LETTER FROM HUMBOLDT, 313 



than yourself) suffer from my silence. I count 

 with reason upon their indulgence. The tone 

 of your excellent letters shows that I am right. 

 You spoil me. Your letters continue to be 

 always warm and affectionate. I receive few 

 like them. Since two thirds of the letters ad- 

 dressed to me (partly copies of letters written 

 to the king or the ministers) remain unan- 

 swered, I am blamed, charged with being a 

 parvenu courtier, an apostate from science. 

 This bitterness of individual claims does not 

 diminish my ardent desire to be useful. I act 

 oftener than I answer. I know that I like 

 to do good, and this consciousness gives me 

 tranquillity in spite of my over burdened life. 

 You are happy, my dear Agassiz, in the more 

 simple and yet truly proud position which you 

 have created for yourself. You ought to take 

 satisfaction in it as the father of a family, as 

 an illustrious savant, as the originator and 

 source of so many new ideas, of so many 

 great and noble conceptions. 



Your admirable work on the fossil fishes 

 draws to a close. The last number, so rich in 

 discoveries, and the prospectus, explaining the 

 true state of this vast publication, have soothed 

 all irritation regarding it. It is because I am 

 so attached to you that I rejoice in the calmer 



