77 



LX. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Friday, December 3rd, 1841. 



Among that for which I have to thank you, ray dear 

 friend, I best like Hormayr's* vigorous letter. Le 

 style est tout Thorame. He is not like the men we see 

 around us, the best of whom lose themselves in " sup- 

 pressions, euphonisms, instigations, and indecisions." 

 His faith in Minister's! liberalism may fairly be sup- 

 posed to rest on a misconception of the motives of 

 acting. There is no doubt that Count Minister has, 

 in the noblest way, contributed to the deliverance of 

 Germany ; but never, we may be sure, with a view to 



* Joseph, Freiherr von Hormayr was born at Innsbruck, in 1781, and was 

 distinguished during the invasion of the Tyrol by Napoleon, whose armies, 

 in 1809, he kept at bay, and whom he baffled at all points. At the truce of 

 Znaim, in August 1809, the Tyrol and the Voralberg were evacuated, and 

 Hormayr returned to historical studies, from which he was carried, together 

 with many other persons, to a temporary prison. In 1828 he abandoned the 

 Austrian service, and entered that of Bavaria, accepting office in the Depart- 

 ment of Foreign Affairs. In 1832 he was despatched to Hanover as Kesident 

 Minister, and in 1839 removed to Bremen as Bavarian Representative to the 

 Hanse Towns. Here he remained until 1846, when he was recalled to 

 Miinchen, where he died in 1848. During his residence at Bremen he 

 published his two most important works, " Lebensbilder aus dem Befreiungs- 

 Kriege " " Pictures from the War of Freedom," (1841 44) ; and " Anemo- 

 nen aus dem Tagebuche eines alten Pilgermannes " "Anemones from the 

 diary of an old Pilgrim" (1845-47). In these works he exposed the 

 Austrian government, in a more powerful manner than had ever been previously 

 attempted by any German writer. He was the author of several other works, 

 one of them a " History of Andreas Hofer" (1817). Tu. 



f Ernst Friedrich Herbert, Count von Miinster, a native of Hanover, 

 born in 1766. A well-known diplomatist, who, after occupying many high 

 posts, among which was the Hanoverian Ambassadorship at St. Petersburg, 

 became Minister in London, served forty-two years in various capacities, 

 and was relieved of office in February, 1831, upon the appointment of an 

 English Royal Duke to the Viceroyship of Hanover. He declined both 

 rank and pension, but accepted the Grand Cross of the Bath, with the 

 insignia of which the King himself invested him. TR. 



