FROM ACCESSION OF FREDERICK WILLIAM IV. TO 1818. 247 



the monarch is raised above all petty considerations, and that 

 he belongs to the .period in which, by Divine Providence, he 

 has been called to the throne. This confidence is still yours. 

 I merely repeat what I said to you 'last night, but ... It is 

 therefore very important that Meyerbeer should not be passed 

 over. Should the nomination of Felix Mendelssohn, the Chris- 

 tian, alone be made, a vital question will at once be raised. 

 A reverential feeling for our departed sovereign, who is held 

 in universal esteem, need not place any restriction on your 

 conduct. Such an act might not liave been ill thought of in 

 'iiim, for he belonged, as it were, to a former age ; but you are 

 a part of the present generation, and restriction cannot be 

 ^placed upon the onward movement of national feeling. The 

 germ of perpetual progress is by Divine law implanted within 

 the human breast. The history of the world is but the record 

 of a pre-ordained development. ... In a time of need, 

 Meyerbeer's motlier made the noblest sacrifices for Christians. 

 In concert with all other sovereigns, you have conferred deco- 

 rations upon very unchristian Turks.' * You see, my dear 

 friend,' continues Humboldt to Johannes Schulze, ' that I have 

 not been wanting in freedom of expression. , . . It is sad, 

 however, to live in an age when to write thus is supposed to 

 need courage.' 



It is impossible to deny to this letter the merit of outspoken 

 frankness ; it is alike honourable to Humboldt and to Frede- 

 rick William IV., that a communication so completely unre- 

 served in tone should have taken place between them. Hum- 

 boldt throughout his remonstrance manifests great skill in 

 accommodating himself to the favourite ideas of his sovereign, 

 even the historical allusions are veiled in a garb of religious 

 sentiment, and the ceremony of installation, of which he had 

 often spoken contemptuously, is for once viewed in a poetic 

 light. In a similar spirit he interceded with the king on 

 behalf of Massmann, Professor of Gymnastics, who had become 

 an object of suspicion to the ministry. The letter, of which 

 we have information only through Varnhagen's ' Remains,' l is 

 dated March 29, 1846, and describes in glowing terms the 



1 < Briefe an Varnhagen/ No. 110. 



