Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-05-14
HUMBOLDT.

Alexander Humboldt was born in Berlin, of
noble and wealthy parents, in the year 1869.
lts curious coincidence, that the year that ush-
cred into life Napoleon and Humboldt was al
SO the birth year of a host of warriors, pbioso-
nhers and statesmen ouly less eminent To the
wear 1869, there were born, besides those two
great lights Cuver, the naturalist, the Duke
of Wellington, four of. Napoleons Marshals,
Soult, Ney, Lannes and Bessiers Chateau
brand, the poet. B,unel, the engineer. Sir
Thomas Lawrence, the painter, Mohammed
Ali, the famous Pacha of Egypt, Huskisson,
the English statesman; and among Americans
De Witt Clinton, and the late distinguished
DR.. David Hossack. The number SO seems
TO be magical lumber in the calendar OF hu-
man greatness: 1869 is the three hundredth
anniversary of the birth of Harvey, the dis
coverer cO Of the circulation of the blood; the
40oth of Machiavelli, and the l300th of Mo-
hammend. Humboldt's long life made him
ACQUAINTED with the great meu Of century.
II sounds almost marvellous to lear thata man
who was gathered to his father only ten years
ago remembered Frederic the Great. L remem-
ber him weL,' be said 10 after life to a friend.
Il was sixteen years old when he died, and |,
can see his face DOW as plainly as l can see
yours AT eighteen he was in England, aud
we are startled again when be tells us that it
was during the trial of Warren Hastings,
that he beard Edmund Burke, Pitt and Sheri-
dan all speak 90 the same night. The COM
paniou of Kings, lodged In the palace of his
own sovereign, at Putsdam, 10 the summer
season, he knew most of the great men and
women of two continents Besides the great
Frederick, be had touched the hands of For
s,sr, the companion of the navigator Captain
Cook, of Klopstock, and Schiller, of Pitt, Ma
poleoD, Josephine. the MarshaIs of the Empire,
Jefferson, Hamilton, Wieland, Herder, Goe-
the, Cuyier, Laplace, Gay Lussao, Beethoven,
Walter Scott, in short, OF every great man
Europe has produced in tbree-qnarters OF
century His elder brother, William, then re.
siding in Paris, Madame DeStael pronounced
la plus grande capaclte de I Europe. William,
it need not be said, had praised her works.
Alexander, then Dot yet thirty, was just about
to launch upon career which proved his title
to the compliment of the famous daughter of
Necker to his elder brother, Of the early child
hood of man who lives to the verge Of ninety
little can be known, for there are no living CO.
temporaries to recall and imprint its incidents
on the page of history after he has become ia
nous. In his Infancy the family removed to the
family castle of regel, three leagues from Berlin.
Here he made his first acquaintance with books,
and euioyed his earliest gIimpses of that Nature
whose beauties captivatcd his young imagiua-
ton, and bouud im to her like lover to an
adorcd mistress for life He was the author OF
several varied works, and most luckily tor the
younger Humboldt, he putiDt his hands his
own translation Of the marvellous fiction of De
Foe-the untading and immortal Robinson
Crusoe. Itwas book of all others to strike
the master chord of his nature, and to tl his
mind with thoughts Of travel and of the spirit
ofadvenlure. In 1896 the brothers commenc-
Oder. Two years after we find them at the
famous University OF GottingeD.
1t was here that Humboldt encountered an
other noted character, who exerted a powerful
Influence on his future destiny. This was
George Foster, the soD-in-law OF his teacher,
Heyne. Foster was to him a second, a live
and realistic Crusoe He had sailed round the
wor as naturalist, with Capt. Cook. He had
put girde round the earth. 1n him Hum
bodt found his fate, and bis conversation aud
friendship kiuded anew in his breast the mex
tuguishabc fame of travel and adventure. he
burned to make new voyages and discoveries,
to penetrate and explore regions never trodden
by the feet Of science, to behold the lcons!elia-
tons that never shine on European eyes, to un-
wind the mazy dance OF the stars undar troplc
Skies to climb the ragged peaks OF mountains
capped with eternal snow, to sail up great rivers
thousand leagues in length, and to dive into
the soliudes OF Nature as they existed 10 prl-
mcval grandeur in the new world. And ne
lived to accomplish all his Dreams Well has
an admirer OF the great savant remarked HE
has earned the right to dream, for his dreams
are worlds" and we'll might himself have ex,
claimed when he discovered the mathematical
harmoues of the solar system, "Oh, Almighty
God, | think Thy thoughts after thee
Tue HERITAGE OF REvENGE.-It is assert
ed by the English press that in the will Of the
late Countess OF Loudon occurs this, singular
request: .1',l
II further wish my right hand to be cut of
and buried in the park At Castle Donington' at
- LII fha T.anf and 4 small