223 



hatched in the brain of a well-informed man 

 Froriep.* With true friendship, yours, 



A. HUMBOLDT. 



Potsdam, 4th July, 1854. 

 In the era of Crystal Palaces. 



I have found . only lately in a letter of Gneisenau'sf 

 (in Stein's very injudiciously edited " Life," vol. v. 

 p. 262), the following passage, which I dare say has 

 long been noticed by you : " H. again aims at the 

 centre ; but he is neither trusted nor respected, and is 

 wanting in character and courage." Nothing, certainly, 

 but pointed personal spite could have induced that 

 very vain man, Grneisenau, to speak thus vilely of my 

 brother. I remember, it is true, having heard him say 

 that Gneisenau had been his enemy on the occasion of 

 his dismissal. However that may be, all that has then 

 been said about political institutions makes me now 

 feel, and did so even as early as 1815-18, as if I 

 were reading a book of the thirteenth century on phy- 

 sical science ; dread of the provincial parliaments was 

 the only subject to be praised, cest de la bouillie pour 

 les chats. 



On this letter Varnhagen remarks, in his Diary, 5th July, 1854 : 

 " I found a long letter from Humboldt, who sent me the latest num- 

 ber of the 'Herald of Peace,' a letter of Bunsen's four quarto 

 pages, closely written and another from Robert Froriep, in Weimar, 

 accompanied by his excellent remarks. * This missive,' he says, is 

 also to be 'a sign of life, that is, of the fondest, truest friendship 



* Robert Froriep, the Professor of Anatomy at Berlin, son of the cele- 

 brated obstetrician, at present resides at Weimar, as the proprietor of the 

 " Industrie Anstalt," founded by Bertuch. TR. 



f Count of Gneisenau, Prussian General Field-Marshal ; the Chief of the 

 staff of Prince Bliicher at the battle of Waterloo. TR. 



