FEOM EEVOLUTION OF JULY TO DEATH OF THE KING. 203 



The jubilee of the Gottingen University, held in the year 

 1837, was the first of many similar occasions in which Hum- 

 boldt unexpectedly found himself, much to the discomfort of 

 his natural shyness, a quality for which his brother had once 

 commended him, the centre of attraction among a large and 

 intellectual assembly, where he was vaunted as the 6 Nestor of 

 Science,' and the representative of modern, and especially of 

 German thought. No sooner was his arrival at Gottingen 

 known than he was welcomed by the students in a torch pro- 

 cession amid vociferous cheering. ' Taken by surprise, he 

 returned an answer on the spur of the moment,' and as the 

 speech was variously and somewhat incorrectly reported in the 

 newspapers, he wrote it out as follows for publication by Varn- 

 hagen : 



' Among the various enjoyments that I have experienced 

 during an eventful life, none have been to me sweeter or more 

 elevating than the pleasure I now feel in this expression of 

 your warm interest. Nearly half a century has passed since 

 I received the most valuable part of my education in this re- 

 nowned University. Many and vital changes have since then 

 transpired in the political organisation of the country once 

 so familiar to me in my scientific wanderings, but the bond of 

 union established between the older generation passing away and 

 the younger one rising in glorious vigour has throughout re- 

 mained unbroken, from the fact that they all look up to the 

 same alma mater. The Universities of Germany continue to 

 exercise the same beneficial influence they did a century ago 

 upon the free development of intellectual power and the right 

 direction of a nation's energy. In the acknowledgment of this 

 mighty influence, which formed a motive instigating the noble 

 ancestor of your king to the foundation of this University, I 

 present you, my dear friends, with deep feeling, the expres- 

 sion of my warmest gratitude.' l 



This address of Humboldt's was not without effect upon his 

 hearers ; he received numerous tokens of homage, and to him, 

 as c the highest guest at this jubilee celebration,' was dedicated 

 an ' Ode, commemorative of the Jubilee of the University of 



1 Varnhagen, ' Vermischte Schriften/ vol. ii. p. 174 ; see also ' Briefe an 

 Varnhagen, 1 Nos. 31, 32. 



