The saddest news of Arago’s family; swollen hands and feet, diabetes, and almost blindness! Forty years of life go with him!! 154. HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. BERLIN, _September 2d, 1853_. A thousand pardons for troubling you in suffering! I have adopted every suggestion, taken every hint. But I should like also to insert the reflection you made in regard to p. 6. Would you approve of the following interpolation: “A long sojourn at Rome, and perhaps a lively interest in certain epochs of Italian poetry, appear to have imbued my brother with a particular preference for a little lyric form, which, if melody is not to be sacrificed, closely fetters the thought, but which he handled with a freedom, the result of intention and confidence.” Or would you have it, “which he freely handled with the confidence of a clear intention,” or, “which he handled with a freedom of which he was perfectly conscious?” “When the poet, urged by his realistic and individual peculiarity, felt most keenly the desire of welding ideas into the flood of sentiment.” Be good enough to return me your MS., which is a treasure of critical research. Very thankfully, yours, HUMBOLDT. NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—I selected “which he handled with a freedom of which he was perfectly conscious,” as most in accordance with the metaphor of the fetters, and as otherwise clearly indicative of the idea intended to be conveyed.