197.VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.
Berlin,February 20th, 1857.
Berlin,February 20th, 1857.
Berlin,February 20th, 1857.
Berlin,February 20th, 1857.
Will your Excellency pardon me for trespassing on your valuable time a moment? Not for myself, but for a literary project from which I cannot withhold my personal interest, if only on the score of old acquaintance! Professor Francis Hoffmann, of Wuerzburg, is engaged upon the publication of the works of Francis von Baader, which he pursues with self-sacrificing perseverance. I may say against wind and tide. He is about closing the enterprise with a sketch of the life of his author, and is anxious not to pass over unmentioned the fact, that Baader attended the Mining Academy at Freiberg, at the same time with your Excellency. It would be invaluableto him to obtain a word of reference to the matter from yourself, a bare hint as to whether any relation of moment took place between you, or whether he made any impression upon you? I would not presume to trouble your Excellency, if I did not take for granted that either a memento, or the contents of a single line, would dispose of the matter!
The crowd and your Excellency’s early departure prevented me from making my salutation at the Artists’ Festival. It is more than twenty years since I have ventured into such deep waters.
Strange reports are in circulation. I hope it is only a jest that presents M. Niebuhr as the Future Minister of finance, and M. Wagener as Privy Councillor, with a seat in the cabinet.
With a repeated request of your indulgence, I remain, with the most profound esteem, and in the most sincere devotion,
Your Excellency’s most obedient,Varnhagen von Ense.
Your Excellency’s most obedient,Varnhagen von Ense.
Your Excellency’s most obedient,Varnhagen von Ense.
Your Excellency’s most obedient,
Varnhagen von Ense.
On Humboldt’s attack of sickness, Varnhagen’s diary of February 27, 1857, contains the following: “M. Hernrann Grimm called, coming from Humboldt’s apartments, where he had conversed with Seiffert, the valet. It is not a cold that has befallen Humboldt, but a far more serious attack, a paralytic stroke. After the courtball on Tuesday evening he felt unwell, in the night he left his bed to drink some water—wished to avoid disturbing the servant—and fell upon the floor. Seiffert awoke with the noise, and found his master speechless and unconscious; it was some time before he revived. Privy Councillor Schoenlein is not sanguine; he had not a very good night.”
Humboldt’s loss would be irreparable. He is a counterpoise to so much that is mean and contemptible, which, after his death, would boldly seek the light and glory in its own depravity. The honor and influence of science are embodied in him, and both would sink if he were taken away. There is not now a name in Germany, or in Europe, like his, not an influence in Berlin more extensive or more generally recognised than his. And how painful would his loss be to me! His name and his intercourse is attached to fifty years of my life, he has known those who were near and dear to us of old!
Under March 14th, Varnhagen narrates in his diary: “When the King was with Humboldt, Schoenlein said to the latter, that he would not be able for some time to stand firmly on his left side, to which Humboldt rejoined: ‘For all that, it will not be necessary for me to sit on the right with Gerlach.’”[91]