HUMBOLDT IN 1851. 465 



green military coat, buttoned up to the chin, who Bat on 

 the right hand, although I had never before seen his 

 Majesty. My driver reined up on one side and took off 

 his hat. I lifted mine as the King passed, looked at him, 

 and he replied with a military salute. His face was 

 slightly flushed and his eyes bright, and I remember 

 thinking that the heavy and rather stupid air which he 

 wears in his portraits did him injustice. But he was even 

 then, perhaps, laboring under that congestion which 

 struck him down the same night, and from the effects of 

 which he will never recover. 



"I was glad when the clock struck twelve at last, and 

 I could leave the rattling streets for that quiet corner of 

 the palace in which Humboldt lives. The door was 

 opened, as before, by Seifert, who recognised me at 

 once. * Welcome back ! ' he cried ; ' we know where 

 you have been — we have read all your letters ! His Ex- 

 cellency has been quite sick, and you will not find him 

 so strong as he was last year, but he is in tolerable health 

 again, thank Grod ! Come in, come in ; he is waiting.' 

 Opening the doors as he spoke, he ushered me into a lit- 

 tle library, on the threshold of which Humboldt, who 

 had risen, received me. He was slightly paler than be- 

 fore, a little thinner, perhaps, and I could see that his 

 step was not so firm ; but the pale blue eye beamed as 

 clear an intelligence as ever, and the voice had as steady 

 and cheery a tone. He shook hands with the cordiality 

 of a friend, and after the first greetings were over, 

 questioned me minutely concerning my travels in the 

 North. 



"But one topic soon suggests a hundred others, and he 

 was ere long roaming at large over the whole field of 



20* 



