406 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



additional particulars from the following important letter 

 addressed to Seifert on March 13, 1855 : l 



6 My dear Seifert, In order to shield you from any aspersions 

 that might possibly be cast upon your well-proved honesty and 

 trustworthiness, I wish to certify by this letter (since by the 

 Providence of God, at my advanced age, I may be suddenly 

 removed by death) that I have given during my life and of my 

 free will, to you and your heirs, in acknowledgment of your 

 valuable services, the sum of 2,688 thalers being the value of 

 the decoration of the order of the Eed Eagle in brilliants, 

 which was with great liberality paid to me at my request in 

 February 1855 by the Comptroller of the Royal Household. I 

 herewith repeat the statement made in my will of May 10, 1841, 

 deposited in the Criminal Court, that I make over to you, and 

 after your death to your heirs, all the goods that are in my 

 house ; gold medals, chronometers and clocks, books, maps, 

 pictures, engravings, sculpture, instruments, sable furs, linen, 

 the small amount of plate, beds, and the whole furniture, under 

 the condition, to me of a painful character, that should his 

 Majesty the King, who now overwhelms me with favours, not 

 be able to fulfil my request for a gift of a few thousand thalers 

 for the liquidation of my debt to the house of Al. Mendelssohn, 

 from whom I have been in the habit of receiving accommoda- 

 tion for the last fifty years, you will endeavour to meet my 

 liabilities by the sale of the ' Chalcography,' which -must be 

 worth more than 2,500 thalers. This. I have no doubt you will 

 be willing to do from your feelings of honour and respect to 

 my memory. I may yet be fortunate enough, during the brief 

 period of life still left to me, to annihilate my debts by the 

 results of my nocturnal labours. In all delicate questions of 

 this nature you will find a wise counsellor in my dear relative 

 General von Hedemann, who for half a century has invariably 

 displayed towards me the most tender affection and true no- 

 bility of character. 



6 A. VON HUMBOLDT. 

 Berlin : March 13, 1855. 



4 To my servant, Herr Castellan Seifert, Berlin.' 



1 Tins letter was published in January 1869 in the Berlin 'Fremdenblatt.' 



