FEOM ACCESSION OF FEEDEEICK WILLIAM IV. TO 1848. 331 



useful model than those of Forster ; ' Paul and Virginia ' was 

 his companion in the Tropics, where he and Bonpland used to 

 peruse together this 6 masterly production which scarce finds 

 its representative in any other literature ; ' again and again 

 were they deeply impressed with the ' admirable and inimitable 

 truth ' of the descriptions. l It was invariably Humboldt's 

 aim, and he was conscious that on this account 'his style 

 differed considerably from that of Forster and Chateaubriand.,' 

 4 to be true, even scientifically true in his descriptions of nature, 

 without actually entering on the dry region of science.' 2 It 

 may possibly be a delusion, but to the writer of these pages it 

 appears that in many portions of the c Aspects of Nature,' 

 especially in those poetic passages which recall so emphatically 

 the tone of Kousseau and the spirit of the classics, there lies, 

 beneath the full harmony of the German language, a concealed 

 though perceptible under-current of French thought and mode 

 of expression. However this may be, there can be. no doubt 

 that the works exhibiting the smoothest flow of diction are 

 those composed and written in French, the narrative of his 

 expedition to America, the ' Asie centrale,' and beyond all 

 question the ' Examen critique.' He was, in fact, lauded by the 

 French for c an unusual facility in expressing his ideas.' It is 

 related by De la Eoquette, that c Humboldt often allowed his 

 pen to flow too rapidly to secure the methodical arrangement 

 of his works, which he was in the habit of sending piecemeal 

 to the press, and that one day Arago said to him, with the 

 familiar frankness of a friend : ' Humboldt, you don't know 

 how to write a book ; you may write for ever, but it will never 

 be a book only a portrait without a frame.' 3 But we have 

 more direct evidence of Humboldt's command of the French 

 language and familiarity with its use, in the admirable ' Intro- 

 duction ' to Arago's works, which was undertaken at the re- 

 quest of the publisher and the family of his deceased friend, 

 and, though extending over two sheets, had to be composed in 

 the short space of nine days. ' It has occupied me four even- 

 ings,' he writes to Dirichlet, ' from nine o'clock till four, and 



Kosrnos,' vol. ii. pp. 67 and 68. 

 Briefe an Yarnhagen,' p. 23. 

 3 De la Koquette, vol. i. ' Notice sur la vie,' &c. p. xxxv. 



2 i 



