FKOM REVOLUTION OF JULY TO DEATH OF THE KING. 197 



diluvian ! "] ; now that I know it, I shall find a fresh occasion 

 for specially calling you to remembrance. This year I shall 

 certainly celebrate the day . . . sixty-six years are nothing, 

 dear Humboldt [" they are a good deal when one is unhappy ! "], 

 Dr. Francia is now in his eighty-fifth year [" to what an age 

 these tyrants live ! "], he is very active and vigorous, and rides 

 on horseback nearly every day. I was born, as you know, on 

 August 23, 1773. Before I was attacked by the two severe ill- 

 nesses, from which I am now convalescent, I used to ride 

 full gallop a distance of twelve or fifteen, and sometimes even 

 thirty leagues a day ; when my health is re-established, I must 

 limit myself to eight or ten leagues a day. As long as one is 

 happy, one is always young. Anxiety and grief age us, under- 

 mine our health, and at length kill us. I always imagine you 

 are very happy ; I am sure you ought to be, surrounded as you 

 are by earthly splendour ["! !"], and covered with renown 

 [" ! ! "], which is daily on the increase. You ought to live a 

 century, and then you will enter upon a second life which will 

 be eternal [" a grand prospect that, forsooth ! "].' 



At the time that the amiable hermit of San Borja was 

 giving expression to his philosophic sentiments in these lines 

 from the borders of the Pampas, Humboldt was further adding 

 to his renown while employing it in the furtherance of an 

 important branch of science. It was in April, 1836, that he 

 addressed his celebrated letter to the Duke of Sussex, l through 

 whom he endeavoured to interest the Eoyal Society in the 

 establishment of a series of magnetic stations, a subject he had 

 formerly brought before the consideration of the Academy of 

 St. Petersburg ; but in this application to a great maritime 

 power, his scheme embraced a wider range than he had con- 

 templated when appealing to a merely continental power ; at 

 the same time he took occasion to point out the perfection to 

 which the method of observation had been brought by Gauss., 

 We need scarcely discuss the scientific value of this scheme of 

 Humboldt's : the labours of Sabine and the results of the Ant- 

 arctic expedition of Sir James Koss suffice to indicate the 



1 The letter to H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex is to be found among other 

 places in De la Roquette, vol. i. p. 338, &c. j for an account of the whole 

 matter see < Kosmos,' vol. i. pp. 438-9; vol. iv. p. 71, &c. 



