332 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



now it is finished.' The following lines are evidence of the 

 success attending this affectionate devotion to the memory of 

 his dearest friend. ' I wish I could express to you,' writes 

 Casimir Gide, a few days later, when sending him his thanks r 

 ' all the admiration I feel for this eloquent testimony so rapidly 

 composed. You have certainly every right to call the French 

 language your own ; for we have no writer who could express 

 with greater elegance the pleasure you have derived from your 

 intercourse with your illustrious friend. As I read your letter 

 to Madame Matthieu, she could not repress her tears. How 

 sweet the consolation that you have been the means of bring- 

 ing to the hearts of that afflicted family ! ' 



No German capable of judging of the peculiar charm of 

 both languages could, in view of this beautiful eloge, though 

 wanting, it must be admitted, in the sparkling brilliance of 

 Arago's own style, be in doubt as to the language over which 

 Humboldt, whether by nature or habit, had obtained the 

 greatest mastery. There is no question either that the letters 

 he wrote in French were distinguished by more elegance and 

 grace, and were more affectionate in tone, than those he wrote 

 in German. Nor did they fail to excite admiration even in 

 Parisian circles. In construction his sentences were, as we 

 have seen, more allied to French than German, but his exces- 

 sive use of the adjective was less noticeable in that language,, 

 and his constant selection of high-sounding expressions suited 

 the elevated French style as exemplified in the classic writers. 

 To the Frank, who employs his language somewhat in set 

 phrases as a vocabulary, the mode of expression instinctive to 

 the Slavonian seems artificial, and such appears to the German 

 Humboldt's style. 



This will suffice for the consideration of Humboldt as a 

 master of style. In regard to the contents of his works, it is 

 evident, as we have seen in * Cosmos,' that he adopted a method 

 of treatment half literary and half scientific. It is remarkable 

 that he himself should have once observed, -A mixture of 

 methods never succeeds in literature.' * It would savour of 

 pedantry were we to carry the principle of separation of sub- 



1 ' Briefe an Varnhagen,' No. 143. 



