he essentials which are not always indicated and are often hidden
by them. As to his wit, it had a decided tendency towards satire and
caricature. He notices the pleasing orderliness and cleanliness of the
otherwise not well-favoured surroundings of Berlin as he approaches,
considers the city itself too much extended for the number of its
inhabitants, of whom it could hold twice as many, is favourably
impressed by the fine large palace, the spacious well-built streets,
the picturesque bridges, and congratulates himself that he and his
fellow-traveller did not take lodgings in the broad but rather too
quiet Franzosische Strasse. Yes, our friend is fond of life and society.
Whether he thought man the proper study of mankind or not, as Pope
held, he certainly found it the most attractive. The passengers in the
stage-coach were to him so many personages of a comedy. There was an
advocate who tried to shine with his dull jokes, an agriculturist to
whom travelling had given a certain varnish of civilisation, and a
German Sappho who poured forth a stream of pretentious and at the same
time ludicrous complaints. The play unwittingly performed by these
unpaid actors was enjoyed by our friend with all the zest the feeling
of superiority can give. What a tragi-comical arrangement it is that
in this world of ours everybody is laughing at everybody else! The
scientists of the congress afforded Chopin an almost unlimited scope for
the exercise of his wit. Among them he found so many curious and various
specimens that he was induced not only to draw but also to classify
them. Having already previously sent home some sketches, he concludes
one of his letters with the words "the number of caricatures is
increasing." Indeed, there seems to have been only one among these
learned gentlemen who impressed him with a feeling of respect and
admiration--namely, Alexander von Humboldt. As Chopin's remarks on him
are the best part of his three Berlin letters, I shall quote them in
full. On seeing Von Humboldt at Lichtenstein's he writes:--

He is not above middle height, and his countenance cannot be
called beautiful; but the somewhat protruding, broad, and
well-moulded forehead, and the deep inquiring eye, announce
the all-embracing mind which animates this humane as well as
much-travelled savant. Humboldt spoke French, and as well as
his mother-tongue.

One of the chief events of Chopin's visit to Berlin was, according to
hi