232 

 CLXIII. 



HUMBOLDT TO YARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, Wth July, 1854. 



You, my dear friend, certainly would never have 

 thought me guilty of such a rude knock-down answer 

 in the far east Pomeranian* style. I have not the 

 least notion of the question on the spiritualization of 

 pine- wood of the King's table, where every one believes 

 in it as implicitly as in the Persian hosts which have 

 been seen high in the air in the Eichsfeld.f The 

 "drama^J of the Kreuzzeitung, like everything that 

 proceeds from this vile party, pining with poverty of 

 mind and intellect, bears the impress of cowardly 

 malice ! There is no reason for condoling with you, 

 as you are in possession of a treasure the powerful 

 support derived from the invigorating reminiscences of 

 the great times of 1813. I, too, have always kept 

 aloof from the " Revue des deux Mondes," written as it 

 is with ingenious subtlety and craftiness. People may 

 hate the same thing, but it does not follow that they 

 hate it from the same motives. The Paris Liberals of 

 these days think it quite right, in Berlin fashion, like 

 muzzled dogs, to bark but not to bite, " as, without 



* The Pomeranians are noted for the sturdy bluntness of their manners. 

 It is a standing joke to speak of East Pomerania (Hinter Pommem, Pome- 

 rania Posterior) with a " save your presence," TR. 



f A plateau in Germany, part of which belongs to Prussia, and part to 

 Hanover. TR. 



J The editor 1 of the "Kreuzzeitung" was arrested, under criminal law, be- 

 cause he refused to name the authors of several articles containing indictable 

 statements, and the " Kreuzzeitung," from these circumstances, could not 

 appear for several days. TR. 



