great change from the excitement and succession of novelties
of London to the monotonous routine of Goettingen, where he arrived,
after a journey of about five weeks, early in August, 1815. Goettingen
at that time was the seat of the leading German university. It has
never been full of distracting temptations: indeed, it is a town which
seems to have been so arranged that the student should find in
study alone relief from its manifold discomforts. The advantages it
possessed were very great, and they were fully appreciated by the
young American, who came from what in comparison was almost an
intellectual wilderness to the rich stores of learning this university
contained. It was at this time that he fairly began serious literary
study and laid the foundation of his extensive knowledge of books.
In one of his vacations he made a little tour in Germany, visiting
Goethe, who made a characteristic speech about Byron's recent
separation from his wife--namely, that in its circumstances and the
mystery involving it it was so poetical that if Byron had invented it
he could hardly have found a more fortunate subject for his genius.

After another winter in Goettingen he set out for Paris, which city he
reached early in April, 1817. One of the first things he did was to
go to the theatre, where he saw Talma and Mademoiselle Mars play
together. But stronger tastes drew him more frequently into the best
society that capital afforded him. One of the persons he was most
anxious to meet was Madame de Stael, but although he presented his
letters, her illness prevented her seeing him for some time, and her
daughter, the Duchesse de Broglie, received him in her mother's stead.
It was there that he met Humboldt, of whom he has recorded that he
"sleeps only when he is weary and has leisure, and if he wakes at
midnight he rises and begins his work as he would in the morning. He
eats when he is hungry, and if he is invited to dine at six o'clock,
this does not prevent him from going at five to a restaurant, because
he considers a great dinner only as a party of pleasure and amusement.
But all the rest of the time, when he is not in society, he locks his
door and gives himself up to study, rarely receiving visits but those
which have been announced the day previous, and never, I believe,
refusing these." These habits are not commonly supposed to promote
longevity. Before he left Paris Madame de Stael was able to see him,
and with her he had a