ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 137 



queen. When Humboldt was ill, the king would 

 read to him by the hour. 



Frederick William IV. conferred on him the 

 decoration of the Star of the Eed Eagle, the Order 

 of the Black Eagle, the highest honor in the royal 

 power to confer, and the Order of Merit, given to 

 those " who throughout Europe have won for them- 

 selves a name either in the arts or sciences." 



Till the last years of his life Humboldt showed 

 the same marvellous energy and industry: At 

 eighty he said, " I am more than ever filled with a 

 zest for work and literary distinction." When he 

 wrote to friends for information in finishing " Cos- 

 mos," he asked for speedy answers, saying, "The 

 dead ride fast." On the fortieth anniversary of his 

 return to Europe, a fete was given in his honor, by 

 the Berlin Academy. Later his bust was placed in 

 the French Institute. The freedom of the city of 

 Berlin was presented to him. America sent him 

 in 1858, on his eighty-ninth birthday, an album 

 of nine maps, showing the scores of towns, coun- 

 ties, rivers, bays, and mountains which had received 

 his name. Letters came from all parts of the 

 world, breathing love and admiration. Yet, with 

 all this honor, he was often lonely, and spoke of 

 the ennui of life. After the regency, Humboldt 

 lived at Berlin, in an unostentatious home, with his 

 attendant, Seifert. 



On May 6, 1859, at half-past two in the after- 

 noon, death came to Alexander von Humboldt, at 

 the age of ninety. His mind was clear to the last. 



