Could not you help out page 13 below somewhat? Is the close of the phrase “voice of conscience—has laid” clear to you? It is not so to me. Perhaps a few words would make the sense clear.
Roma, the verses to me from Albano, and all the choruses and Pindarus will form another volume.
With old affection and profound esteem,
Yours,
A. v. Humboldt.
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.