44 



morencies of the Ukermark* must have been delighted 

 at seeing the stuff which had lain uselessly in their 

 poor souls, now moulded into precise dogmas in such 

 polished language by so talented a writer ! This spirit 

 of caste is not confined to time or space. Once again, 

 when I shall be no more, it will appear spectre-like 

 and threatening. I am often asking myself whether 

 Adam Muller might not again collect subscriptions 

 among the knights who lie stretched out on the sacks 

 in the Wool Market (like the Homeric heroes) at 

 their ease. Benjamin Constant has very prettily ex- 

 pressed this immutable heirloom of pride in the parable 

 of the shipwreck, " Grand Dieu, je ne suis pas assez 

 indiscret pour votis prier de nous sauver tous. Sauvez- 

 moi tout seul." 



If you have a few moments' leisure just turn over 

 the leaves of the third volume of my " History of the 

 Geography of the Middle Ages," and see what I have 

 said on the views entertained by Christopher Columbus 

 in respect of Nature, and on his style, vol. iii. p. 232. 

 The dream, p. 316. It was the subject of a reading at 

 Chateaubriand's and Madame Kecamier's, and took, as 

 every outburst of feeling does when manifested between 

 dreary steppes of minute erudition. I hope soon to 

 be able to offer you the five volumes already out. The 

 negligence of my bookseller prevents my doing so at 

 present. 



A. HT. 



On the 9th June, 1839, Varnhagen observes in his Diary: 

 "Humboldt confirms the opinion I have more than once expressed, 

 that too much must not be inferred from the silence of authors, He 

 adduces three important and perfectly undeniable facts, as to which 

 one finds no evidence in places where one would naturally, above all 

 * The Counts Arnim-Boitzenburg. TR. 



