and how
can we wonder that at last a modest expression of genuine respect does
sound like rudeness to royal ears, and to speak the truth becomes
synonymous with insolence? In the trickeries and mimicries of court life
Bunsen was no adept, and nothing was easier than to outbid him in the
price that is paid for royal favors. But if much has thus been lost of a
life far too precious to be squandered among royal servants and
messengers, this prophet among the Sauls has taught the world some lessons
which he could not have taught in the lecture-room of a German university.
People who would scarcely have listened to the arguments of a German
professor sat humbly at the feet of an ambassador and of a man of the
world. That a professor should be learned, and that a bishop should be
orthodox, was a matter of course; but that an ambassador should hold forth
on hieroglyphics and the antiquity of man rather than on the _chronique
scandaleuse_ of Paris; that a Prussian statesman should spend his mornings
on the Ignatian Epistles rather than in writing gossiping letters to
ladies in waiting at Berlin and Potsdam; that this learned man "who ought
to know," should profess the simple faith of a child and the boldest
freedom of a philosopher, was enough to startle society, both high and
low. How Bunsen inspired those who knew him with confidence, how he was
consulted, and how he was loved, may be seen from some of the letters
addressed to him, though few only of such letters have been published in
his "Memoirs." That his influence was great in England we know from the
concurrent testimony both of his enemies and his friends, and the seed
that he has sown in the minds and hearts of men have borne fruit, and will
still bear richer fruit, both in England and in Germany. Nor should it be
forgotten how excellent a use he made of his personal influence in helping
young men who wanted advice and encouragement. His sympathy, his
condescension, his faith when brought in contact with men of promise, were
extraordinary: they were not shaken, though they have been abused more
than once. In all who loved Bunsen his spirit will live on, imperceptibly,
it may be, to themselves, imperceptibly to the world, but not the less
really. It is not the chief duty of friends to honor the departed by idle
grief, but to remember their designs, and to carry out their mandates.
(Tac. Ann. II. 71.)

1868.

LETTERS FROM BUNSEN TO MAX MUeLLER IN THE YEARS 1848 T