ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 109 



picturesque banks awaiting the beholder at every 

 turn, render this place undoubtedly one of the most 

 attractive residences in the neighborhood. If, in 

 addition, you picture to yourself the high degree of 

 luxury and taste that reigns in our home, you will 

 indeed be surprised when I tell you that I never 

 visit this place without a certain feeling of melan- 

 choly. ... I passed most of that unhappy time 

 (my youthful days) here at Tegel, among people 

 who loved me, and showed me kindness, but with 

 whom I had not the least sympathy, where I was 

 subjected to a thousand restraints and much self- 

 imposed solitude, and where I was often placed in 

 circumstances that obliged me to maintain a close 

 reserve, and to make continual self-sacrifices. 



"Now that I am my own master, and living here 

 without restraint, I am unable to yield myself to 

 the charms of which nature is here so prodigal, be- 

 cause I am met at every turn by painful recollec- 

 tions of my childhood, which even the inanimate 

 objects around me are continually awakening. Sad 

 as such recollections are, however, they are inter- 

 esting from the thought that it was just my resi- 

 dence here which exercised so powerful an influence 

 in the formation of my character and the direction 

 of my tastes to the study of nature." 



Much which seems trying and unsatisfactory is, 

 after all, our best discipline for life. The strong- 

 est and noblest characters are not developed in the 

 perpetual sunshine of happiness. Eain and sun 

 are alike necessary for growth. 



