33S IX THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE- VI 



that Bismarck had stopped the appropriations for the 

 Olympiu researches; but toward the end of the evening he 

 again sought me, his face radiant, and with great glee told 

 me that all was now right, that lie had seen the Emperor, 

 and that the noble old monarch had promised to provide 

 for the excavations from his own purse. 



Still another friend was Rudolf von Gneist,the most emi- 

 nent authority of his time upon Roman law and the Eng- 

 lish constitution. lie had acted, in behalf of the Emperor 

 AYilliam, as umpire between the United States and Great 

 Britain, with reference to the northwestern boundary, and 

 had decided in our favor. In recognition of his labor, the 

 American Government sent over a large collection of valu- 

 able hooks on American history, including various collec- 

 tions of published state papers; and the first duty I ever 

 discharged as minister was to make a formal presentation 

 of this mass of books to him. So began one of my most 

 cherished connections. 



Especially prized by me was a somewhat close acquain- 

 tance with the two most eminent professors of modern his- 

 tory then at the university Von Sybel and Droysen. 

 Kach was a man of great ability. One day, after I had 

 been reading Lanf rev's "Ilistoire de Napoleon," which 

 I then thought, and still think, one of the most eloquent and 

 instructive books of the nineteenth century, Von Sybel 

 happened to drop in, and T asked his opinion of it. He 

 answered: <4 It does not deserve to be called a history; it 

 is a rhapsody." Shortly after he had left, in came Droy- 

 sen, and to him I put the same question, when he held up 

 both hands and said: "Yes, there is a history indeed! 

 That is a work of genius; it is one of the books which 

 throw a bright light into a dark time: that book will live." 

 Professor Hermann Grimm was then at the climax of 

 his fame, and Ihe gods of his idolatry were Goethe and 

 Knicrson ; but apparently he did not resemble them in 

 soaring above the petty comforts and vexations of life. 

 Any one inviting him to dine was likely to receive an 

 answer asking how the dining-room was lighted whether 



