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 138: 132. HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

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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.

132.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.

Berlin, February 27th, 1847.

Here, at last, is my thankful letter to Carriere, containing three warm recommendations.

You were right in reprimanding me as to my extreme severity against the man of the “sidereal terraces.” I am severe only to the mighty ones of the earth, and this man impressed me very uncomfortably at Stolzenfels: “I know you feel great compassion for the Poles under the Russian sceptre; but, I am sorry to say, the Poles are as little deserving of our sympathy as the Irish.” “Mihi dixit;” and one is the handsome husband of the Queen of Great Britain!

I hasten to Potsdam to-day, in order to bring all the manuscripts here, which have fortunately arrived from Erfurt. Madame von Buelow writes, that they contain a long and very beautiful passage about our Rahel, and flattering things for you.

With old attachment,

A. v. H.

Saturday.