FROM REVOLUTION OF JULY TO DEATH OF THE KING-. 183 



of the truest depth of feeling, I must in this time of sorrow 

 address a few loving words from the brothers who hold you in 

 such affection. His release has not yet been granted. I left 

 him last night at eleven o'clock, and I am returning to him 

 immediately. He had not quite so distressing a day yesterday. 

 He was much disposed to doze, and had some amount of rest, 

 less disturbed than before ; in his waking moments his words 

 were full of love and consolation to those around him, showing 

 that he fully apprehended his condition, and that the clearness 

 of his intellect remained unimpaired. His voice was very 

 weak, rough (hoarse), and high-pitched, like that of a child, 

 and leeches were again applied to the throat. He retained 

 complete consciousness. " Think of me often," he said the day 

 before yesterday, " but always with cheerfulness. I have been 

 very happy, and even to-day has been a glorious day with me, 

 for there is nothing more beautiful than ' love. I shall soon 

 be with the Mother, and enter upon a higher order of being." 

 .... I am quite bereft of hope. I did not think that my 

 old eyes could have shed so many tears. This has lasted eight 

 days.' 1 At length, on April 8, at six o'clock in the evening, 

 William von Humboldt, to use 'the words of his brother, * gently 

 breathed out his great soul, just as the last rays of the setting 

 sun faded from his apartment.' 5 On April 10, Alexander wrote 

 to Gride the laconic lines : ' Pity me ; I am the unhappiest of 

 men. I have witnessed a death scene which has lasted ten 

 days. My brother died the day before yesterday, at six 

 o'clock.' 3 In a letter to Letronne of the 18th he remarks : ' I 

 have lost half of myself, and it is only when immersed in the 

 study of physics, and surrounded by the recollections of an- 

 tiquity, whence my poor brother drew his happiest and most 

 beautiful inspirations, that I can hope to recover the calm I 

 am yet far from possessing.' 



His affection for his brother was one of the most beautiful 

 traits in the character of Alexander von Humboldt, and from 

 its unselfish nature, may well lead one to overlook his minor 

 defects of sarcasm, vanity, and a love of admiration. It is, 



1 ' Briefe an Varahagen,' No. 18. 



2 Zimmermann's ' Humboldtbuch/ vol. iii. p. 22. 



3 De la Roquette, vol. ii. ' Avertissement des nouv. <5diteurs,' p. v. 



