And the disgraceful party which sells negro children, and distributes
canes of honor, as the Russian Emperor does swords of honor, and
Graefe’s noses of honor,—who prove that all white workmen should rather
be slaves than free—have succeeded. What a crime!
Nov. 22d, 1856.—Varnhagen writes in his diary:—“I started at half-past
12 o’clock, and drove to Humboldt in the pouring rain. He was rejoiced
at my coming, and soon led me to an adjoining room, where hung
Hildebrandt’s great aquarelle picture, in a frame; an excellent picture,
indeed, in the rich variety of which the sitting figure of Humboldt
predominates. Now came the question about the inscription to be chosen
for it. I had rightly expected that he did not so much expect
propositions from me, as my approval of those chosen by him already.
Contrary to my expectation, no short sentence, but a longer speech, a
rhetorical composition, which happily compares the searching traveller
with the returned man of science. Some alterations were approved in the
beginning, but disapproved again in the end. Hildebrandt gave the
picture not to Herr von Humboldt, but to his valet Seiffert. It is to be
engraved. We looked at the rooms, in three of them; his apparatus of
study is strewn about; all three warmed to 19 degrees Réaumur, an
intolerable temperature for me. A library hall not warmed. Pictures
painted by Madame Gaggiotti, whose talents he praised highly; he
wondered and rejoiced that I knew her too. He complained of itching; I
said it was a well-known complaint, pruritus. “Senilis,” he immediately
added. In a box he had a living chameleon, which he showed me, and of
which he said, that it was the only animal which was able to direct one
of its eyes upwards, and at the same time the other downwards; that our
parsons only were able to do the same, with one eye directed to heaven
and the other to the good things of this world. We talked of Neufchatel
too; he said that the King was full of good hopes, and counted upon
Louis Bonaparte; that Manteuffel did not see things in such a favorable
light, but made merry of them. The Russian Chancellor, Graf von
Nesselrode, said to Humboldt on his last visit, that the present
constitution and position of Switzerland made the best impression on
him, and were such as to win esteem and favor for the republic.”
188.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _November 30th, 1856_.