100 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



peculiar sadness to Humboldt ; nevertheless the time passed 

 rapidly away. We learn from the letter to Grauss of February 

 16, 1827, which has already been quoted in these pages, that 

 he had every wish to be useful to his country, and he had 

 reason to believe that his residence in Paris had not been 

 without beneficial results to numbers of his fellow-countrymen. 

 Yet, with cruel ingratitude, the Berlinese could only accuse him 

 of being able to reap there the fullest value from his fame ! 

 With far greater justice, Holtei makes the remark, that 'he 

 bore with generous self-renunciation the martyrdom of his 

 Oerman birth.' It will be well to conclude these reflections 

 upon Humboldt's departure from Paris with the following 

 forcible passage from the pen of the popular poet of Silesia, 

 which may be regarded almost as the expression of national 

 feeling on the subject of Humboldt's foreign residence : ' Who 

 ver came to Paris possessed of a black coat, a white cravat, and 

 a pair of decent boots, without making a point of finding out 

 Humboldt ? And who however strange it may sound, it is 

 nevertheless true who ever left a card upon this noblest of 

 great men, this prince of benevolence and unexampled liberality, 

 without receiving a personal visit in return, at the kindness 

 and condescension of which the recipient might well be over- 

 whelmed? Who was there who had not occasion to rejoice 

 with gratitude at the unwearied kindness, the wise counsel, and 

 the ready assistance ever offered by this indefatigable patron of 

 science, whose whole life appears to have been devoted to the 

 service and pleasure of others ? ' l It might almost be said that 

 he was called to relinquish the position of social ambassador or 

 consul at Paris for the whole of Grermany, that he might occupy 

 at home the post of a minister of the interior for the further- 

 ance of benevolent schemes and intellectual progress. The 

 duties that he forsook at Paris were awaiting him at Berlin in 

 another form, and he set himself with similar zeal to their 

 fulfilment. 



In February, 1827, Humboldt left Paris and travelled to 

 London in company with Baron von Billow, who was proceeding 

 to England to enter upon the duties of his new official position. 



1 Holtei, ' Vierzig Jahre,' vol. iii. p. 351. 



