I will begin this letter by congratulating you upon the new decoration,
which the King has lately conferred upon you. The “_Eagle_” under whose
wing—sub umbra alarum—you have executed so much will be a noble
decoration on your breast. Suum cuique!
Now to what I wish to say further. You know, that I am no savan and that
I have no pretension to be one; but notwithstanding this, you know that
I am the friend of science, and in that capacity have furnished the
means to some savans of publishing the little work of which I enclose
the first copy to you. I hope you will approve of its execution. I think
I am at the present the owner of the most complete collection of
monuments[52] now existing of an epoch of which I cannot pretend to fix
the age—and of which the “Gossau” conceals countless numbers. History
written by man presents but an insignificant point when compared to that
of which nature supplies the material. It was not I who christened one
of the Ammonites after me—it is the doing of the editors of the
opuscule.—I am, however, quite sure that neither my name nor even that
of Ammon was known when my godson was alive.
Thousand sincere homages, my dear Baron,
METTERNICH.
131.
PRINCE ALBERT TO HUMBOLDT.
WINDSOR CASTLE, _February 17th, 1847_.