52.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _August 22d, 1841_.
Your letter has done me an immense deal of good. I see that we feel
ourselves both equally attracted to each other, and that you attributed
my long, and to me very gloomy, seclusion, only to the distracted state
of my life, and to the application of my faculties, to an aim which they
never can reach. Towards the close of a much troubled life which has but
imperfectly realized its aspirations, it is a happiness to remain secure
in, and to possess the esteem of those to whose mind and intellect and
wishes we are irresistibly drawn. I shall personally thank you, and this
very afternoon apply for Mr. L. to the Princess of Prussia, and beg her
Imperial Highness to assist me with all earnestness. With old veneration
and love, yours,