41 



make inquiries as to what may be now considered the 

 maximum pay for articles in journals, whether six, 

 eight, or ten Friedrichs d'or is customary ; I should 

 then have less to return. It may be of consequence 

 to me at some future time. Pardon this matter-of- 

 fact question, and be indulgent enough to write me in 

 a few days a couple of lines. I am going to-day to 

 the island. 



HT. 



In Yarnhagen's Diary, of 9th August, 1838, there is the follow- 

 ing remark : " Humboldt, in a long visit, gave me the news from 

 Toplitz. Both the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia have 

 carefully avoided being left alone with each other, as each appre- 

 hended embarrassment from it. The Emperor spoke on several 

 occasions very contemptuously of the present form of Trench govern- 

 ment, and was particularly severe on King Louis Philippe. Prince 

 Metternich was gay and careless ; for the present he was wholly 

 without apprehension, but harboured the gloomy foreboding, that 

 with Louis Philippe's death affairs would take a fresh turn and war 

 would be inevitable. "Will he try to make others think so for the 

 nonce ? I ask. In dealing with Metternich, one must always apply the 

 test of seeing how far any particular opinion fits in for the moment 

 with his position." 



9th of April, 1839 Yarnhagen records in his Diary : " Humboldt 

 called unexpectedly, and made the most profound apologies for not 

 having seen me for so long a time ; and now he emptied out his 

 budget with its thousand bits of news from Paris and from here ; 

 nearly two hours of it. He looks upon affairs in Prance as very 

 critical, and has written to Prince Metternich lately in this spirit, 

 that ' To-day the French crisis is entirely internal, but to-morrow 

 even it may take an outward turn, and how needful will it then be 

 for Germany to bo consolidated in itself, and that the absurdities of 

 Cologne and Hanover should be put an end to.' ?) 



