“A Year of Revolution. From a journal kept in Paris in 1848. By the
Marquis of Normanby, K.G. London, 1857. 2 vols. in 8vo.”
Varnhagen remarks in his diary, under March 8th, 1858: “Humboldt sends
me, with kind lines, the book of the Marquis of Normanby on the
revolution of 1848. He calls it an indiscreet book, and almost
talentless. I call it stupid, and perfidious in its contents; it shows
the evil results of meddling with diplomacy, particularly if unofficial,
as was that of the Marquis at the time. Lamartine as well as Cavaignac
gave far too much heed to him. He is one of the dullest and most tedious
Englishmen ever heard of.”
March 9th, 1858. Varnhagen adds this further remark on Normanby: “Read a
little more of Normanby. He is a poor fool, but his bad book is good
enough to expose the paltriness of Louis Philippe, the villany of
Guizot, and the pernicious influences of sneaks and sharpers. His forte
consists in the perfect success with which he flattens down to
insufferable monotony the enlivening and exhilarating effects of the
torrent of events.”
222.
HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN.
BERLIN, _April 13th, 1858_.
I am touched by the kindness of your letter, and the souvenir from your
talented niece, Miss Ludmilla. As Illaire called yesterday, I have made
every preparation to be of use to M——, the esteemed clergyman of ——, in
the acquisition of one of those toys, which, if they do not nourish, yet
afford an agreeable diversion, like that enjoyed by the knights of old,
who galloped over a course covered with obstructions, and the prospect
of escape from the infernal regions of the fourth class.[102] I shall
write to Illaire for the third class, but beseech you to jog my memory.
——’s title! I believe he does not preach—has even ceased to administer
the little wafers which refuse to unite with the bread, their chemical
kinsman. I believe, however, he is a Protestant power in ——.
For the benefit of your soul and Miss Ludmilla’s, I inclose some
phantasies on the antediluvian universal absence of rain in the Berlin
world, and on the consuming fire, sure to be occasioned by a little
forgotten potash, in the midst of innocent felspar of the granite
formation, on the day of judgment: “de la geologie hébraïzante,” as I
have been imprudent enough to style it in “Kosmos.”
Yours,
A. V. HT.