240 
could only be redeemed by devoting himself to the 
perpetual restraints of a court-life. The times were in- 
auspicious to great literary or scientific undertakings, and 
hence we cannot wonder that the “Voyages aux Rég. 
Equinox.” should have proved pecuniarily a failure. At 
that period of political inquietude and financial de- 
pression in every part of the Continent, 290/. was a very 
large sum to pay for any work, although, perhaps, not in 
this case commensurate with the outlay, when we bear in 
mind that the printing and paper alone had cost 840,000 
francs, and that it contained more than 1,400 beautifully 
coloured illustrations, and consisted of twenty folio and 
ten quarto volumes, which were, moreover, divided into 
five distinct parts, complete in themselves, and to be 
purchased separately. Humboldt had started on his 
travels with property realising about 500/. a year, but the 
cost of his expedition and of publishing, added to the 
war requisitions by which the value of his private property 
had been materially injured, left him for a time on the 
brink of absolute poverty. These temporary anxieties 
had, however, little effect on his mental energies ; and 
after the completion of his American voyage, he continued 
for twenty years to reside at Paris, where his life was 
passed in one incessant whirl of intellectual labour, 
scientific discussions and social intercourse. Thus at one 
time he would spend months together working with Guy 
Lussac in the laboratory of the Ecole Polytechnique, at 
another keeping watch day and night at the Observatory, 
while he was always preparing fresh papers to read 
before the Institute and other scientific associations, and 
carrying one or more works contemporaneously through 
the press. Besides these labours he had early entered 
_ upon the study of the Oriental languages with the view 
of undertaking a scientific expedition into Asia for the 
purpose of collecting materials for a comparison between 
the eastern and the western continents. This scheme 
after many abortive attempts was finally carried out in 
1829, when by the munificent aid cf the Prussian King 
and the truly imperial liberality of the Emperor Nicholas, 
Humboldt found himself able to penetrate at the head of 
a carefully equipped scientific staff into the Steppes and the 
remotest parts of Asiatic Russia. The cost of his journey 
from Berlin to St. Petersburg and back was defrayed by 
the Prussian Government, whilst a sum of 20,000 roubles 
‘was placed at his disposal for his personal expenses by 
the Emperor, on his arrival in Russia. The results of 
this great expedition are of very inferior value to those 
yielded by the American voyages of earlier years. 
This comparative failure may be in part referred to the 
short time—only nine months—devoted to the purpose, 
during which the veteran traveller passed over nearly 
12,000 miles of the Russian territory. The journey was 
moreover a princely procession rather than a scientific 
expedition. 
taries, soldiers and police officers surrounded him, Go- 
vernors of provinces, commandants of fortresses, super- 
intendents of mines welcomed him with speeches and 
reports whenever he appeared within the limits of their 
jurisdiction. Generals supplied him with minutes of the 
strength of the various brigades under their command, 
while officers and men in dress uniforms saluted him in 
military fashion as he passed their posts. At Miask 
these military marks of respect culminated in the pre- 
NATURE 
Wherever he went crowds of local digni- . 
rae SS ee ve" 
[Fuly 24, 1873 
sentation, by the directors of the mines, of a grand 
cavalry sabre, in honour of his sixtieth birthday. The 
learned bodies were equally on the alert to show him 
respect. At Kasan, after incessant feasting and speechi- 
fying, the Professors escorted him to his lodgings at 
I A.M. in gala costume, and reappeared in the same attire. 
at 4.30 A.M. to speed his departure to the next station, 
After enduring a host of similarly oppressive social dis- 
tinctions, which included at Jekatharinenburg the obliga- 
tion of leading off a ball in a stately quadrille, and on the 
Steppes at Orenburg the necessity of presiding over a 
Kirghis festival at which the men ran races and the 
Tartar Sultanas warbled sweet songs in his praise, 
Humboldt had to encounter at Moscow one of the most 
absurd ordeals to which the fame of his greatness exposed — 
him. On his arrival he was invited to attend a special 
meeting of the Physical Society, and duly made his 
appearance at the University, holding in his hand the 
paper he had prepared to read to the learned members 
“On the deviation of the Magnet in the Ural.” The 
court, passages, stairs, and halls were crowded with great 
people, gorgeous with stars and orders, amongst whom 
stood conspicuous the Professors, wearing long swords 
girded to their sides, and three-cornered hats tucked 
under their arms. Speeches of welcome in German, 
French, and Latin from the Governor-General, the chief 
clergy, and the deans of the various faculties had to be 
heard and replied to, and instead of engaging in scientific 
discussion on magnetic aberration, Humboldt had to 
listen to a Russian poem in which he was hailed as 
Prometheus, and to examine a plait of Peter the Great’s 
hair, which was solemnly presented for inspection by the 
Rector of the University. The “Asie Centrale” and a 
few very fragmentary works were the immediate results 
of this most oppressively-honoured expedition, from 
which, satiated with ceremonials and respect, Humboldt 
had, in the winter of the same year, 1829, returned to 
Berlin, which thenceforth to the end of his long life in 
1859 became his home, : 
To fully understand the sacrifices to expediency and 
to the obligations of gratitude made by Humboldt in 
accepting the position of what may best be termed an 
honorary affache to his own Court and Sovereign, one re- 
quires to read with attention the pictures drawn in these 
volumes of society in the Prussian capital during the 
earlier half of this century. But it would scarcely, per- 
haps, be possible in the present changed position of 
Prussia to realise the deadness and stagnation that then 
hovered over every phase of social life. Humboldt, who 
from the year 1809, when he accompanied the Prince of 
Prussia to Paris in the capacity of friendly and official 
adviser, had repeatedly been entrusted with diplomatic 
and other honourable missions by the Sovereign, enter- — 
tained a warm regard for the different members of the 
Royal family, while his relations to the late King Frede- 
rick William IV. were those of a long-tried, affectionate 
friendship. These feelings undoubtedly softened the 
hardships of the courtly bondage in which he spent his 
last thirty years, but though they may have gilded the 
bitter pill, they scarcely made it palatable; and Hum- 
boldt’s voluminous correspondence at Berlin bears ample ~ 
testimony to the struggle which was going on within 
himself to keep in check his contempt for Courts, his 
