160 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



present a barrier to the ceaseless surge of the waves agitating 

 eastern politics by the establishment of a nominal kingdom of 

 Greece, the Albanians, the union of the Armenian nation upon 

 the land whence it originally sprung, the crafty delay of the 

 Harpagon of Egypt whom death will overtake in his crafti- 

 ness, the great events that are transpiring in the north-west 

 of Africa, the political crisis threatening both France and 

 England, where the old regime opposes all true progress, the 

 removal of Bolivar from a stage where his presence weakened 

 all faith in ancient institutions, since every eye was directed 

 upon him in hopeful expectancy, the religious difficulties in 

 G-ermany all these are events which cannot fail to interest 

 deeply a mind like yours. The evil of the present age, and 

 the characteristic feature of our indolent weakness, is that, 

 amid such grand elements for the renovation of the world, we 

 can dream away both time and opportunity in slimy inactivity.' 

 Even at the moment that these words were being penned there 

 arose from this c slime ' the awful monster of Eevolution. 



