131 

 XCII. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, Sept. 13th, 1844. 



I must be off at once to the Stettin Railway, the 

 King having arrived at nine o'clock ; then to Sans 

 Souci for some few days, where I shall spend, alas ! my 

 seventy-fifth birthday. My only reason for saying 

 alas ! is that, in 1789, I thought the world would have 

 solved several problems more. I have seen much, but, 

 measured by my demands, little still. 



I cannot write to you to-day about your graceful 

 description of your residence in Paris in 1810. My 

 good genius led me at once to the passages in 

 which the balm of your friendship breathed upon me. 

 I have found out that I am not yet quite insensible to 

 praise. How nobly anti-scythic was the behaviour of 

 the Breslau University ! How inventive man becomes 

 under political restraint. Not a notion but of rope- 

 ladders, wall-piercing, and disguises to get into the 

 open air ; and when they are in the open air, they, in 

 right German fashion, begin to rack their brains to 

 see if they feel better for it than before ! It will then be 

 as in the case of the Prince, " Dites-moi, si je m'amuse." 



Yours, 

 Friday. A. V. HUMBOLDT. 



"We here insert a page from Varnhagen's Diary of the 26th June, 

 1844, which mentions two sharp answers of Humboldt thus : "At 

 the royal table in Sans Souci, Humboldt lately let fly two good 

 shafts from his bow. The conversation turned on a Russian ordi- 

 nance, and Humboldt in speaking of it mentioned the name of the 

 Minister of Public Instruction several times. ' You are mistaken,' 



K 2 



