FKOM KEVOLUTION OF JULY TO DEATH OF THE KING. 229 



ment, and that one may desire a great deal without being able 

 to do anything.' 



The consciousness of the increasing lethargy spreading over 

 Germany, and making itself felt in political feeling throughout 

 Prussia, was experienced with great bitterness by Humboldt, 

 during the years preceding the death of the king in 1840. 

 Even in the spring of 1836, he wrote to Bunsen from Pots- 

 dam : l ' To me everything here has become grey, dark, and 

 un enjoyable ; pity that with increasing age one cannot grow 

 indifferent to the want of elevated views in political life ! All 

 around me is like a desert so completely desert that there is 

 absolutely no one about me to understand why I grieve.' There 

 is no evidence of his having taken any active part in the con- 

 test that broke out at this period between Church and State. 

 And in the religious movements of the times, as for instance 

 in the outcry from Zurich against the appointment of David 

 Strauss, he very justly saw 'no new phase in the life of the 

 people, but rather, under the cloak of religion, a repetition of 

 the same miserable spectacle with which the world had grown 

 weary, the incessant strife between the " hornmen " and the 

 " clawmen " between the Montmorencys of the land of the 

 Havel and the people.' 2 It was therefore only out of curiosity 

 that in the spring and summer of 1840 he lent to the Quakeress 

 Mrs. Fry the weight of his patronage by introducing her into 

 the highest circles at Berlin, whom she was to enlighten by 

 her addresses. 3 In matters relating to the internal administra- 

 tion Humboldt felt more and more constrained ; in monetary 

 grants 4 and official appointments Alten stein displayed illibe- 

 rality, and was difficult to move, while the crown prince, who 

 was not lacking in energy, possessed but little influence. ' It 

 is best to wait,' was the laconic expression of Humboldt's 

 feelings of resignation in the autumn of 1839. 5 



1 ' Briefe an Bunsen/ No. 20. 2 Ibid. No. 30. 



3 ' Briefe an Varnhagen,' No. 46. Max Tietzen, ' Zur Erinnerung an H. 

 Steffens ' (Leipzig, 1871), p. 56. 



4 Especially with reference to the grant to Schelling. * Briefe an Bunsen/ 

 Nos. 18, 19. 



5 ' Briefe an Bunsen/ No. 30. There is no doubt that the portion of the 

 letter omitted contained a pointed allusion to the death of the king. 



