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friendship of Goethe. He had real enemies too, who claimed that he was a secret propagandist for Catholicism, or even a Jesuit (though the Jesuits had been disbanded in 1773).

Bräker would certainly have regarded Lavater's devout way of life and good deeds as being more important than his beliefs, or even his preaching. Later, when the Revolution came to Switzerland, Lavater protested against the violence, oppression and injustice that came with it, and continued to do so after most other voices had been silenced.

Johann Jakob Bodmer:

Bräker may have regretted turning down the chance of seeing Bodmer; at the time he was even more famous than the other literary giants of Zürich. Johann Jakob Bodmer was born in 1698, the son of a Protestant pastor. Together with Orell and Orell's nephew Conrad he founded a publishing house. He rose to high positions in the government of Zürich, but it was as a critic and patron of writers that he became known all over the German-speaking world. His name became known in Zürich as early as 1721, when he and a group of writers and backers ran a journal called "Discourse of the Painters", modelled on the English "Spectator". In this they satirised those who aped foreign culture in dress and manners, and also tried to counteract the acceptance of masculine superiority in Germanic culture. They wanted more frankness in social relationships in general, instead of the customary veneer of exaggerated politeness which too often covered coarse and brutal attitudes. Censorship was very strict in Zürich, so the contributors used the names of famous painters as pen-names.

He became the mentor of other men of letters in Zürich, including Johann Jakob Breitinger (1701-1776), who became his lifelong friend and collaborator. Later he befriended some of the major German poets, such as Klopstock and Wieland, and the Swiss poet Albrecht Haller, encouraging them in their early careers. He also supported some of his pupils in political activity, such as the group who caused the ousting of the bailiff Grebel. Together with Hirzel he made proposals for a more liberal constitution of the city in the 1770s.

He spent several years editing and publishing medieval German literature, texts of great historical and mythical significance for German culture, such as the "Nibelungenlied". His interest in ancient Swiss texts was not confined to literature, he edited and published a large collection of historical documents, which were later to develop political significance when the reformers and revolutionaries of the end of the century looked to revival of ancient rights of the people. He revived interest in Swiss national traditions and folk culture.

Over a long and prolific writing career he produced over a hundred works of his own, most of them now regarded as unreadable, but together with his theoretical works they helped to raise the prestige of German as a literary language. Many were historical dramas or pageants with subjects taken from Swiss history or the Bible, intended for open-air performance so that they should reach the common people as well as the upper classes. He died in 1783.

1st - 2nd Nov. Bräker and Jakob return home via Winterthur and the Rickenbach, in very wintry weather. [Chronik, p 217]

26th Dec. Bräker is full of thankfulness to God at the year's end. He will not write of the mystery of Christmas "I am silent, Saviour of the world - thou knowest my heart - my thoughts are inexpressible". [Chronik, p 219]

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