238 



Please to receive me with forbearance, on Sunday at 

 1 o'clock, notwithstanding my having so long staid 

 away, thanks to my inconvenient trilogy of Berlin, 

 Tegel, and Potsdam. I will then also bring to you 

 a small letter of thanks to your cousin, the Imperial 

 Brazilian Charge* d'Affaires at Madrid. This 

 " History," based on monumentary records, seems to 

 grow very important ; but how strange to send the 

 book without the first pages, and the notes without 

 a beginning !* I doubt whether, in my cosmic unti- 

 diness, I shall ever recover those beginnings. Having 

 yesterday seen the Prince of Prussia for nearly one 

 hour by himself, I shall be able to report to you 

 some not uninteresting, although not precisely deci- 

 sive matter. The Prince, whom I take to be a lover 

 of truth, assured me that, faithful to his principles, 

 he had spoken out everywhere to the purport, that 

 war would probably have been avoided if Prussia 

 and Austria from the very beginning had earnestly 

 and actively co-operated with the Western powers 

 against Russia. At Petersburg they had objected 

 that the Emperor Nicholas would not have yielded, 

 even in this case, which he, the Prince, doubted .... 

 With faithful attachment, 

 Yours, 



A. v. HUMBOLDT. 



You will kindly interpret to me, when we meet, 

 the mythological name of Sorocaba.f 



* " Historia geral do Brazil, tomo primeiro." The pieces here wanting he 

 had sent on a previous occasion as samples. 



f Francisco Alfonso de Varnhagen places his name at the bottom of the 

 dedication to the Emperor. On the title-page is written : " For um socio do 

 Institute Historico do Brazil, Natural de Sorocaba (the birthplace of the 

 author west of Rio)." 



