273 



The permission, as he symbolically says, shall be 

 followed by the material part. You will, dear friend, 

 easily be able to bring that about. 



To-morrow I shall have another burial beneath 

 the Column at Tegel, which bears Thorwaldsen's 

 promise of Hope.* My eldest niece (daughter of 

 my brother, wife of General Hedemann) born at 

 Paris, in 1800, a few days after Baroness Humboldt 

 had returned from Spain has died, after suffering 

 for three months from disease of the liver, combined 

 with dropsy. She was an amiable, cheerful matron, 

 and lived in the enjoyment of excellent health during 

 forty years of matrimonial happiness. I am burying 

 my whole race. Yours, 



A. v. HUMBOLDT. 



Wednesday Evening. 



CXCIV. 



KARL ALEXANDER, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE WEIMAR, 

 TO HUMBOLDT. 



Weimar, 16th December, 1856. 



Like Nature, ever called on and ever bestowing, 

 because ever benign, you respond by constantly new 

 kindness to constantly recurring requests. Your 

 Excellency's proposal, regarding the young savant, 

 which agrees also with Baron Varnhagen's plans, is 

 such an excellent one, that I can only beg that you 

 will have it carried out. For this purpose it 

 appears to me desirable that Baron Varnhagen 



* The Column at Tegel was erected above the family burial-place of the 

 Humboldts, and is surmounted by a statue of Hope, the work of Thor- 

 waldsen. TE. 



T 



