Humboldt's Letters. 383 



and a friend are both allowable ? The Berliners manage 

 to talk about and to soil whatever comes into their 

 fingers. 



Most gratefully fully yours, 



A. V. HUMBOLDT. 



MONDAY NIGHT. 



I shall send for the two volumes again in a day or 

 two. 



My best and most grateful compliments to Miss Lud- 

 milla, the poetic artist, who combines the poet and the 

 painter. 



S15. 



VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT. 



BERLIN, July Sth, 1857. 



THE two volumes of poetry kindly sent by your 

 Excellency, no doubt manifest considerable literary cul- 

 ture, and a skilful management of language and of 

 metre ; but this would seem to exhaust the truthful 

 measure of their praise. The number of men of this 

 order of talent is very large, and where there are not 

 further excellences they can hardly be called otherwise 

 than ordinary. The claims advanced on the basis of 

 such performances are frequently exorbitant, and such is 



