43.HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

Thursday,April 9th, 1840.

Here are two Salamanders. Theblack(black bordered) king of Denmark is not only a Norwegian constitutional, but also a mineralogical king, who has written pretty good memoirs on Vesuvius. The predecessor having been an astronomical king, who proposed prize questions on comets, presentedgreatmen like General Mueffling and myself with chronometers, and died of a comet on the night of the discovery of Galli’s comet, the Danish astronomers were, probably, rather anxious fortheir heavenlypursuits under the reign of such anearthly(or rather subterranean) monarch. I was called upon to remind the King of his old predilection for me. I therefore resorted to the pretext, never before made use of by me, of congratulating him on his accession to the throne. This is the cause of the black drama. The letter is plain and sensible.

A. Ht.

Please read in Mr. Quinet’s the passage on Goethe and Bettina, and return the venom to me.

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