287 



have been of good use to my brother Wilhelm in the 

 spheres above. 



With much attachment and esteem, 



Yours faithfully, 



Wednesday. A. HuMBOLDT. 



I beg you will return me the ghost-story. 



Note by Varnhagen, 

 To HTTMBOLDT'S LETTER OF 26TH APRIL, 1855. 



An " Unknown " (lady) dares to send " Words of the Power of 

 the Spirit." " They are given her with the injunction to transmit, 

 them." Humboldt is requested, in case he should return an answer, 

 to have the letter delivered with the address, A. "W., at 120, Lin- 

 denstrasse, in the ground-floor shop on the left hand of the entrance 

 of the house; he would then hear more. A wayfarer, resting him- 

 self, is portrayed. Wilhelm appears before his brother Alexander, 

 and exhorts him to think of Heaven, how beautiful and bright it is 

 there, and how cloudy on Earth. As a token of the truth, he 

 reminds him of the eighteenth warm birthday, " when they vowed 

 love to each other, a pledge which outlasts death, and which he 

 hereby redeems." A piece of bombastic balderdash, in which the 

 word "neat" (sauber) is of frequent occurrence, and becomes con- 

 spicuous just because it is so very inappropriate. 



As to the above address, Humboldt remarks: "There is at that 

 place a Mrs. von Wenkstern's boarding school, and a widow, Mrs. 

 Poppe." 



CLXVIII. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, 9th August, 1855.' 



I had with great regret heard already from the 

 highly-gifted Princess Wittgenstein, that you, my 

 generous friend, were more than usually ailing. 



