Humboldt's Letters. 45 



si. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



BERLIN, Saturday, 23d of May, 1835. 



IP the " Morgenblatt" of the 18th of May should 

 fall into your hands, dear friend, please glance at a 

 rather offensive article therein, entitled " Wilhelm von 

 Humboldt's Funeral." My brother is said to have died 

 abandoned by his family. I take but little notice of 

 such misrepresentations. I should wish to know, how- 

 ever, is " that other thing" which my brother was 

 " ignorant of, besides music, and which one dare not 

 name" is it God, or some lewdness ? I do not know 

 what it possibly can be ! Please, dearest one, to find 

 out how this assertion is explained by the public. The 

 cause of my brother's retiring from public life is also 

 so world-known, that it is singular to intimate that 

 one did not know whether it was by his own fault. I 

 call with pleasure on your acuteness and affection. 

 Supply my deficiency in the first. 



Most thankfully yours, A. HUMBOLDT. 



