Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense

62 Humboldt to Varnhagen

Berlin, Monday, 28th February, 1842.

I am anxious to hear a few words about your health, dear friend.

I have succeeded in procuring a pension of three hundred thalers, a miserable sum, but it is only a beginning, for the impoverished but talented poet Freiligrath at Darmstadt, involving no obligation on his part, and allowing him to live out of the country. Can you lend me his poems?

A. Ht.

Note by Varnhagen.—On Tuesday Humboldt wrote me with the feuilleton of the Journal des Debats, in which Philarète Chasles, in the most vulgar manner, abuses the literature of Germany, and sneers at the most distinguished German authors.

And this miserable fellow has been appointed under Guizot’s ministry Professeur des Langues du Nord (litt. anglaise, allemande) au College de France.

You need not return the silly, spiteful trash.

A. Ht.