13.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _December 3, 1833_.
Pardon, a thousand pardons, for not sooner returning the classical
studies of Friedrich Schlegel. I studied them diligently and I am
convinced that many views of Grecian antiquity, which modern authors
ascribe to themselves, are buried in writings dated from 1795 (a
deucalionic time of yore!). Angelus Silesius, whom I have but now
learned to appreciate, has also gratified me and my brother very much.
There is a piety in the book, which breathes on the mind like the balmy
air of spring, and the mysterious and hieroglyphical marks of your
departed wife, render your gift doubly dear to me.
Spiker,[10] very curiously mistook the genitive in the “astronomical
observations _of_ Alexander von Humboldt,” for my signature, when he
informed the public of Oltmann’s death. I will pass it over, however,
without correction.
With everlasting affection, yours,
A. HUMBOLDT.
14.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _December 9, 1833_.
I enclose you, most honored friend, some words of the lovely Duchess of
Dessau. Anything honoring the memory of our departed lady friend must be
dear to your heart.