- 265 -

21st Sept. Bräker travels via Schmerikon, Rapperswil and Humbrechtikon to Stäfa. "In Stäfa

228

the troops had only recently retreated. I saw and heard nothing but deathly silence, everything wrapped in mourning. No person uttered a word concerning dealings with Zürich."

On the 22nd Bräker travels in a small boat, in rough water, to Wädenswil. He visits friends there but in the afternoon continues to Horgen, Oberrieden, Thalwil, Rüschlikon and Kilchberg. He is kindly welcomed by Pastor Hans Heinrich Wirz and stays the night.

23rd September "This evening I hurried off again to my L. on the R[iedtli], my usual hospitable lodging - where I always feel as if I were in my homeland."

[L. might be an abbreviation for Lieben = dear ones.]
The Chronik adds that he took care not to say too much about the events at Stäfa, about which some people wanted to know his opinion. But he is pleased to find that some of his acquaintances express sympathy with the defeated inhabitants of Stäfa.

"On the 24th [Sept.] I stumped once more round the market, observed some machines. I wrote a letter home, that I was now firmly resolved to go to Bern. A newly wedded couple made a great impression on me. The children of two of the greatest, most famous German and Swiss poets have married each other. May the spirit of their fathers rest upon them! I enjoyed the undeserved honour to eat at their table before I left."

[This refers to the marriage of Heinrich Gessner, son of Salomon Gessner, and Charlotte Luise Wieland, daughter of the German poet Christoph Martin Wieland, which took place the previous July.]

Also on the 24th Bräker writes to Dr. Ebel again concerning publication of his writings. He expresses regret that there is no-one in his neighbourhood with whom to share his thoughts and wishes he could have a few hours with Ebel and learn from him "how to be a little happy" in his old age. On the 25th he manages to see Füssli for the first time, as Füssli is so busy in the various offices he holds, and coping with the aftermath of the events at Stäfa. He dines at the house of Heinrich Gessner [see above] then leaves Zürich and goes via Höngg to Baden.

Early on the 26th Bräker continues his journey to Brugg, where he visits "a good friend and compatriot K."
[probably Johann Jakob Kuenz, cotton manufacturer]
. In the afternoon another friend
[not identified]
accompanies him to Birr, then he continues on to Lenzburg, which he is seeing for the first time. In the inn he meets a drunken deserter from the Prince of Condé's army
[a counter-revolutionary force of French emigrés.]
Next day he goes on via Suhr to Entfelden, where he and his dog enjoy a good cheap meal of mutton, then continues via Kölliken and Safenwil to Rothrist. He complains that although the roads are good the signposts indicating distances to Bern are misleading.
[Distances were indicated in hours, assuming about 5.4 km to the hour, perhaps Bräker was finding that he could not walk as fast as he did when young.]
On the 28th Bräker travels via Murgenthal, Bützberg, Herzogenbuchsee and Oberöntz to Kirchberg.

"On the 29th by Alchenflüh and Hindelbank, where once again I saw the famous monument, which indeed I deem to be a masterpiece of art. To hew such a thing out of the rock, it needs no description because it has been described often enough by other travellers and represented in engravings. But if I thought it was meant to represent the Resurrection, I would think it rather too sensual. I imagine the Resurrection quite differently. Considered as a work of art it is a rare masterpiece. But as meant to depict an incomprehensible, unrevealed event, I think it is too earthbound. But people won't put up with my discoursing on such matters. So I hastened on the rest of my journey past the paper mills to dear old Bern."

[Bräker had passed the monument to Frau Langhans after nightfall on an earlier journey. Coxe describes it [v 2 pp 325-327] as being in the nave of a church, "sunk into the pavement like a grave", with the woman's figure seen


228

The troops sent from Zürich to suppress revolutionary activity in Stäfa had been withdrawn on 6th September.



Contents