OF BARON HUMBOLDT. 183 



Kinkel. Being a personal friend of the 

 Prussian Minister, and above all suspicion, 

 Humboldt was requested to accompany him 

 to head-quarters, charged with the necessary 

 correspondence, and with missions to Field- 

 Marshal Mollendorf. 



Humboldt became thus engaged in political 

 affairs without any desire of his own ; a field 

 quite foreign to him, and certainly not con- 

 genial to his taste and habits of life. In a letter 

 dated from the English head-quarters, near 

 Heden, in Brabant, September 10th, 1794, he 

 said : " My life has never been so diversified 

 as it is at this time. I have been called away 

 from my proper vocation, and burdened with 

 engagements connected with the diplomatic 

 mission of the Minister von Hardenberg. I 

 have chiefly followed the head-quarters of Field- 

 Marshal Mollendorf, and am at present in the 

 English camp. I proceed on the 14th inst. to 

 the county of Altenkirchen, in order to inspect 

 certain mining districts ; and from thence to 

 the camps near Kreuznach and Frankfort. 

 And although these continual changes afford 

 me little pleasure, I am, on the other hand, 

 too much distracted to become sad and me- 

 lancholy. I have acquired additional informa- 

 tion in consequence of my travels in mineralo- 



