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16th Nov. Bräker's granddaughter Salome Bräker is baptised in Wattwil.

December "Relation and conclusion of the year 1792"

"Last year so little - and in this year - nothing - is it not high time to think seriously of writing - or to relinquish completely my insignificant authorship - it would indeed not be a mistake to do so - the reading public would not miss anything - there are already learned writers like the sand on the seashore - and my Herr Reviser and publisher seems to find my scribbles superfluous and wearisome - yet there are still many learned and unlearned men who ask me to go on writing - I don't know if they mean it only in jest - or in earnest - well, whatever the rights of it - I do not have it in mind to give up my scribbling completely - and if my pages should furnish nothing but twists for pepper and coffee - it's no skin off my nose [literally: no cock will crow at it]." [Chronik, p 386]

Bräker goes on to say that his building of the extension of his house has taken much of his time, and proved much more expensive than he expected, and he is again in serious debt. All his family are scolding him about it, but they are as much to blame as himself, because they persuaded him to take on workers who proved to be no good, and Salome gave them too much food and coffee. But when Salome realised the extent of the debt she blamed Bräker as usual and threatened to leave him. Bräker tried to drown his cares in wine.

"O I shall never forget this summer ... now the building is nearly finished, my household is split up - which I did not willingly allow to happen - my son with his tender, good, dear little lamb, homely and busy as a little bee - now live comfortably in the new part - the vexations are at an end - and if only the debts were paid off - things would not be so bad - the new living-room is a refuge from the winter storms of my Xanthippe."

But looking on the brighter side, the family's health is good, except for some signs of the weakness of age, or attacks that were soon over. [Chronik, p 387]

"And what joy was again brought to this poor son of earth by friends of mankind in this year (1792). Respected counts and barons on their travels visited me, perhaps from curiosity or from other motives, enough that my vanity was not a little tickled, without my cherishing in the least any better opinion of myself, as some neighbours think, who look upon these visits with envious eyes. Alas, I know only too well what I am, and that makes me happy, but that which though my own fault I am not, that does not make me happy. But I push it out of my mind and hope to make better use of the future." [Voellmy, v 3 p 34]

The journeys made in summer and autumn also count towards the agreeable days of the year, and the visit from Füssli in the summer. So on the whole it has been a good year, for which he thanks God, and admits that the bad parts were his own fault. "So, dear year of 1792, go on your way to join the innumerable host of years - which have already passed on". [Chronik, p 387]

Extended footnote: Revolution in the Toggenburg, 1793-1796

As Bräker says, the inhabitants of the Toggenburg had a well-deserved reputation for unruliness, but up till 1793 it seems that this took the form of internal conflicts and protests concerning very local issues, such as the interminable wrangling about the building of new roads. These could indeed lead to serious outbreaks of violence, as in the Villmergen war of 1712, and sometimes included demands for independence from the overlordship of the Prince-Abbot of St. Gallen. Karl Müller-Friedberg, the recently appointed Landvogt [chief agent of the Prince-Abbot], wrote in a letter of 1793 "Gouverner le Toggenburg est un métier pénible dans nos jours; c'est une négotiation continuelle". ["These days governing the Toggenburg is a painful occupation, one is continually negotiating"]. A complete restructuring of the government of the

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