OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 57 



proceed to give a sliort sketcli of his personal 

 history, Iris position as a man in the world 

 of men. 



The noble family of the Humboldts came 

 originally from the interior of Pomerania, where 

 they possessed landed estates. The father of 

 Alexander yon Humboldt was major in a dragoon 

 regiment, and, during the Seven Years' war, 

 the adjutant of the Duke of Brunswick, who 

 frequently sent him with verbal reports to 

 Frederick the Great. He was lord of the 

 manors of Hadersleben and Bingewalde, and 

 rented subsequently the Castle Tegel, situated 

 between Berlin and Spandau. 



This little castle had been originally a hunting- 

 box of the great Elector of Brandenburg ; and 

 even in the time of Frederick the Great a royal 

 preserve was kept in th e neighbourhood. Major 

 von Humboldt selected this place for his abode 

 after he had retired from public life, and had 

 made considerable alterations and improvements 

 for that purpose ; but, alas ! death called him 

 early away. Lady Humboldt, his wife, was the 

 widow of a Baron von Holwede, and a niece of the 

 Princess Bliicher. The issue of this marriage 



