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Lavater in the 1780s

By this time Lavater was a very prominent person not only in Zürich but over a large part of Europe. His house was a recognised halting place on the Grand Tour, and, as was standard practice in the 18th century, foreigners would come to gaze at him as we would look at a building or a famous view. Among his own people he was, as Bräker says, regarded as a saint. In some quarters, however, his fame had brought savage criticism.

Nikolai Karamzin, a young Russian gentleman who met Lavater in 1789, gives a description of him: "He has an erect, shapely figure, proud bearing, long pale face, penetrating eyes and serious expression. All his movements are brisk and sprightly. He speaks each word with fervor. In his manner there is something didactic or imperious, a natural consequence of his preaching, but it is softened by an air of genuine sincerity and simplicity of heart". (Karamzin, p 120). He admits, however, that he found Lavater's speech hard to follow because of the Zürich dialect. Later on the same day Karamzin writes: "I again found him occupied with his work. In addition, every quarter of an hour someone came into his study, either to request advice or to ask for charity. He replied to each without showing any irritation and gave what he could" (pp 120-121). "He never has a free hour and the door to his study is never closed. No sooner does a person in need leave, than someone in distress arrives to ask consolation, or a traveller appears, who asks for nothing but distracts him from his work. In addition to this, he visits not only the sick in his own parish, but others as well" (pp 126-127). Karamzin accompanied Lavater on a visit to a dying woman - tourism had some strange aspects in the eighteenth century.

In fact, Lavater was finding the demands of visitors rather a strain. In 1784 he wrote a paper setting out rules addressed to those who visit or write to him. To letter-writers he says that illegibility is "a great unacknowledged sin", and that if he has not answered a letter within four weeks, further letters will be returned unopened. Visitors are asked to write in advance, if they do not they may have to wait until he is free to see them, but they will be given refreshments and something to read while they wait. He sees a poor person every hour of his working day (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.), and gives to all, but cannot give much. He is not able to fulfil all demands for food, lodging, pictures of himself or guided tours of the city!

Among educated people Lavater was not universally admired for his opinions. Karamzin quotes the philosopher Immanuel Kant (in an interview) as saying "Lavater is extremely kind out of the goodness of his heart, but possessing an extremely vivid imagination he is often blinded by dreams. He believes in magnetism and so on" (p 41). In 1775 a doctor called Anton Mesmer of Rudolfzell was healing sick people by means, he said, of a magnetic fluid which permeated the whole universe but could be controlled by the proficient in "animal magnetism". Lavater became acquainted with Mesmer's followers in Bern and Geneva in 1785-86, and his wife was said to have benefited from their methods of healing.

Even less endearing to Lavater's friends and critics was Count Cagliostro, who in 1781 was practising as a doctor in Strasbourg. Cagliostro was not a doctor (nor was he a count, he was a con-man called Guiseppe Balsamo), but Lavater seems to have been enthralled by his charismatic personality. Even when he suspected that Cagliostro was practising black magic, he continued to visit him and to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding his healing powers. In 1793 Lavater spent a summer in Denmark, in the company of a circle of members of the nobility and others, who held some very strange beliefs, including refusing to accept that St. John the Evangelist was not still alive. Lavater's travel diary was published, attracting some derision.

Lavater was always willing to question orthodox beliefs, for example, he defended the editors of the Zürich Bible, a revision of Zwingli's translation of 1529, which included some Enlightenment ideas in its commentary. He could not, however, accept the deism which the Enlightenment had set in its place. He defended his belief in the divinity of Christ against all comers throughout his life, and was prepared to make sacrifices for it, such as losing the

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