148 Humboldt's Letters. 



and after all, the man of seventy-four years is but a man 

 of seventy-four. He himself refers significantly to his 

 advanced age. His manifold duties are a heavy charge 

 upon him, although he is reluctant to abandon them. 

 The Court and its society are to him like a tavern of 

 habitual resort, where one is wont to pass one's evening, 

 and to drink one's glass. The King, says he, busies 

 himself with nothing but his whims, and these have, for 

 the most part, a spiritual, nay, an ecclesiastical, ten- 

 dency worshipping, building churches, concocting mis- 

 sions. He cares very little about earthly affairs. It 

 seems immaterial to him whether Louis Philippe's 

 death causes a crisis ; what may happen after Metter- 

 nich's death, or how Russia behaves with us. To all this 

 he is indifferent ; he scarcely thinks of it. Whoever has 

 secured his favor and nourishes his fancies plays a sure 

 game. Bunsen, Radowitz, and Canitz stand highest in 

 his favor. Stollberg comes only in the second rank. 

 Besides, there exists the greatest carelessness and 

 distraction. Rueckert had congratulated the Queen 

 upon her recovery, in some very beautiful stanzas. 

 They were found delightful ; but the propriety of 

 acknowledging such an offering by a word of thanks 

 was overlooked, until at last it occurred to the 

 Queen. Rueckert was then sent for, but had been 

 gone some three weeks. Schelling is received scarcely 

 once a year by the King. Having secured him, he 



