136 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



fulness. I have been very happy, and even to-day 

 has been a glorious day with me, for there is noth- 

 ing more beautiful than love. I shall soon be with 

 the mother, and enter upon a higher order of being." 



This death was a great blow to Alexander. He 

 said, " I am quite bereft of hope. I did not think 

 that my old eyes could have shed so many tears. 

 ... I am the unhappiest of men. ... I have lost 

 half of myself." A few months later William's 

 eldest daughter, Caroline, died, to whom Alexander 

 was tenderly attached. From henceforth his life 

 was devoted to his sovereign Frederick William IV., 

 to " Cosmos," and to his ever widening circle of 

 friends. Two thousand letters or more came to 

 him yearly, and till late in life he answered each 

 one, and answered it promptly, showing thereby 

 how truly well bred he was in manner, and how 

 truly kind in heart. 



In 1834, when he was sixty-five, he began the 

 publication of " Cosmos," in five volumes, the "most 

 comprehensive compendium of modern science." It 

 was soon translated into English, meeting with a 

 cordial reception in that country, and into French, 

 Dutch, and Italian. 



Even at the age of sixty-five, so eager was he to 

 know more that he attended courses of lectures on 

 Grecian antiquities and literature, and upon chem- 

 istry, taking notes among the young university 

 students. He now lived with the king, at Sans- 

 Souci, spending every evening with him, and be- 

 coming the confidential friend of both king and 



