308 Humboldt's Letters. 



168. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEtf. 



BERLIN, August 9^ 1855. 



I HAD already heard with sorrow from the gifted 

 Princess von Wittgenstein, that you, noble friend, suf- 

 fered more than usually. Receive me with indulgence 

 on Saturday, about 10 o'clock, in spite of my long 

 absence, and of my inconvenient trilogy, Berlin, Tegel, 

 and Potsdam. I shall then also bring you a few lines 

 of thanks to your cousin, the Imperial Brazilian Charge 

 d' Affaires in Madrid. His history, founded upon archi- 

 val monuments, seems to become of great importance ; 

 but what a strange missive without adding the first 

 pages, and notes also without a beginning.* I doubt 

 of my ever catching those commencements in my cos- 

 inic disorder. As I spent almost an hour alone with the 

 Prince of Prussia yesterday, I shall be able to tell 

 you something not uninteresting, although not at 

 all decisive. The Prince, whom I take to be veracious, 



* Historia general de Brazil, tomo primeiro. The pieces wanting 

 here he had already sent as specimens. 



