104 ALEXANDER YON HUMBOLDT. 



occasion to notice the manner in which Humboldt, in seeking 

 good and worthy objects, would avail himself of the most 

 ordinary channels, and means even somewhat indirect, but 

 always of a most honourable character; at present our only 

 object is to show the skill and energy with which he set him- 

 self to carry out at once in his new position that active bene- 

 volence which he had been accustomed to exercise with so 

 much tact at Paris. In all questions of art, Humboldt's per- 

 sonal counsel was eagerly sought by the king, who was himself 

 deeply interested in such matters ; and to his influence must 

 be ascribed the acquisition of the collections of Passalacqua, 

 Bartholdy, and Roller. In 1829, he obtained a considerable 

 yearly grant for the School of Industry, and was the means of 

 procuring the king's consent ] to the erection of a new obser- 

 vatory, and the purchase of Fraunhofer's large telescope at 

 Munich." 



In political matters Humboldt exercised no influence ; for 

 the rare occasions when he was instrumental in procuring 

 decorations for men of science can scarcely receive a political 

 construction. He spoke freely at the table of Prince Augustus 

 against Villele and in favour of Canning, openly defended at 

 court the proceedings in support of the Constitution of Por- 

 tugal, and even concluded his first public lecture before the 

 Academy on July 3, 1827, ' Upon the principal Causes of the 

 Variations of Temperature upon our Globe,' with an enthu- 

 siastic encomium on the struggle of the Greeks for liberty. 

 Humboldt was possessed of far too much tact and discretion to 

 allude to such subjects before the king or the crown prince. 

 Even with General von Witzleben he kept himself in favour ; 

 and with 'opponents such as Ancillon he maintained an outward 

 appearance of forbearance, though tinged with a delicate irony* 

 This did not prevent him, on the other hand, from indulging 

 in irritating sarcasms against his enemies, and giving vent to 

 satirical criticisms upon the ministry, the court, and general 

 society. He spoke of his chamberlain's uniform as a ridiculous 

 costume ; there was no place in all Europe, he complained, 

 where the court and the notility were so unintellectual, igno- 



1 ' Im Ural und Altai/ p. 47. Also in many unpublished letters to Schu- 

 macher. 



