Humboldt's Letters. 265 



in his diary: "Backbiters are busy with Humboldt. 

 Littleness and mediocrity, conscious of their nothing- 

 ness beside him, combine their envy and spite, and 

 thereby hope to be something. The one comes to the 

 other with smiles, and makes him the confidant of the 

 dislike he entertains, and of the foibles and defects he 

 claims to have detected. The other welcomes the sug- 

 gestion, responds with similar remarks, they clasp each 

 other's hands, and are fast friends in enmity of the hero. 

 Those who pretend to be the most faithful lend them- 

 selves to such intrigues. Singly they amount to nothing, 

 but when lumped together they constitute a stumbling- 

 block, which obstructs the light of day, interferes with 

 what is good, and destroys life and spirits : such vermin 

 tormented Goethe, and now they torment Humboldt. 

 I know these fellows by experience ; in Rahel's time 

 I have seen my fill of it ! The brothers, the nieces, 

 how glad they would be to make common cause with the 

 most inferior beings, to place their united mediocrity 

 above the genial power of heart and mind, by which 

 even they were yet constantly lighted and warmed ! 

 Humboldt's weak points are well known, he does 

 nothing in secret, men see him as he is ; but his great- 

 ness is unimpaired, the greatness of his mind and the 

 equal greatness of his heart. And eighty years what 

 a bulwark ! Who will dare assail it ? 



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