136.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
POTSDAM, _October 15th, 1849_.
I hope, my dear friend, that my “Views of Nature,” enlarged, and, for
two-thirds of it, almost re-written, are at last in your hands! It was
owing to an unfortunate confusion, occasioned by my long absence from
Berlin, that this my favorite work was so long in reaching my favorite
reader. Perhaps you will derive a brief pleasure from contrasting the
picture of the nocturnal din of the words with that of the stillness of
high noon—vol. i., pp. 333 and 337; or from glancing at the golden
visions of young Astorpileo, vol. ii., 352.
In love and friendship, yours,
In haste.