as one of 

 the eight foreign members of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 

 sought and obtained the permission of the king to remain in 

 France, foreseeing the impossibility in the actual state of 

 Germany of bringing out his great work in that country, 

 unsupported as he was by Government. 



The poem addressed to him by his brother from Albano, in 

 September 1808, as a grateful acknowledgment of the dedi- 

 cation prefixed to the 'Aspects of Nature,' reached him almost as 

 a parting greeting on his quitting Berlin. In this poem to 

 ' Alexander von Humboldt,' 1 William von Humboldt follows 

 in a strain of lofty thought the course of the world's history, 

 then passes to his brother's personal achievements, and, in con- 

 clusion, refers to his projects of further travel in the following^ 

 lines : 



Gliicklich bist Du gekehrt zur Heimaterde 

 Vom fernen Land und Orenoco's Wogen. 

 O ! wenn die Liebe spricht es zitternd aus 

 Dich andern Welttheils Kiiste reizt, so werde 

 Dir gleiche Huld gewahrt, mid gleich gewogen 

 Fiihre das Schicksal Dich zum Vaterherde, 

 Die Stirn von neuerrungnem Kranz nmzogen ! 



1 Wilhelin von Humboldt's Gesammelte Werke/ vol. i. p. 361. 



