CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. THREE leagues from the good city of Berlin, near an arm of the Havel, called Tegel, stands, or stood ninety years ago, the old castle of Tegel. Behind it lay a grove of dark pines which separated it from the capital; on the southern shore of the lake were the town and fortress of Spandau, and to the north-west grassy and wooded declivities, studded with promenades and gardens. Doubtless this castle, gray and antiquated, had a stirring history of its own in the days of old, but of this Tradition is silent. All that we know is, that shortly before the opening of this life-history, it was the residence of a Prussian commissioner of woods and forests, who had greatly beautified it by the laying out of nurseries and plantations. This commissioner, whose name was Von Burgsdorf, was succeeded in 1768, or thereabouts, by Major Alexander George Von Humboldt. Major Von Humboldt was born in 1720. His father, Hans Paul Von Humboldt, served as a captain in the army of Frederick William the First; his mother was the daughter of the Prussian major and general adjutant, Von Schweder; it was natural therefore that he should follow the profession of arms. He served for a long ANCESTORS. time. in a dragoon regiment, and was then made major and finally adjutant to Duke Frederic of Brunswick, who often sent him on embassies to Frederic the Great. This was in the famous seven years' war. When the war was over, in 1765, the great Frederic made him one. of his chamberlains; he was also attendant chamberlain on Elizabeth, the newly-married princess of Prussia. His official duties compelled him to reside in Potsdam, where he probably met the lady who became his wife. A descendant of the family of Colomb, which emigrated from Burgundy, where it was celebrated for its glass works, she was the widow of a Baron Von Holwede Major Von Humboldt persuaded her to change her weeds for the orange wreath, so they married and settled in Potsdam. Their first child, William, was born there on the 22d of June, 1767. They lived in Potsdam but a short time, two or three years at most, for the marriage of the princess being at length dissolved, she had no further need of an attendant chamberlain, consequently Major Von Humboldt was at liberty to change his resi dence, if so inclined. He exchanged Potsdam for Berlin, and lived partly there, and partly in his castle at Tegel. How he became possessed of the castle is not stated. It was originally a hunting seat of the great Elector, and a hunting establishment was kept up there under Frederic the Great. The Major's second son, Frederic Henry Alexander, was born at Berlin on the 14th of September, 1769. It was principally at Tegel, however, that his childhood passed. Of the first years of his life nothing remarkable has been related. There is a sameness in the lives of children, no matter what their rank or talents. If they |