386 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



pardons Ehrenberg and Eose found opportunity to relate their 

 discoveries.' 



At St. Petersburg Humboldt was again the object of a 

 demonstration of favour almost oppressive, especially in the 

 reception given him at court. 



c It is really a shame, my beloved friend,' writes Humboldt 

 to his brother on November 20, 1829, 'that though I have 

 been here a week, I have not found before to-day the quiet 

 necessary to give you this sign of my affection and well-being. 

 . . . My journey across nearly every part of European Russia 

 has so enlarged my social relationships, and increased so 

 considerably the chimerical notion that I can be of use to every 

 one, that I am almost overwhelmed by the amount of drudgery 

 imposed upon me by this position. My health is excellent ; 

 while we were at Moscow the emperor, with characteristic 

 delicacy, conferred the Order of St. Anne of the second class 

 upon Eose and Ehrenberg, while the Order of St. Anne of the 

 first class, with the imperial crown (equivalent to the decoration 

 in diamonds which is no longer given) was sent to me on the 

 day of my arrival here, accompanied by a very nattering letter. ' 

 His Majesty expressed his regret that he was still prevented by 

 indisposition from seeing me, that he might " profit by my 

 discoveries." I hope he may recover before my departure, 

 which I am anxious now to arrange for the 1st of December. 

 The empress has done me the honour to grant me a most gracious 

 reception ; yesterday I dined with the heir-apparent, and I am 

 again summoned by the empress this morning ; I am, in fact, 

 treated with a kindness that seems daily to augment.' . . . 



A few days before leaving St. Petersburg, he writes : } ; In the 

 morning I and my two friends were nearly an hour and a half 

 with the empress, and in the evening I had an audience with 

 the emperor from half-past eight to eleven o'clock. I have 

 been loaded with favours.' . . . 



He wrote further to his brother on December 9 : 

 ' I can only write you a few lines. I hope to leave here by 

 the 12th or 14th ; although I am obliged to await another 

 audience from the emperor, who did me the honour to receive 

 me for a couple of hours on Sunday a distinction all the 

 1 To Cancrin, <Im Ural und Altai/ p. 118. 



