The following occurrence, related by Frau Lepsius, is characteristic of Frederick William IV. and his relation to Humboldt. A friend had been invited to Potsdam with Lepsius and some others, and while there ingenuously begged the king to speak a good word for him to the Duke of Brunswick, who was also present. The applicant wished to be appointed Musical Director at Brunswick. The monarch answered: “I cannot do anything for you in this matter; you must apply to Humboldt.” All men of intellectual eminence who came to Berlin always visited the house of Lepsius. The excellent missionary, Krapf, was once a guest there, and was invited to court with Lepsius. At table, the king asked the missionary, philologist and geographer, “How long do you propose to remain in Africa?” and the latter answered: “Until I am dead. All my family are buried there, and where they are is my home.” Besides his colleagues from the university and native and foreign scholars, deputies to the Chamber, of all shades of opinion, also frequented Lepsius’ house. It not only gave Frau Elizabeth the greatest pleasure to listen to the conversation of these men, which often took the form of lively debates, but it was also of real advantage to her. Three years after her marriage she writes: “These distinguished persons, with their different ways of thinking, strengthen the tolerance which lies in Richard’s character, and teach me to accept and find pleasure in each one as he is.” On the ninth of November, 1851, was solemnized the baptism of the third child and first son.[96] The godparents were the grandfather Lepsius, Bunsen, represented by Abeken, Jacob Grimm, the great geographer Charles Ritter, Ehrenberg, and several other ladies and gentlemen. Lepsius had invited Bunsen to become a sponsor in the following words: “As you have more or less stood godfather to all my intellectual productions, I naturally have a lively wish that one of my real children might enter into this beautiful and reverential relation with you. Your friendly sympathy, and the fatherly love which you have always bestowed upon me, far beyond my capacity for any fitting return, permit me to hope that you will willingly fulfil this desire also. But for the child your name will be a dower whose value will increase with every year, and I already rejoice in spirit over the time when I can finally lead him to a full understanding of its significance. My wife insists that he shall be called by my name; but besides that he shall be named Charles, after my father, after you, and after Charles Ritter. Between these two we may perhaps insert a third, about which we are still hesitating, but it shall be neither a Pacomius, an Onophrius nor a Nilus, but an honest German name, possibly Jacob, after your fellow-godfather, Jacob Grimm, etc.”