Varnhagen reports in his diary under February 18th, 1858:—“I went to
Humboldt. With a wonderful presence of mind he immediately thinks of all
the things of which our presence can remind him; he tells most
flattering things to Ludmilla on her book, for the second edition of
which (which he declares to be inevitable), he will give her a passage
on Friesen,[99] which he had indeed intended to communicate to the
‘Turners’ of Leipzig, as an inscription on the monument intended to be
erected in Friesen’s honor, but which, after a preliminary inquiry,
appears to have been forgotten by them. He is out of humor with the
Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who robbed him and the brothers Schlagintweit
of some hours, by repeated visits; they soon found out that he did not
want to inform himself about those things they had prepared for him, but
that he only wanted to have spoken with them; he also gave to each one
the Falkenorden.[100] About —— he made the same excuse to Humboldt as he
made to me, that noble birth was indispensable, which Humboldt thinks
quite detestable, and moreover entirely in harmony with the personal
prejudices of the Grand Duke; the father, he says, who also was not very
remarkable, had at least concealed this sentiment, but the son expresses
it openly; once, after a man who was not of noble birth had left the
company, he had with great satisfaction given utterance to his delight,
saying, ‘Now we are among ourselves!’ Another time, when some one
observed that thirteen were at the table, he replied for consolation,
that two among them were not nobles, and therefore did not count! and
this he said to Humboldt in French, because, he said, these two would
certainly not understand that! Humboldt complained bitterly of the mass
of letters by which he was visited; he had to read at least 400 of them
in one month; many commenced, ‘Noble old man,’ or, ‘Noble youthful old
man;’ or also in this fashion: ‘Caroline and I are happy; our fate is in
your hands.’[101] He praised Princess Victoria, saying, that she was not
pretty, but had pleasing simple manners, and an eye full of soul.”
220.
VARNHAGEN TO HUMBOLDT.
BERLIN, _February 19th, 1858_.
You see, dear friend, that in spite of many little cavils of Mr.
d’Avezac, who has learned to quote from Malte-Brun, your cousin does you
much honor.
But it is incomprehensible that Mr. d’Avezac knows nothing at all of the
map of Juan de la Cose, of 1500, published by me in 1830, six years
before the death of Colon, and of a work in large quarto, under the
title “Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim, von W. Ghillany
and Alex. Humboldt, 1853,” where the origin of the name of “America” is
discussed.