258 



little pleasure, as cold, cough, and asthma, have made 

 sad havoc with my voice, and rendered it all but 

 inaudible. 



With best wishes for your Excellency's health, in 

 truest admiration, 



Your most grateful and obedient, 



VARNHAGEN VON ENSE. 



CLXXXIII. 



HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. 



Berlin, 24th September, 1856. 



To-morrow, as a victim to the Queen and her loneli- 

 ness, I shall bury myself again at Potsdam ; but before 

 doing so, dear friend, I wish to put matters straight 

 as regards the Grand Duke and myself. The Grand 

 Duke has visited you (and it does him honour), not 

 for the purpose of consulting you, but out of respect 

 for your fine talents and personal character, because, 

 as he said, the idea was hereditary in his house, that 

 one must see two men in Berlin you and me. 



We ought to receive that kindly as an inheritance of 

 the old gentleman and her Imperial Highness,* who 

 is a dignified lady. He had no idea of speaking to 

 you of what he seeks and will not find equal capa- 

 city for science and poetry, the history of geogra- 

 phical discoveries and arts, painting, cameos, sculp- 

 tures, refined manners, proficiency in speaking and 



* The old gentleman is Karl August, Duke of Weimar, the friend of Goethe 

 and Schiller, and grandfather to the present Grand Duke. Her Imperial 

 Highness is the late Grand-Duchess Maria Paulowna, sister to the Emperor 

 Nicholas of Russia, daughter-in-law of Karl August, and mother of the pre- 

 sent Grand Duke of Weimar. Tn. 



