216 



artist are refused at his demand; 40,000 thalers, for some purchase, 

 must not be refused him.' ' What confused, ruinous management !' 

 * The King is quite satisfied as long as he can puddle to his heart's con- 

 tent in 'clerical affairs; they are considered as distinct from the State 

 altogether, and no Minister is allowed to put in a word.' ' I cannot 

 understand this, nor is it exactly the case, as the Ministers meddle 

 also with them.' ' The vilest fellow of the whole concern is Privy 



Councillor ~N ,* a mean sneak and hypocrite, full of hatred 



and venom. "The Garcia cannot sing here," he said some time 

 ago, " she is too ' red' for that ;" every representation that her 

 singing would not be red, being in vain. I, at last, said to him, 

 "Well, then, send to Bethania,f and let the deaconesses sing." He 

 will be happy to see me underground.' " 



On 25th September, 1853, Varnhagen states in his Diary: " It 

 was said, on the presence of Humboldt, the day before yesterday, at 

 the sitting of the Ecclesiastical Board, that the parsons had had among 

 them their worst enemy, the Naturalist, who had put them all to 

 shame, and before whom all their humbug and deceit vanished. 

 ' AbellinoJ among you,' one might have called out to them." 



CLV. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, 12th December, 1853. 



You have once more succeeded, my generous friend, 

 in affording me great enjoyment. Our departure from 

 Potsdam, which settled down into a complete Buddhist 

 " cold hell," having been delayed some time by the 



* Niebuhr. Tu. 



t House of Protestant Sisters of Mercy in Berlin. TR. 



J " Abellino, the Great Bandit," a famous melodrama, much in vogue on the 

 German stage some forty or fifty years ago. Abellino, a young nobile, and 

 amateur bandit in disguise, who suddenly turns up where least expected. TR. 



