Your Excellency’s kind and precious gift come into the seclusion forced upon me by the rude relapse of winter, brighter and more enlivening than the sunbeams which accompany them! Receive my repeated thanks and the assurance that I know how to appreciate every one of them, and most of all the beneficent intention, which remember me so well, and gladden my heart so cheerily! The pencil lines of the dying Heine are a valued keepsake, and shall be continued to be devoutly treasured in the envelope superscribed by your Excellency. The boon of to-day, the significant combination of Archimedes and Franklin in reference to their tombstones, I have also read with the warmest appreciation. I see that you do not dread the wind or the weather, and that, fortunately, you need not dread them, when a duty of honor is to be performed. The present time imposes curious tasks upon us! The death of a chief of police in a duel is probably unprecedented in the communities of modern Europe. The summoning of a Minister of Foreign Affairs to Paris, to attend at the close of important negotiations, with a box of writing sand from the Mark,[80] has also a fabulous aspect. However, Allah is great! In the most faithful reverence and most grateful devotion, I remain immutably Your Excellency’s most obedient, VARNHAGEN VON ENSE. 175. HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. BERLIN, _April 14th, 1856_. I could not but speak, being the Nestor of Prussian mining officials, and prone to boast of my calling. My reliance upon your _indulgence_, dear and worthy friend, is so great, that I am emboldened to send even _you_ a copy of these unimportant lines. Count B. deserved this praise. Free from opinion of any kind, he is useful to the art of mining, and still occupies himself with scientific pursuits since he has resigned the direction. With unshaken constancy, yours, A. V. HUMBOLDT. NOTE BY VARNHAGEN.—Enclosed was the address delivered at the fiftieth anniversary of the entrance into the royal miners of his Excellency the Actual Privy Councillor and Captain of Miners, Count Beust. April 9th, 1856. 176. HUMBOLDT TO VARNHAGEN. BERLIN, _September 11th, 1856_.