FROM ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. TO 1848. 241 



neous to suppose that Frederick William made use of Mm 

 merely as a tool, and regarded him only in that light; the 

 king entertained for him a true and sincere affection, and gave 

 him many proofs of his regard. That Humboldt should have 

 accompanied his sovereign to the coronation at Konigsberg in 

 1840, to the christening of the Prince of Wales in 1842, and to 

 Copenhagen in 1845, may be attributed to his official attend- 

 ance as chamberlain at a state ceremonial ; but it betokened a 

 feeling akin to friendship when he was selected as a companion 

 in the country visits to Erdmannsdorf, or at the festive enter- 

 tainments at Stolzenfels. The chief scene of their friendly 

 intercourse was Potsdam. After a day spent in Humboldt's 

 society, the king would often seek him out again, and late in 

 the evening find his way to his room, in order that he might 

 have him all to himself. It was often late at night when he 

 took his leave, and Seifert, Humboldt's attendant, while light- 

 ing the king on his return, was frequently a witness, at the 

 winding staircase, to which Humboldt invariably accompanied 

 his royal visitor, to the eagerness with which the king would 

 renew the conversation, as if he could never be satiated. 

 When Humboldt was confined to bed by illness, the king read 

 to him by the hour together. In the brief notes he frequently 

 addressed to him, he styles him his ' esteemed friend,' or in joke 

 'most respected Alexander,' and concludes with expressions of 

 the heartiest affection and goodwill. In Humboldt's increas- 

 ing pecuniary difficulties, he was always ready witli assistance, 

 which he rendered in the most delicate manner. ' I could not 

 have slept in peace for fear of being forestalled,' he wrote on 

 March 27, 1857, when, to free his friend from debt, he gave 

 orders for the payment of the large sum of 6,726 thalers to 

 Mendelssohn. The refined delicacy of his consideration is 

 apparent in the cabinet order dated Bellevue, January 12, 1850, 

 in which, at the request of Humboldt, he grants his attendant 

 Seifert an appointment as castellan at the hunting-seat of 

 Schorfheide, with a salary of 800 thalers. ' In thus fulfilling 

 your wishes,' writes the king, 'of securing to your faithful 

 attendant a life free from pecuniary anxiety, I have not thought 

 it inconsistent with your request to insist that the appointment 

 shall in no way interfere with his present duties, but that he 



YOL. II. R 



