14 



and am convinced that many of the opinions on the 

 Hellenic age, which the moderns arrogate to themselves, 

 lie buried in Essays prior to 1795 (a Deucalion age !). 

 Angelus Silesius* too, whom I have now for the first 

 time learnt to appreciate, has given great pleasure to 

 us both.f There is an air of piety about it that strikes 

 one like the breath of genial spring, and the mysterious 

 hieroglyphics of our late friend render your gift doubly 

 dear tome. Spiker,j in announcing Oltmann's death, 

 has committed the very extraordinary error of mis- 

 taking a genitive for a signature, "Alexander von 

 Humboldt's Astronomical Observations." I shall let 

 it stand without putting it right. Your old and 

 attached friend, A. HUMBOLDT. 



XIV. 



HUMBOLDT TO YARNHAGEN. 



'Berlin, 9th December, 1833. 



I send you, my dear friend, a few lines from the 

 amiable Duchess of Dessau. Every kind allusion to 

 our (Eahel) must be dear to your heart. 



Sunday. A. V. HUMBOLDT. 



* Johann Schemer, otherwise known as Angelus Silesius, born in 1624, 

 a physician at Breslau ; afterwards became a convert to popery, and a priest. 

 He was chiefly known by his religious and mystic poems, and died 1677. 

 One of the most important of his works is the " Cherubische Wandersmann." 

 Humboldt, in the letter above, alludes to the work published by Varnhagen 

 at this time which he had just received in which. Varnhagen had given 

 extracts from Silesius. It is entitled, " Ausziige aus Angelus Silesius und 

 Saint Martin" (von K. A. Varnhagen von Ense), Berlin, 1834. TR. 



f Meaning himself and his brother Wilhelm. TR. 



J Editor and proprietor of a popular newspaper at Berlin. -TR. 



Jabbo Oltmann, deceased 1833, a German astronomer. TR. 



