FROM ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. TO 1818. 235 



CHAPTER III. 



FROM THE ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. 

 TO THE REVOLUTION OF 1848. 



Relationship in which Humboldt stood to Frederick William IV. Personal 

 Friendship Opinions and Influence in Political Matters (Jews and 

 Slavery) Deliberations on Literary and Scientific Questions Appoint- 

 ments and Claimants Institution of the Order of Merit Humboldt 

 as Patron and Benefactor exemplified in the case of Eisenstein The 

 Publication of the first two volumes of f Cosmos ' Humboldt as an 

 Author. 



' I HAYE recommenced work. I have taken up my quarters 

 with the new king at Sanssouci, where we are to spend some 

 portion of the summer. The new sovereign continues to show 

 me the same marks of confidence and affection with which he 

 honoured me as crown prince. We pass our evenings alone, 

 immersed in philosophy, and literature, upon the summit of the 

 little hill distinguished by so many historical associations. 1 

 Thus wrote Humboldt a few weeks after the death of Frederick 

 William III., in a letter to Casimir Gide, quoted at the close 

 of the last chapter, in which he expresses himself with so much 

 delicacy and sensibility on the late king. 1 About the same 

 time 2 Bessel wrote to Humboldt : ' It is with great pleasure 

 that I learn that the king accords to your Excellency the same 

 nattering confidence that you received from his father. This 

 is a matter so closely affecting the good of all, as to be well 

 worth some amount of sacrifice on your part. I believe the 

 king could not easily have done anything so likely to make him 

 popular. The conjunction of ideas leading to this opinion is not 

 difficult to find, it is indeed universal.' 



1 De la Roquette, vol. ii., 'Avertiesement des nouveaux e*diteurs/ p. vi. 



2 July 5, 1840. 



