21 o Humboldt's Letters. 



one, affords me. I, however, do not indulge in the 

 hope of this restoration," since I find my own experi- 

 ence as frequently opposed to as in harmony with that 

 of others, and the result of my reflections on this obscure 

 subject, is simply this, that it is one of the innumerable 

 questions, which are beyond the veil that separates 

 us both from the great secrets of our own nature, and 

 from those which nature in general interposes between 

 first causes and perceptible phenomena. I did, however, 

 excuse the rising superstition by recalling the indis- 

 putable truth, that vivid agreeable effects on the mind 

 or soul react upon the body ; but why did the reaction 

 not endure in my case ? Be this as it may, it is a fact 

 that the portrait of the King always moved before my 

 eyes during my restless nights ; I hoped every day would 

 bring me news of it. I perfectly understand that a 

 care for the well-being of millions of subjects, equally 

 dear to the heart of the monarch, rules the ruler himself 

 and compels him to abandon, under the pressure of the 

 moment, the arrangement of a succession of innumerable 

 interests centring in him ; I also fully understand that the 

 King, although he is no more unmindful of the honors he 

 intends bestowing than of those he has already awarded, 

 has not been able to fix the exact moment of confer- 

 ring the intended benefit upon me. I also know be- 

 yond all doubt, that I am standing upon a mine which 

 may at any time explode, and that to-day has no 



