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Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense. / From 1827 to 1858. With extracts from Varnhagen's diaries, and letters of Varnhagen and others to Humboldt cover

Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense. / From 1827 to 1858. With extracts from Varnhagen's diaries, and letters of Varnhagen and others to Humboldt

Chapter 103: 97. HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
By Alexander von Humboldt
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Essays, Letters & SpeechesGerman LiteratureHistory - Modern (1750+)

About This Book

A curated correspondence collects letters from Alexander von Humboldt to his friend and confidant Varnhagen von Ense, supplemented by diary excerpts and letters from other contemporaries. The missives blend personal friendship with professional exchange, discussing scientific observations, lectures, manuscripts, travels, and reactions to peers and events. Editorial apparatus preserves original phrasing and provides contextual notes and extracts that illuminate relationships and chronology. The selection highlights the writer’s methods of observation, precise descriptive habits, and modes of intellectual collaboration. Together the documents form a compact portrait of an engaged scholar whose private reflections and public endeavors intersect across a wide range of topics.

97.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

Berlin, Thursday, September 4th, 1845.

I avail myself of the first moments of my return from Potsdam to joyfully congratulate you on the good effect of the waters on your health. On account of the domestic misfortunes of my family, my participation in the dull and rain-spoiled Court festivities at Bruehl and Stolzenfels was a hard trial for me. I will acquaint Madame von Buelow to-morrow with your hearty sympathy. Buelow’s recovery progresses rapidly. Except some weakness of memory, which, however, does not appear for whole days, no change of mind is perceptible; relaxation, however, retirement, and tranquillity of mind are still necessary. Always conscious of what he owes to his character he resigns. You know, my noble friend, that he demanded his dismissal when Itzstein was violently expelled from Prussia. Public affairs are now in a much worse condition. Buelow’s retirement from office is a sad event; but the current of affairs in Northern Germany is too strong to be arrested by the effort of one individual.

Please inform Professor Fichte that although I am already an unworthy Doctor of Philosophy, I will gratefully accept anything which may be offered me from Wurtemberg’s high-spirited Universities.

Yours affectionately,
A. v. Humboldt.

I enclose to your safe-keeping a beautiful letter of Prince Metternich, on whom I had called on the Johannisberg; a letter from Lord Stanley, the Minister; and two letters from Jules Janin and Spontini; also a book for the Countess of Stolberg.