98 



sport ! and with all that, a man truly intellectual, truly amiable, 

 and animated with the best will ! What will all this come to ! " 



LXIX. 



HUMBOLDT TO YARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, April 3rd, 1843. 



My dear Friend, That I am so late in bringing you 

 my heartiest thanks for your delightful present, is 

 owing to my having been obliged to take advantage 

 of a visit to Potsdam, in order to travel with you 

 through your early years, and to make myself at home 

 in the " enlarged" relations of the Congress of the 

 World in Yienna. It is a happy addition ; this his- 

 tory of your own early development. It is a real 

 pleasure to see such spirits moving in the active world, 

 and influencing affairs before our eyes. How unjust 

 we once were in judging the men who tried to settle 

 Europe in the great Congress. I cannot help saying, 

 how much higher were our pretensions then in our 

 unjust temper, if now, in comparison with the wretched- 

 ness which surrounds us, the personages assembled in 

 Yienna present themselves as great Statesmen to our 

 memory. Instead of them, we possess Court Philoso- 

 phers, female Missionary Ministresses, Court Divines, 

 and Startling-effect-preachers. 



Minister Bulow complains that you did not even 

 visit him once in his family between eight and nine 

 o'clock. He will have to-morrow (Tuesday) a public 

 reception evening, and you would be an ornament to 

 his circle. He never invites by letter any who know 

 as certainly as you do how they are dear to him. 



Monday. A. V. HuMBOLDT. 



