314 NO MAN'S LIFE EVER WKITTEN". 



ments, in which he was assisted bv Humboldt and Von 

 Buch, the latter examining the magnetic qualities of the 

 serpentine rocks of Vesuvius. In the autumn Humboldt 

 departed for Berlin, where he # remained nearly two years. 

 Though he wrote largely during this year, he seems to 

 have published little, except an " Essay on Botanical 

 Geography," and a paper on magnetism. 



From this time for twenty years and more, his life 

 was as destitute of incident as can well be imagined ; ex- 

 cept in a bibliographical point of view it is nearly a blank 

 to his biographers. Yet this blank covers the most 

 prolific period of his genius, for in it he wrote all his 

 great works, except " Kosmos." From 1805 to 1829 — 

 from his thirty -sixth to his sixtieth year, not much is 

 known of Humboldt. We know where he lived during 

 that time ; this year he was in Berlin, we can say, and 

 that year in Paris ; but this is little. To be sure locality 

 is something, for it helps statistical readers to facts, which 

 are never to be despised ; but an authentic leaf from the 

 book of his life, a momentary gleam of thought or feeling 

 would be worth centuries of mere locality. 



And here we are reminded of a thought which has 

 often come home to us with striking force, when reading 

 the biographies of great men. It is this : No man's life 

 was ever written ! If a biographer is skilful, like Boswell 

 for instance, he gives us a life-like picture of his hero : 

 the colour of his eyes and hair, his voice, his manner of 

 speaking, his gestures : his little peculiarities of dress, 

 the snuff on his shirt frills, or, possibly, the stains of 

 his last night's wine ; or, as in the case of Poor Goldy, 

 the awkward patch on the breast of his coat. Still, we 

 are not satisfied. Delighted we may be, but satisfied we 



