252 Humboldt's Letters. 



ise. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



POTSDAM, October 15th, 1849. 



I HOPE, my dear friend, that my " Views of Nature," 

 enlarged, and, for two-thirds of it, almost re-written, 

 are at last in your hands ! It was owing to an unfor- 

 tunate confusion, occasioned by my long absence from 

 Berlin, that this my favorite work was so long in reach- 

 ing my favorite reader. Perhaps you will derive a brief 

 pleasure from contrasting the picture of the nocturnal 

 din of the words with that of the stillness of high noon 

 vol. i., pp. 333 and 337 ; or from glancing at the 

 golden visions of young Astorpileo, vol. ii., 352. 

 In love and friendship, yours, 



In haste. A. v; HUMBOLDT. 



Increase your collection of autographs by a very 

 agreeable letter from the man who now lives in Brussels. 

 The phrase " votre fortune morale " is used with great 

 freedom. But the newspaper, all disfigured with blood- 

 stains ! What a. year, in which all the feelings of the 

 heart run wild ! 



