THE LAST TEN YEAES. 409 



Of other works of art there was a portrait of Frederick William 

 IV., by Kriiger, a marble bust of Humboldt, by David d' Angers, 

 and the remarkable bust of Heinrich, the navigator, in the 

 library, the gift of Louis-Philippe. Among the costly works on 

 the library -table lay another present from that monarch, the 

 ' Chalcographie du Musee royal.' The library was not in itself 

 as valuable as might have been supposed, 1 as Humboldt only 

 commenced its formation on his residence at Berlin. He seldom 

 bought books, and always very unwillingly ; he would frequently 

 give them away, some he parted with, presentation copies 

 often remained incomplete. The collection acquired an in- 

 dividual interest from the inscriptions of the donors, and still 

 more by the piquant marginal notes which Humboldt was in 

 the habit of making, especially to his own works, a complete 

 copy of which, however, he did not possess. On the failure of 

 the negotiations for the purchase of the library entered into 

 with the heirs, in the name of the Prince Regent, 2 the books 

 became the prey of a bookseller's speculation, and were taken 

 to England, where the greater part perished in a conflagration. 



Humboldt invariably received his visitors in the ' cosmo- y 

 politan ' frock coat, a deep white neckerchief supporting his 

 sinking head. Latterly, he rarely went on foot, but his courtly 

 habit of standing he preserved almost to the end. ' Tropical ' 

 heat was with him a necessity, and his room was never allowed 

 to be lower than 77. From early years he had been accus- 

 tomed, after the habit in southern latitudes, to add a great 

 portion of the night into the day, for ' when the disturbing 

 influences of the enemy had been laid to sleep,' he found it the 

 most convenient season for his home work : towards morning he 

 took a few hours' repose. He eat heartily, and took wine freely, 

 but never exceeded moderation. The lower portion of his face 

 was strongly marked, and almost unpleasing, but received, even 

 amid the sallowness of age, a winning expression from his smile 

 of roguish good nature, and the cheerful glance of his small 

 eyes, above which arose his noble, intellectual brow, crowned 

 with a profusion of white hair. His well-made figure of mode- 



1 See J. Lowenberg's ' Die Bibliothek A. von Humboldt's,' published in 

 the ' Salon/ 1869, vol. iv. part xi. 



2 From letters from the Seiferts to Dr. Henry Lange. 



