416 ALEXANDEE VON HUMBOLDT. 



all who were no longer in his presence. It must be admitted, 

 however, that as soon as the humour was over, and the exciting 

 cause had died away, he at once resumed the calm and cheerful 

 view of things by which he was usually distinguished. 



Nor was there in Alexander von Humboldt any perceptible 

 development of moral culture ; the same qualities, noble as 

 well as mean, are alike noticeable throughout the whole of his 

 'eventful life.' An untiring industry and a restless vanity, 

 which was only thrown into greater prominence by an assump- 

 tion of humility, a good-natured readiness to oblige, a retiring 

 shyness, a frank openness and insincere smoothness of speech, 

 true affection, and flattering irony these qualities were equally 

 noticeable in all periods of his life. Such was the man, and 

 such he ever remained ; it is our province to describe, not to 

 judge. For the task appointed him in life he was, no doubt, 

 admirably fitted ; the bold and decisive points of a manly cha- 

 racter would have been inappropriate in the universal represen- 

 tative of modern culture ; as a lens intended for the condensation 

 of rays must be smoothly ground, so his complex nature must 

 be reduced to a smooth surface. What he lost in individuality, 

 he gained in representative power. In the sense perhaps in 

 which the Homeric age is spoken of, may the future historian 

 of the development of science speak of the present century as 

 that of Alexander von Humboldt. 



