WILLIAM VON HUMBOLDT AT PARIS. 347 



of Laplace was near by, the gardens of the two savans 

 adjoining each other, they were as often at Laplace's as 

 at Berthollet's. They could not but profit by the con- 

 versations of the old mathematician, for he was pro- 

 foundly versed in all the sciences ; besides, he had seen 

 much of the world, and was full of anecdotes of bygone 

 times and men. He could tell them of D'Alembert, 

 Diderot, and the Encyclopedaists, — the master-spirits of 

 the eighteenth century. If the conversation turned, as 

 was likely, on Descartes or Newton, their portraits hung 

 in his study, as did also those of Euler, and poor old 

 blind Galileo. If they wished to walk he accompanied 

 them. Arm-in-arm, discussing what was uppermost in 

 their minds, they wandered around the neighbourhood, 

 now in the fields and meadows, or along the banks of the 

 Bievre ; and now by the ruins of the aqueduct built by 

 the Emperor Julian, in the olden time, to convey water to 

 his palace in Paris. There was no end of pleasant 

 rambles at Arcueil. 



In addition to the best literary and scientific society 

 in Paris, Humboldt met from time to time, many of his 

 German friends. Among others who were present there 

 in 1814 was A. W. Schlegel, and his brother William. 

 Napoleon had fallen, the Bourbons were restored, and 

 the different Powers sent their ambassadors to congratu- 

 late them. William came as the ambassador of Prussia. 

 He had ascended several rounds of the political ladder 

 since he left Albano, as Alexander himself might have 

 done, had he wished. Soon after the latter settled in 

 Paris, in 1807, and again in 1809, he filled a political 

 mission there, near the person of Frederick William, the 

 Prince of Prussia. When the conferences were over at 



