Year: 1859

Character.


Bayard. Taylor, who vas IN dubuque
when the intelligence of the death OF Hum
boidt was received. furnished the Times OF
that city with the following sketch OF the
personal appearance and character OF the
great German:


Tn person, Humboldt was short, strong
" built, yet without any approach to cor
nulency. During the last years of his life,
Be carried his head bent, with STOPPING
shoulders, as If his body had not vigor
enough to bold up the Weight of the knowi-
edge contained in his massive brain. Yet
in the prime of life, when perfectly erect.
his height could not have been more than
Eve feet, six inches. His head was large
and marked by beautiful symmetry, his
forehead smooth and unwrinkeled and the
blue eyes as soft, steady, and clear as those
of child. His sight was perfect, enabling
him to read the finest print without speeta-
cles. 81 =


His nose and mouth were of the heavy
Teutonic type, and the expression of his
face fully accorded with the truth, consis-
tency and benignity of his character. No
person could have seen him without being
inspired with an immediate personal regard
for him. In the castle at Tegel, the patri-
mony of the Humboldt family, hangs a
picture representing him in his 35th year,
On the side of Chimborazo. He there ap
pears rather slender, but with the same
massive head and clear blue eyes, and with
thick brown locks. In another portrait, at
the age of SO his hair is already snow
white. His countenance changed very lit
tie after that period, the skin still remaining
smooth, and with fresh healthy tint.


He died through the gradual decay of
his physical faculties, retaining his mental
powers to the last. As late as 1855, he
was accustomed to labor frequently for sac
teen hours at time, and the last published
volume of Cosmos" exhibits no signs of
an enfeebled intellect. The first shock his
constitution received was given to it by
successive attacks of influenza, disorder
very prevalent in Berlin. He had noticed
the slower and more difficult action of his
physical functions had perceived the grad
ual diminution of his vital powers, and in
the summer of 1853 made calculation
that if they continued to give way steadily
in the same ratio, his death must take place
this year. ~.


Probably no distinguished man of this
century. with the exception OF BeraHger,
surpassed Humboldt in simplicity, honesty
and native dignity of character. Though
. born nobleman, the confidential friend of
his king, and the accepted equal Of the mon
srchs Of Europe, his sympathies were with
the liberal party. and he never hesitated to
express them. While his summers were
passed in the Royal Palace at Potsdam, he
occupied apartments in the house of his
own servant in Berlin, during the winter.
So well were his political predictions
known, that at the Congress of Vienna, of
which he was member, when he had pro-
posed some temporary measure which had
an arbitrary character, the Emperor Alex
snder I. Northumberland it is you arch
republican as you are, who propose such a
despotic measured"


Like Washington's, Humboldt's mind
was SO beautifully Symmetrical, that it
would be easy to point out many men who
went beyond him in particular departments
of science. He was too great in all to be
specially distinguished, and in the extent of
his labors, as well as the amount of his
sacrifices in the acquisition of knowledge, |
he has never been surpassed by any man.
His life has been splendid success. He
has enjoyed the unDounded respect and ad
miration of three generations, and now the
world mourns in him the loss of her great
est man.