240 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



close association with Frederick William IV. as long as the 

 king was able to enjoy his society. The relationship main- 

 tained between the monarch and his distinguished subject ex- 

 hibits itself in three phases the mutual enjoyment of personal 

 friendship ; the endeavour on Humboldt's part to give a fixed 

 direction to the political action of the king, partly from sympa- 

 thetic friendship for his sovereign, partly from his independent 

 conviction of the necessities of the State ; and lastly, the 

 mutual intercourse on subjects of peculiar interest to Humboldt, 

 in which he displayed his usual diplomacy in furthering the 

 cause of science and public education, and in countenancing 

 all those who were labouring for their advancement. While 

 endeavouring to portray this relationship, we shall confine 

 ourselves to the facts of greatest importance ; for the mass of 

 material presented during the last twenty years of Humboldt's 

 life by his voluminous correspondence and miscellaneous writ- 

 ings is so large, and the testimony contributed by contempo- 

 raries is so abundant and withal so monotonous, that it becomes 

 necessary, if wearisome repetition is to be avoided, to make a 

 comparatively modest selection from the resources at our com- 

 mand. 



Dating from 1840, Humboldt's presence at court was an 

 event of almost daily occurrence, the regularity of which was 

 interrupted only by his occasional visits to Paris. By Frederick 

 William IV. the presence of his distinguished chamberlain was 

 not valued merely as contributing a lustre to his court, but as 

 providing for him an intellectual necessity. In moments of 

 enthusiasm he may have found Bunsen, Eadowitz, and others 

 possessed of a romantic and religious temperament, more sym- 

 pathetic with the feeling of the hour hence they have been 

 sometimes called the royal favourites ; but Humboldt, from the 

 wide range of his genius, was at all times an agreeable and 

 sympathetic companion, since his versatility and courtesy 

 enabled him to adapt himself with ready tact to the humour 

 of the king, whether in jest or earnest. To every question 

 raised by the inquiring mind of Frederick William, he was 

 enabled from the immense stores of his knowledge either to 

 supply an adequate answer, or at once to indicate the source 

 whence it could be obtained. It would, however, be erro- 



