How sad is this eighth attack upon the King! Strange that ministers and cabinet councillors are never shot at! Such events are the more unpleasant, the more the probabilities or improbabilities of their recurrence baffle all attempts at calculation. 121. HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. POTSDAM, _May 18th, 1846_. I send you, dear friend, to be added to your collection, a very remarkable letter from Prince Metternich, with a semi-theological conclusion, full of mind and rhetorical fervor, with a slight dread of pantheism at the close of the letter. With unaltered friendship, yours, A. V. HUMBOLDT. 122. METTERNICH TO HUMBOLDT. (From the French.) VIENNA, _May 10, 1846_. MY DEAR BARON—Inclosed is my vote.[48] I give it in good conscience, and absolve you from the crime of that electioneering to which the world is addicted. The King and his Chancellor are the sound appreciators of scientific merit, and I know how to designate the place which belongs to me in the avenue of science, and which, to my great regret, is far from the sanctuary. What I have just told you, my dear Baron, is neither gasconade nor an excess of modesty; it is the unvarnished history of my life. You do not know this history, and I will relate it to you in a few words. At the age at which life takes its direction, I contracted an inclination for the exact and natural sciences which I would permit myself to describe as irresistible, and a disgust for practical life which I would call unconquerable, if I had not overcome both this disgust and this inclination. It is fate that disposes of individuals, and their qualities as well as their defects decide upon their careers. Fate has separated me from the object of my choice, and has thrust me upon the road I should not have chosen. Once started, I submitted without losing sight of the goal of my wishes, and the result was that what I should have wished to regard as the aim of my life has become only the solace of it. The King has set the mark of a learned man upon me. I know to whom this is to be attributed. If it is a question of the heart, the King is not mistaken.