Humboldt was born near the court. He was brought up in connection with
courtiers and men in high positions of life. He was no doubt imbued with
the prejudices of his caste. He was a nobleman of high descent. And yet
the friend of kings was the bosom friend of Arago, and he was the man
who could, after his return from America, refuse the highest position at
the court of Berlin, that of the secretaryship of public instruction,
preferring to live in a modest way in Paris, in the society of all those
illustrious men, who then made Paris the centre of intellectual culture.
It was there where he became one of that Societe d'Arceuil, composed of
all the great men of the day, to which the paper on "Isothermal Lines"
was presented, and by which it was printed, as all papers presented to
it were, for private distribution. But from his intimate relations,
especially to the court of Prussia, some insinuations have been made as
to the character of Humboldt. They are as unjust as they are severe in
expression. He was never a flatterer of those in power. He has shown it
by taking a prominent position, in 1848, at the head of those who
accompanied the victims of the revolution of that year to their last
place of rest. But while he expressed his independence in such a manner,
he had the kindliest feeling for all parties. He could not offend, even
by an expression, those with whom he had been associated in early life;
and I have no doubt that it is to that kindliness of feeling we must
ascribe his somewhat indiscriminate patronage of aspirants in science,
as well as men who were truly devoted to its highest aims. He may be
said to have been, especially in his latter years, the friend of every
cultivated man, wishing to lose no opportunity to do all the good of
which he was capable; for he had a degree of benevolence and generosity
which was unbounded. I can well say that there is not a man engaged in
scientific investigations in Europe, who has not received at his hands
marked tokens of his favor, and who is not under deep obligations to
him. May I be permitted to tell a circumstance which is personal to me
in that respect, and which shows what he was capable of doing while he
was forbidden an opportunity of telling it. I was only twenty-four years
of age when in Paris, whither I had gone with means given me by a
friend; but was at last about to resign my studies from want of ability
to meet my expenses. Professor Mitscherlich was then o