ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 115 



The influence of such, a man can well be -imag- 

 ined. He became a guiding star to the young 

 Gottingen student. If we could but estimate the 

 value of right friendships in life ! We flatter our- 

 selves that we are too strong to be influenced, and 

 yet we are greatly influenced for good or for evil 

 by those with whom we associate. Humboldt 

 always chose intellectual friends, and the natural 

 result followei. 



In the spring of 1790, he left Gottingen, and, 

 with Foster and Van Genns, took a journey to the 

 Lower Rhine, Holland, Belgium, England, and 

 France, studying docks, mines, botanic gardens, 

 manufactures, and churches, and visiting literary 

 celebrities. Still the new friends did not take the 

 place of the old, for he writes to Wegener: "I 

 beseech you, dearest Wegener, by all the affection, 

 which you know I bear you, never to forget our 

 brotherly love and friendship. You are infinitely 

 more to me than I can ever be to you. I have now 

 seen the most celebrated places in Germany, Hol- 

 land, and England but, believe me, I have in 

 seeing them never been so happy as while sitting 

 in Steinbart's arm-chair." 



The influence of this journey was never lost. 

 Sixty-eight years afterward, Humboldt said : " For 

 the space of thirty years I have never known lei- 

 sure but of an evening, and the half-century that I 

 have spent in this ceaseless activity has been occu- 

 pied in telling myself and others how much I owe 

 my teacher and friend George Foster in the gener- 



