136 

 XCVIL 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, Thursday, 4th September, 1845. 

 I avail myself of the first moments I have after my 

 return from Potsdam to express to you my delight at 

 the result of your visit to the Baths. The contrast of 

 misfortune in my own domestic circle, with the hollow, 

 rain-bespattered Court festivals at Briihl and Stolzen- 

 fels, was a hard trial to me. I shall acquaint Madame 

 Billow to-morrow with your kind sympathy. He 

 ^Biilow) progresses towards improvement with giant 

 strides. Except a little deficiency in his memory, 

 which, however, does not betray itself for days toge- 

 ther, no intellectual change is to be perceived. But 

 care, seclusion, and rest are still very desirable for him. 

 True to the dignity of his character, he retires from 

 office. You know, my dear friend, that he demanded 

 his dismissal immediately upon the outrage upon Itz- 

 stein.* The state of public affairs has now become much 

 worse. Billow's resignation is a melancholy occurrence ; 

 but the current of events is too strong in the north 

 of Germany for any solid reconciliation to be effected 

 by the exertions of a single man. Tell Professor Fichte 

 that I am already an unworthy Doctor Philosophise, 

 but I accept with gratitude all that is offered from the 

 intellectually free regions of Wurtemberg. 



Affectionately yours, 



A. v. HUMBOLDT. 



* Johann Adam von Itzstein, a well-known liberal member of the Second 

 Chamber at Baden, born 1775, at Mainz. He was in 1831 a leader of oppo- 

 sition, and hated by the Court party. In 1845 he visited Berlin, and was 

 expelled by the police, and grossly insulted. It is to this circumstance to 



